Lesson 01 · 5 min
What crypto actually is
A shared record book that nobody owns and everybody can read. Start here before anything else.
The shared record book
A blockchain is a public list of every transfer ever made. Anyone can read it. Nobody can quietly edit an old page.
There is no company holding your balance. Your balance is simply what the shared list says belongs to your address.
Coins vs tokens
A coin is native to its own network: Bitcoin on Bitcoin, Ether on Ethereum, SOL on Solana. Fees are always paid in the native coin.
A token lives on top of a network. Thousands of tokens sit on Ethereum and Solana. Holding a token still requires a little of the native coin to move it.
Why the price moves
Prices come from people buying and selling on open markets, around the clock. There is no closing bell and no circuit breaker.
Treat any amount you put in as money you could lose entirely. That single rule prevents most painful stories.
Worth remembering
- The network is a public list, not a company.
- Fees are always paid in the network's own coin.
- Never commit money you cannot afford to lose.