Decentralized Academy
3841 subscribers

Understanding Zero-Knowledge Proofs: A Beginner's Guide

Zero-knowledge proofs allow one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any additional information. This tutorial walks through the core concepts — from interactive proofs to zk-SNARKs — with practical examples. By the end, you'll understand how ZKPs power privacy-preserving protocols across DeFi, identity, and beyond.

2 hours ago18K
Protocol Research
7210 subscribers

How Merkle Trees Secure Blockchain Data: A Visual Explanation

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Diagram: Merkle tree verification path

Merkle trees are the backbone of data integrity in distributed systems. This article breaks down how hash trees work, why they matter for light clients, and how rollups use them for state verification. Includes step-by-step diagrams showing how a single leaf change propagates through the entire tree structure.

6 hours ago42K
Web3 Builders
2156 subscribers

Building Your First Smart Contract with Solidity: Step-by-Step Tutorial

This hands-on tutorial takes you from zero to deploying your first smart contract on a testnet. We cover Solidity basics — variables, functions, modifiers, and events — then build a simple token contract. You'll learn how to use Hardhat for local development, write unit tests, and deploy to Sepolia.

1 day ago95K
Knowledge Graph Lab
1893 subscribers

Introduction to Linked Data and the Semantic Web

The semantic web extends the traditional web by structuring data in machine-readable formats. This article introduces RDF triples, ontologies, and SPARQL queries. Learn how linked data principles enable interoperable knowledge graphs that can be queried, combined, and reasoned over across organizational boundaries.

2 days ago11K
Systems Design Weekly
12400 subscribers

Consensus Mechanisms Compared: PoW, PoS, and Beyond

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Source: Systems Design Weekly Research

From Nakamoto consensus to Byzantine fault tolerance, this deep dive compares the major consensus mechanisms powering distributed networks today. We analyze trade-offs in security, throughput, finality, and energy efficiency — covering Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Delegated PoS, and newer approaches like DAG-based consensus.

3 days ago128K