What is an AirDrop?

Ethereum is a blockchain-powered platform for building decentralized software and apps

Among crypto enthusiasts, ethereum is known for the cryptocurrency it uses to facilitate transactions: ether, or ETH. It's often compared to an app store. The underpinnings of ethereum's blockchain include dApps, which operate using automated scripts called "smart contracts."

The cryptocurrency equivalent of going public

An initial coin offering (ICO) is cryptocurrency's version of an initial public offering (IPO). Similar to the way a company offers shares on the stock market for the first time, ICOs occur when a cryptocurrency company seeks to raise funding for a new coin, app, or service. If you're entering the field, get the details on how it all works.

Decentralized applications are blockchain-based and run without a central authority

These apps use smart contracts to automatically execute functions, ensuring security, transparency, and censorship resistance. Built on platforms like Ethereum, Solana, and Binance Smart Chain, DApps power DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and social media, offering users control over their data and assets.

Ethereum is a blockchain-powered operating system known for its cryptocurrency, ether

Ethereum's underlying blockchain allows developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) that leverage smart contracts to seamlessly run decentralized financial tools (crypto wallets, exchanges, marketplaces, and more), along with Web3 concepts like non-fungible tokens.

Top Ethereum dApps

Thousands of decentralized apps (dApps) run on Ethereum, including marketplaces, financial platforms, and social networks. Top apps include Uniswap, a decentralized exchange for buying and selling cryptocurrency, and OpenSea, the biggest marketplace for buying and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs). New apps are built on Ethereum all the time, facilitating billions of dollars worth of transactions. Explore the biggest ones here.

NFTs can be minted using an online marketplace or directly on the blockchain

Minting, or creating, an NFT is how NFTs are added to the blockchain. The process can be simplified by using a popular marketplace.

A letter to Ethereum’s community from an early builder

Fuel Network CEO Nick Dodson writes about his experience as an early app builder on the Ethereum blockchain. He talks about why he perceives Ethereum as being different from rival blockchains like Solana, espousing the ethos and “spirit” of the Ethereum network and community. At the same time, he lays out some hopes he has for the future of Ethereum in a telling peek into an Ethereum insider’s brain. Read the letter here.

What is the creator economy?

The creator economy is a system powered by people creating online content for monetizable audiences. These “creators” and “influencers” make money off their digital audiences through brand deals or revenue shares with social media platforms.

Robinhood's mission of democratizing finance included its IPO

In 2021, investing app Robinhood went public—and decided to go about its IPO process differently. Unlike other companies, it opened up its IPO for the general public to purchase right away. A podcast episode explains what made Robinhood's IPO so unique prior to its launch date.

A direct listing is when a company goes public, listing shares on a stock exchange

A direct listing is when a company goes public, listing its shares on a stock exchange, rather than issuing new shares or raising capital. That means investment banks—traditionally serving as intermediaries—could lose out on some of the profits from these deals as more companies like Spotify opt for direct listings.

Initial public offering (IPO) is the term for when a company goes public

When a company completes its IPO, it's no longer a privately owned organization. Anyone can invest in the company by buying its shares on the stock market—opening up ownership of the business to the general public.

DAI is a popular stablecoin backed by cryptocurrency rather than fiat currency

DAI is backed by collateralized debt denominated in several major cryptocurrencies, including ethereum's ether. It was created by Rune Christensen in 2017 with the goal of helping create a credit system that would allow users to take out loans collateralized by cryptocurrencies.

X (Twitter) started as a way to share short updates via text

What began as a way to share 140-character updates quickly grew into a vital platform for activism, politics, and pop culture. Hashtags, trending topics, and retweets—now common across the internet—originated on the platform.

Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholders

From the Dutch East India Company paying out the first dividends over 400 years ago to the word “dividend’s” ancient Latin roots, Dividend.com has a full explainer of this investing perk and how individuals can earn income while holding dividend-paying stocks or ETFs.

Deepfakes are media created using generative AI tools that intentionally misrepresent real people or events—often for malicious purposes—at the cost of public trust, security, and privacy.

Angel investors often receive significant equity because of the risk they take

Angel investors fund startups at an early stage, at which time a company’s success is less assured. In exchange, they often ask for a significant equity stake.

Crypto exchanges are online platforms to buy, sell, and exchange cryptocurrencies

Crypto exchanges have grown alongside and fueled the boom in digital currencies. Popular exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance each have separate features, fee structures, and more. You can learn how to begin with the platforms, how to carry out research, and when to be aware of the associated risks.

While influencers try to make money off of their posts, that's not always the case for content creators.

The acronym NFT stands for non-fungible token

NFTs have developed as a secure way to use cryptocurrencies and the blockchain to create unique digital art, allowing the owner to prove ownership of a specific digital item.

Decentralized autonomous organizations organize on the blockchain

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are typically formed with a specific goal in mind. ConstitutionDAO, for instance, was made to raise funds to buy a copy of the US Constitution (it failed).

More than $3.5B has been invested through AngelList

AngelList was created to connect startups and angel investors. It’s evolved since its 2010 founding and has been used by companies like Uber and OpenSea.

Many startup founders pull out-of-the-box stunts to get their businesses off the ground.

Platforms like AngelList help angel investors find startups to fund

Angel investors leverage their high net worths to fund seed-stage startups. While they could see high returns, investing in such an early company is a risk.

Decentraland is a virtual world that runs on Ethereum

Users can buy plots of land in the virtual Decentraland universe to collect, trade, and battle Pokemon-like monsters in the video game “Axie Infinity.”

Tokens—numbers assigned to words and subwords—are the basic units of data that AI tools process to generate outputs that mimic language without understanding the text itself.

