Guides
Every Kaavon guide, organised by category and ordered from beginner to advanced. Pick a category to browse, or jump straight into a guide below.
Blockchain
9 guides
Bitcoin
8 guides
Wallets
8 guides
Ethereum
8 guides
DeFi
8 guides
Crypto Basics
8 guides
Security
8 guides
Trading
7 guides
Taxes
7 guides
Investing
5 guides
Stablecoins
5 guides
NFTs
5 guides
DAOs & Governance
5 guides
Risk Management
7 guides
Practical How-To
5 guides
On-Chain Analysis
6 guides
Portfolio Management
5 guides
Blockchain
View all →What Is Blockchain?
A clear introduction to blockchain technology and how it works.
5 min read · 12 related concepts
Layer 2 Scaling and Trade-offs
A deeper look at why base blockchains hit limits, how Layer 2 networks address them, and what trade-offs they introduce.
6 min read · 15 related concepts
Proof of Work vs. Proof of Stake
A clear comparison of blockchain's two most common consensus mechanisms — how each secures a network and what trade-offs each makes.
7 min read · 11 related concepts
What Is a Blockchain Fork?
A clear explanation of hard forks and soft forks — how blockchain protocol changes happen and what each type means in practice.
6 min read · 2 related concepts
Consensus Mechanisms Compared
A closer look at how proof of work, proof of stake, and other consensus mechanisms actually differ.
7 min read · 10 related concepts
Understanding the Blockchain Scalability Trilemma
Why blockchains tend to trade off between decentralization, security, and scalability.
6 min read · 2 related concepts
Public, Private, and Permissioned Blockchains
How open public blockchains differ from private and permissioned networks, and why the distinction matters.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Finality in Blockchain Networks
The difference between probabilistic and absolute finality, and why it matters.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Interoperability Between Blockchains
How different blockchain networks communicate and exchange value, and the common approaches.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Bitcoin
View all →What Is Bitcoin?
Understand Bitcoin's purpose, supply, transactions, and proof-of-work security.
6 min read · 9 related concepts
Bitcoin Mining Explained
How Bitcoin mining actually works — the role of computing power, block rewards, and why mining secures the network.
6 min read · 12 related concepts
Understanding Bitcoin's Halving Cycle
What Bitcoin's halving actually does, why it happens on a schedule, and how it fits into Bitcoin's broader monetary design.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
Bitcoin's Monetary Policy Explained
How Bitcoin's fixed supply and issuance schedule work, and why they were designed this way.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Bitcoin Transaction Fees
How Bitcoin transaction fees are determined, and why they can vary significantly.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
The Lightning Network Explained
A plain-language introduction to Bitcoin's Lightning Network and the problem it addresses.
6 min read · 2 related concepts
Bitcoin Script Explained
A plain-language introduction to the simple scripting language behind Bitcoin transactions.
6 min read · 1 related concept
The History of Bitcoin's Major Forks
A factual overview of the significant protocol upgrades and contentious splits in Bitcoin's history.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Wallets
View all →What Is a Crypto Wallet?
Learn what crypto wallets store, how transactions are authorized, and how custody choices differ.
6 min read · 7 related concepts
Custodial vs. Non-Custodial Wallets
A practical comparison of custodial and non-custodial wallets — who controls your keys, and what that means for you.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
How to Set Up a Hardware Wallet Safely
A practical, step-by-step overview of setting up a hardware wallet correctly and avoiding the most common setup mistakes.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
Understanding Seed Phrases and Private Keys
How seed phrases and private keys relate, and why controlling them means controlling the funds.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
Multi-Signature Wallets Explained
How multi-signature wallets require more than one approval to move funds, and why that's useful.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
How to Choose a Crypto Wallet
Practical factors to weigh when deciding which type of crypto wallet fits your situation.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
Understanding Account Abstraction Wallets
How programmable wallet logic can enable features a traditional single-key wallet cannot.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Cold Storage Best Practices for Large Holdings
Practical considerations for securing significant, longer-term crypto holdings offline.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Ethereum
View all →What Is Ethereum?
An introduction to Ethereum, its programmable blockchain, ether, and network validation.
6 min read · 7 related concepts
What Is a Smart Contract?
Understand how blockchain-based programs work, what they can do, and where their risks come from.
6 min read · 11 related concepts
What Is an NFT?
A clear explanation of non-fungible tokens — what makes them different from typical cryptocurrencies, and what they can and can't represent.
