Stay on top of Crypto/Blockchain Universe [List of useful sources]

Hi,
I decided to write this post to share my experience about how to stay on top of what’s happening in blockchain and cryptocurrency world and provide you with list of useful sources so that you can all benefit from it!
I use all of them on a daily basis and can recommend with a clear conscience.

News services:

• http://www.coindesk.com/ - frequently updated with interesting posts about the companies, legislation, financial and technological side of crypto world. Very informative.
• http://www.themerkle.com – another frequently updated service that provides news. It’s advantage is that it often features warning posts about projects in blockchain sphere that are very likely to be scams or are proved to be scams. It can save you a lot of money!
• http://cointelegraph.com/ - News about technology and financial side of crypto world.( btw. very nice design of the website).
• https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ - news about bitcoin, altcoins, fintech and technology development.
• http://www.livebitcoinnews.com/ - mostly bitcoin and ethereum news usually focused on financial side of crypto but not always.
• Newsletter from https://www.cryptocompare.com/ - the best newsletter I have been subscribed to so far. Short and to the point.

Podcasts :

• Epicenter Bitcoin: https://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin
  This podcast is all about interviews with top people involved in development of blockchain technology or closely related to that field (lawyers or people from finance sector appear from time to time). It’s one of the most useful as it provides first hand info from one of the most important figures in crypto world.
  They have also youtube channel so if you want to see the person interviewed feel free to check it out : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-0T48JrvvmKDX41aWB_Vg

I tend to listen to podcast as I can do other things and let the audio play in the background.

• Arthur Falls – The Ether Review: https://soundcloud.com/arthurfalls
  This podcast focuses a lot on topics around Ethereum network but not exclusively.
  I recommend episodes with Vinay Gupta that also cover more general topics.
  On Arthur’s soundcloud channel you can also find another series of podcasts called Beyond Bitcoin.

• Bitcoin and Gravy: https://soundcloud.com/bitcoins-and-gravy
  Great podcast with interviews of people involved in development of blockchain tech. Somewhat similar to Epicenter Bitcoin but the host keeps it original and a bit different ;)

Youtube Channels:

• David Seaman: https://www.youtube.com/c/davidseamanus
  Interesting videos about mainly financial aspect of blockchain (read: cryptocurrencies)
• Dailydecrypt: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNCLd2r19wpWWQE6yDLOOQ
  Discontinued series about the basics of Crypto. Some episodes are interviews with people behind blockchain projects. The host Amanda is very well prepared and rephrase often the answers to be perfectly clear which is very helpful.
• Dash Detailed: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiFMZOlhgsYJPIiG0bjT1_SuT5h7NqPCC
  New show hosted by Amanda who is now focused on decrypting all the quirks of Dash network to you.

Useful websites:

• http://hackingdistributed.com/ Blog run by Emin Gün Sirer – professor at Cornell University Posts that he publishes have been recently very useful to ethereum community in terms of dealing with recent DAO attack. This blog brings a lot of common sense to the crypto world.

• http://www.icocountdown.com/ Never miss another ICO (initial coin offering) – stay on top of the game! This site show upcoming ICO for projects based on blockchain technology.

• https://bitcointalk.org/ Basic website about most of what’s happening in Cryptospace. Useful for staying on top of new blockchain projects announcements. To be honest I rarely read it. I usually don’t read forums as there are too many unimportant posts that are a waste of time (just my opinion).

• https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/ , https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/
  Reddit threads that can provide plenty of information on bitcoin or ethereum . Again I usually don’t follow reddit posts as it has similar form to forum that I find to waste my time.

Market trends:

• https://coinmarketcap.com/ – List of market capitalization of most existing cryptocurrencies (if not all). Current prices included but have a little bit of lag.
  I like it as it is very clean service where you can have a quick overview of the market. Nothing sophisticated which is useful. There are also historical charts of prices, trade volumes linked to exchanges and links to main websites and social feeds (twitter usually) of every cryptocurrency that’s listed. Sometimes when I become interested in a project and would like to buy its tokens I can find exchanges that trade them (very useful).
• https://www.cryptocompare.com/ – Great website that provides LIVE prices of many cryptocurrencies. It has also all the information needed like list of last trades of particular cryptocurrency on many exchanges. There is additionally plenty of information like exchanges rating or articles about mining rigs. Each cryptocurrency have its own forum thread. The one thing that I think is absolutely amazing about this site is its newsletter (as mentioned above). Monday to Friday mornings you get news about what had happened in the past day. It is the best newsletter I have come across up to date. I’d recommend to subscribe anyone interested in Cryptoworld.

Books on bitcoin history

I find reading books on history of Bitcoin very useful as they provide information on people who were there from the beginning and what was their involvement in developing or spreading the word about BTC. Most of the people are now running some services related to blockchain technology or share their expert knowledge on the internet. When I come across articles or opinions about crypto and I see that they came from a certain person that I recognize I know whether to trust the source or not. Very valuable from that point of view and it’s fun!

• Digital Gold: The untold story of bitcoin by Nathaniel Poppers
  Very interesting book that tells history of Bitcoin from perspective of people involved in it from the beginning. I recommend that one to anybody who is even not particularly interested in technology behind blockchain. Great read.
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Gold-Untold-Story-Bitcoin/dp/0241180996/

• Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money are Challenging the Global Economic Order by Paul Vigna/Michael J Casey
  This book covers topics like history of money or possibilities that bitcoin brings. It shows the history of the beginnings of bitcoin, people involved, bits about Cypherpunk movement. It takes you to places of origins of blockchain technology. Very interesting and easy to read book.
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cryptocurrency-Bitcoin-Digital-Challenging-Economic/dp/1784700738

Mobile apps:

• Coincap: great app where you can check current coin prices. Useful feature is so called altfolio where you can type in the amount of your holdings of eachcryptocurrency that you own and see what they’re worth at the moment. The app is using shapeshift (if installed on your phone) to make it easy to buy cryptocurrency of your choice with other cryptocurrency that you already own (no FIAT money supported).
  Android : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.coinCap.coinCap
  iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/coincap-real-time-cryptocurrency/id1074052280?mt=8
  Website: http://coincap.io

• Circle: nice app to send bitcoins easily to your friends. You can buy BTC with FIAT from your debit card or bank account. Very fast although the limit on buying BTC is low for UK users (200 GBP per week). US based users have much higher limit – around $3000 from what I remember. It also shows the value of BTC holdings in hot wallet in FIAT currency which is useful.
  Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.circle.android&_branch_match_id=281551809956594655
  iOS:
  https://itunes.apple.com/app/id920164002
  Website: https://www.circle.com/en

Meetups

If you are really into the Cryptoworld I’d highly recommend looking for some meetups related to the projects like ethereum or bitcoin. I am not a huge fun of meetups in general but after attending Ethereum Meetup in London I look forward to next one. Meetups are a great way to meet people involved in creating blockchain technology and to spend great time and have fun.
I hope that helps you to keep it up with the crazy pace of changes that occur in blockchain/crypto world.
I’ll keep updating this post if I come across some other useful source or read another interesting book on the subject that I can recommend.

Comments are welcome :D

Knowledge is power !