Front-running the next generation of wealth creation

This roadmap covers:

  • Crypto and money

  • Required tools

  • Research and tutorials

  • Web3 wiki

Take this at your pace, but make a point to consistently work on your crypto skills. I have read every book referenced & used every tool listed. All articles are original pieces written by me. Your journey starts now.

- John Cook

Updated 3/2/23

Crypto and money

Crypto is a blue ocean of untapped opportunity. There are no hierarchies, systems, or “web3 VCs with 30 years of crypto experience”. If you do the work, 12 months from now, you will be the expert.

Blockchain represents a fundamental shift in how humans engage with money:

  • Complex financial institutions operating as a black box will be replaced with decentralized, permissionless technologies where transactions are transparent, on-chain, and immutable.

  • Social & legal contracts managed by a system of regulators, attorneys & legislative lawmakers are obsolete and replaced with, smart contracts where agreements are enforced by code emerge as the most efficient and transparent solution.

  • Bespoke financial instruments and market-making opportunities not available to the general public will be deployed on-chain for everyone’s participation.

Crypto is a hedge against fiat currency debasement, a sound monetary system not subject to a centralized cadre of unelected government officials acting as the invisible hand of the economy. It is humankind’s next generational wealth-creation event.

🚫 But not all crypto is created equal.

Assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum command a premium from its intrinsic moat, sound tokenomics & ability to return value to their coin-holders.

  • Ethereum is the economic engine of a new permissionless financial system that acts as a global settlement layer

  • Bitcoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment system with its own currency and the potential to be a store of value in the distant future.

📉 Tokens with an inflationary supply schedule will go to zero.

Pre-mined VC-led alt-layer 1s are risky because their tokenomics represent conflicting priorities of interest with the broader user community. Tokens that fail to deliver a return to their holders have historically gone to zero. All durable crypto assets must command an economic premium with a sound monetary policy.

This guide is your framework for differentiating the winners from the losers and participating in what we believe to be the evolution of money:

You are still early. Less than five percent of the world’s population owns or uses crypto. Now is the time to front-run the next generation of wealth creation.

How to learn crypto

The crypto conviction we build is a result of hands-on execution. Frontrun tutorials go deep by exploring what happens on the blockchain when you “click that button in the UI”. This is where the conviction is built.

Required crypto tools:

Research and investing:

  1. The bear case on Lido: Ethereum’s largest staking protocol is burning cash 🔥

  2. The bull case on Grayscale’s bitcoin trust: Is now the time to buy GBTC?

  3. Real-world assets and on-chain collateral risks

  4. Calculating Ethereum's implied volatility

  5. What's causing crypto prices to go up?

  6. Calculating Ethereum’s implied volatility

  7. Bitcoin and Ethereum correlation to US equities

System of money and failures of centralization:

  1. 40 years of failure: Why centralized monetary systems are failing 🔥

  2. Intentional deceit from government regulators: Somebody else has both of our sh*t and they’re watching us fight

  3. The hardest game: predicting a recession

  4. The unpredictability of Wall Street predictions

Self-sovereignty & financial independence:

  1. What it means to take custody of your crypto

  2. Start-ups will not make you rich 💯

  3. The option pool shuffle at private companies

  4. Code is law, sometimes.

Frauds and scams in crypto and media:

  1. Mainstream mediocrity

  2. The Grayscale Bitcoin trust premium ponzi

  3. Grayscale misconduct and conflicts of interest within Digital Currency Group

  4. How to steal $16 billion 🔥

  5. How to build a ponzi empire with fake money

  6. The fake bailout of centralized crypto banks

  7. Welcome back to work diamond hands

  8. Grayscale misconduct and conflicts of interest within Digital Currency Group

  9. Untangling Digital Currency Group and Gemini

Digital Art and NFTs:

  1. How NFTs and digital art are stored and accessed on the Ethereum blockchain 🔥

  2. Centralization risks of NFTs

Ethereum DeFi essentials:

  1. How to transact on Ethereum, understand gas fees, and use blockchain explorers

  2. How to onboard to layer 2 roll-ups and measure transaction fees

  3. How to borrow eth, lend and measure risk

  4. How to repay a crypto loan, prevent automatic liquidation, and calculate your liquidation threshold

  5. How to take custody of your crypto assets with a Gnosis multi-sig wallet 🔥

  6. How to model an overcollateralized loan and avoid liquidation with Aave

  7. How to get an undercollateralized loan with Sentiment

  8. Calculating Ethereum’s implied volatility

Want more?

We are building an online community on twitter & the broader podcast ecosystem. Join the conversation below:

📚 Like to read books? Here are my favorites:

  1. Irrational Exuberance

  2. Player Piano

  3. The Bitcoin Standard

  4. Ethereum

  5. The Gold Standard

  6. The Sovereign Individual

Web3 and Defi ecosystem wiki

We manage a web3 and DeFi ecosystem wiki that tracks all the crypto tools you need for your journey.

DeFi trackers, exchange aggregators, lending/borrowing platforms, options, interest rate swaps, yield splitting, stablecoins, layer 2s, prediction markets, and other stuff you didn’t know existed.

Access it below.

👉 Frontrun’s web3 and DeFi wiki

We’re still early in our journey. Thank you for joining us as we front-run the next generation of wealth creation. If you’ve found this roadmap helpful, share it with someone you know!

To knowledge and wisdom,

John Cook
San Francisco, CA
www.frontruncrypto.com

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