6 min read · 4 related concepts
Understanding Gas Fees on Ethereum
What gas fees are, why they exist, and what makes them rise and fall.
6 min read · 6 related concepts
The Ethereum Merge and Proof of Stake
What the Ethereum Merge changed, and why the network moved from proof of work to proof of stake.
6 min read · 3 related concepts
ERC-20 Tokens Explained
What ERC-20 is, why it matters, and how it lets many different tokens work consistently on Ethereum.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding EIP-4844 and Blob Transactions
How Ethereum's blob transaction upgrade made posting Layer 2 data significantly cheaper.
6 min read · 2 related concepts
Restaking on Ethereum Explained
How already-staked ETH can be used again to help secure additional protocols, and the added risk.
6 min read · 1 related concept
DeFi
View all →What Is DeFi?
An introduction to decentralised finance, its building blocks, and the risks behind its open access.
7 min read · 9 related concepts
How Decentralized Exchanges Work
A clear explanation of how decentralized exchanges let people trade directly from their own wallets, using automated market makers.
6 min read · 6 related concepts
Understanding DeFi Lending and Borrowing
How DeFi lending protocols let people lend and borrow crypto through smart contracts, and why over-collateralization matters.
6 min read · 7 related concepts
Understanding Liquidity Pools and AMMs
How automated market makers use liquidity pools to enable trading without a traditional order book.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
What Is Yield Farming?
How yield farming works, and the real risks behind advertised returns.
6 min read · 3 related concepts
Understanding Impermanent Loss
Why providing liquidity to a pool can leave you worse off than simply holding the same assets.
6 min read · 1 related concept
How Flash Loans Work
How a loan can be borrowed and repaid within a single transaction, and what it's actually used for.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Real Yield vs. Emissions-Funded Yield
The difference between yield paid from genuine revenue and yield funded by new token issuance.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Crypto Basics
View all →What Is Cryptocurrency?
The foundational concepts behind cryptocurrency, before diving into blockchain, Bitcoin, or Ethereum specifically.
5 min read · 9 related concepts
How to Choose a Crypto Exchange
A practical framework for evaluating crypto exchanges — security, fees, supported assets, and custody — before creating an account.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
Understanding Crypto Market Capitalization
A practical guide to reading market capitalization — what it measures, what it doesn't, and common misreadings to avoid.
5 min read · 7 related concepts
How Crypto Transactions Actually Work
A step-by-step look at what happens between clicking "send" and a transaction being confirmed.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
Understanding Public and Private Keys
The cryptography behind crypto ownership, explained without requiring a math background.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
Centralized vs. Decentralized Exchanges
How CEXs and DEXs differ in custody, mechanics, and typical trade-offs.
5 min read · 1 related concept
How Crypto Prices Are Actually Discovered
How buy and sell orders on exchanges actually determine an asset's market price.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Custodial vs. Self-Custody: A Practical Comparison
A practical, side-by-side look at the real trade-offs between the two custody models.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Security
View all →Crypto Security Basics
Practical, foundational security habits for protecting wallets, keys, and transactions.
6 min read · 7 related concepts
How to Recognize and Avoid Crypto Phishing
Practical patterns behind crypto phishing attempts, and habits that help you avoid falling for them.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
Seed Phrase Security Best Practices
Practical habits for storing and protecting a wallet seed phrase, and mistakes that put funds at real risk.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Recognizing Rug Pulls and Exit Scams
Common warning signs of a project designed to take investors' funds and disappear.
6 min read · 6 related concepts
Two-Factor Authentication for Crypto Accounts
Why 2FA matters for exchange accounts, and which methods offer stronger protection.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
How to Verify a Smart Contract Before Interacting
Practical steps to reduce risk before connecting a wallet or depositing funds into a smart contract.
6 min read · 4 related concepts
How to Evaluate a Smart Contract Audit
What to actually look for in a security audit report, beyond simply confirming one exists.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Protecting Against SIM Swap Attacks
How a SIM swap attack works, and practical steps to reduce your exposure to it.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
Trading
View all →Crypto Trading Foundations
Core concepts for disciplined, research-based market study — not signals or guaranteed outcomes.
6 min read · 16 related concepts
Understanding Market Volatility in Crypto
What volatility actually measures, why crypto markets tend to be more volatile than some other asset classes, and how research discipline responds to it.
6 min read · 9 related concepts
Understanding Order Types in Crypto Trading
The difference between market, limit, and stop orders, and when each is typically used.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
Technical Analysis Basics for Crypto
A plain-language introduction to reading price charts and common technical analysis concepts.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Spot vs. Futures Trading
How buying an asset outright differs from trading a futures contract based on its price.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
Understanding Funding Rates and Basis Trades
How the funding rate mechanism works, and how traders build strategies around it.