SPACs, explained

Special purpose acquisition companies make it easy for mature unicorns (companies valued at over $1B) to receive growth capital by going public. This process effectively skips the work of a traditional initial public offering, and its time-intensive investor negotiations. Typically, a well-known investor with expertise in a certain industry sponsors a SPAC with the intent to acquire a startup. Learn how it works and the risks involved here.

Startup founders’ equity becomes diluted as they bring in more investors

When an angel investor funds a company in exchange for equity, startups issue new shares to them, rather than giving them existing shares, and boost the company’s valuation.

The first-ever tweet on X was sent on March 21, 2006, at 9:50 pm

The short, declarative message launched what would eventually become one of the world's most influential social media platforms. As of 2020, about 10% of X users are responsible for 92% of all posts.

The biggest NFT projects that live on Ethereum include Bored Apes

Non-fungible tokens are primarily built on the Ethereum blockchain, though other blockchains host the tokens. NFT projects hosted on Ethereum include Bored Apes and plots of land in Decentraland.

'Buying the dip' refers to purchasing stocks or ETFs after a price decline in anticipation of a rebound

Some investors see it as getting a discount before the market recovers and the temporary declines turn into gains.

Bitcoin explained and made simple

Bitcoin, the most popular and well-known example of a cryptocurrency, came on the scene around 2010, with its evangelists proclaiming it would eventually displace government-backed traditional cash. While the concept of a digital currency may seem straightforward, the details can be deceptively simple. This quick video overview provides the foundation for a deeper dive into the world of decentralized currency.

What (and why) is ASMR?

ASMR podcasts and videos are appearing all over social media, so what exactly is it, and what does it do? This immersive article explains the phenomena of ASMR, which stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. ASMR is when certain sounds or...

Learn about Web3 and how it differs from past versions of the internet

Web3 is the idea of a new, decentralized internet built on blockchain technology. It aims to shift control from centralized entities like big tech companies to users through distributed ledgers and smart contracts. Key components include cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that operate without a central authority. Web3 promises more user privacy, ownership, and control over data and digital assets.

Dogecoin, the seminal memecoin that has no specific use

Dogecoin has ridden a wave of enthusiasm to become one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies. Created in 2013 by software engineers as a joke, the token has become the poster child for the viral and unpredictable nature of the cryptocurrency market, and has inspired tens of thousands of imitator coins.

The creator economy—which is projected to be worth as much as $480B by 2027—is a system powered by people creating online content for monetizable audiences.

What are smart contracts?

Smart contracts are potentially one of the most useful tools associated with blockchain, and they can enable the transfer of everything from Bitcoin and fiat currency to goods transported around the world. Here’s what they do and why they’re likely to gain traction.

At their peak, some believed NFT royalties could create a new income source for artists

Non-fungible tokens’ role in the art world is evolving with experiments such as automated NFT royalties that generate income when an NFT is resold.

The rebrand to X was to make Twitter an all-in-one social media app

Elon Musk renamed the platform as part of his plan to create an app that goes beyond posts and tweets. The rebrand included a new name, logo, and vision for a platform that offers messaging, video, banking, shopping, and more.

Creating a digital alternative to the traditional Chinese 'red envelope' payments helped spur WeChat's financial services growth, and helped it become a 'superapp.'

Calculate creator economy platform costs

The creator economy continues to be an attractive way to earn money for many people. While many platforms exist to help creators monetize their work, each has different feature sets and pricing models. This calculator helps workers decide which platform works best for them.

Andreessen Horowitz is among the most well-known venture capital firms

Also known as a16z, the firm has invested in companies such as Airbnb, Facebook, and Lyft since its founding in 2009. A podcast episode offers a deep dive into how the firm got started and became the industry disruptor it is today.

AI is transforming the marketing and advertising industries

Many marketers argue that AI is useful in an ad agency setting. Others attribute the significant layoffs the industry has faced in recent years, at least in part, to AI. Agency leaders and big tech firms alike have supported experimenting with artificial intelligence’s capacity to create content once reserved for agency creatives.

Seed funding is often the first round of capital that a startup raises

Early-stage startups often try to secure seed funding from investors in order to take their idea from concept to reality.

NFTs can be used for fractionalized ownership of assets

Non-fungible token is a term used to describe a unique digital asset whose ownership is tracked on a blockchain, such as Ethereum.

X is a social media platform focused on real-time communication and content sharing

Users post and interact through short messages known as tweets. As of February 2025, X receives over 4.83 billion monthly visits, with users spending an average of 34 minutes daily on the platform.

Despite privacy risks, scientists are using DNA in the air to assess ecosystem health

While DNA in soil and water samples has long been used for such analyses, airborne DNA is being incorporated into such efforts to monitor individual species abundance, detect invasive species, measure biodiversity, and determine the success of conservation actions. Future work may include detecting attacks from biological weapons.

Here is a visualization of the creator economy as an ecosystem

From social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, to major advertisers paying influencers to promote their brands, to the consumers watching online content, quite a few engines have to keep firing to make the creator economy run smoothly.

The evolution of X, from startup to Musk-owned giant, reflects rapid tech shifts

Twitter began in 2006 as a side project and grew into a major global platform, widely used for news, activism, and political discourse. Despite mainstream success, it faced ongoing management turmoil, business struggles, and rising concerns over misinformation and user safety.

Airbnb’s S-1 in 2020 revealed how it weathered the pandemic and its financials

An S-1 or prospectus is a registration form filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission when a company wants to go public. They can be pretty juicy documents, as S-1s can reveal previously private details about companies to the public, often for the first time.

Robinhood's pivot from everyday investors to hyperactive traders

The platform was conceived as a hub for first-time investors looking to get into trading. After criticism in 2021, the company pivoted to focus on more regular, daily traders, among whom the company's CEO has now become a cult hero.