6 min read · 3 related concepts
Reading Order Book Depth and Liquidity
How to interpret an order book's depth to gauge likely price impact before placing a trade.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
Taxes
View all →Crypto Taxes: The Basics
General, educational concepts behind crypto taxation — not personalized or jurisdiction-specific tax advice.
6 min read · 5 related concepts
Crypto Cost Basis and Accounting Methods
A general, educational look at cost basis and common accounting methods like FIFO — not personalized tax advice.
6 min read · 11 related concepts
How Crypto-to-Crypto Trades Are Generally Treated
A general, educational look at why trading one crypto asset for another can itself be a taxable event.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Taxable Events in Crypto
A general educational overview of the kinds of crypto activity commonly treated as taxable events.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Recordkeeping for Crypto Taxes
Why detailed transaction records matter for crypto taxes, and what's generally useful to track.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Crypto Tax Loss Harvesting
A general, educational look at realizing losses for potential tax purposes — not personalized advice.
5 min read · 1 related concept
How DeFi Activity Complicates Tax Reporting
A general look at why DeFi transactions can be harder to track and report than simple trades.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Investing
View all →Building a Long-Term Crypto Investment Strategy
General, educational considerations for thinking about crypto as part of a longer-term approach.
6 min read · 4 related concepts
Understanding Dollar-Cost Averaging
How investing a fixed amount at regular intervals works, and what it does and doesn't solve.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
Portfolio Diversification in Crypto
General educational considerations around spreading risk across different crypto assets.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Building a Core-Satellite Crypto Portfolio
A general, educational look at a common structure for organizing a diversified crypto portfolio.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Evaluating Crypto Fund and Index Products
General, educational factors to understand before considering a pooled crypto investment product.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Stablecoins
View all →What Are Stablecoins?
How stablecoins aim to track the value of another asset, and why that's useful.
5 min read · 4 related concepts
Fiat-Collateralized vs. Algorithmic Stablecoins
How different stablecoin designs try to maintain their peg, and why the mechanism matters.
6 min read · 3 related concepts
Risks of Holding Stablecoins
Real risks to understand before treating a stablecoin as equivalent to holding cash.
5 min read · 1 related concept
How Stablecoin Redemption Actually Works
How exchanging a fiat-collateralized stablecoin back for its underlying reserve asset typically works.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Yield-Bearing Stablecoins Explained
How some stablecoins pass along yield from their backing reserves, and what that changes.
5 min read · 1 related concept
NFTs
View all →How NFT Marketplaces Work
How buying, selling, and listing NFTs actually works on a typical marketplace.
5 min read · 9 related concepts
NFT Royalties and Creator Economics
How on-chain creator royalties are intended to work, and a real limitation worth understanding.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
Common NFT Scams and How to Avoid Them
Frequently seen NFT scam patterns and practical ways to reduce your risk.
5 min read · 1 related concept
NFT Utility Beyond Art and Collectibles
A look at practical NFT use cases beyond digital art and profile-picture collectibles.
5 min read · 1 related concept
How NFT Lending Works
How an NFT can be used as collateral to borrow against, and the risks specific to this market.
5 min read · 1 related concept
DAOs & Governance
View all →What Is a DAO?
How decentralized autonomous organizations coordinate decisions, and their real limitations.
6 min read · 2 related concepts
How On-Chain Governance Voting Works
The typical lifecycle of a governance proposal, from submission to execution.
6 min read · 4 related concepts
Understanding Governance Tokens
What a governance token actually grants, and what it typically doesn't.
5 min read · 4 related concepts
Understanding Quadratic and Conviction Voting
Two alternative governance voting models, and what problems they're each designed to address.
6 min read · 3 related concepts
How DAO Treasuries Are Managed
How a DAO's pooled funds are typically held, allocated, and safeguarded.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Risk Management
View all →Understanding Position Sizing
Why how much you allocate to a single position matters as much as which asset you choose.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Setting Stop-Losses and Take-Profits
How predefined exit levels work, and why deciding them in advance matters.
5 min read · 3 related concepts
Diversification as a Risk Management Tool
How spreading exposure across assets, time, and platforms each address different risks.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Using Stop-Losses Effectively in Volatile Markets
Practical considerations for setting a stop-loss that survives normal volatility but still limits risk.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Sizing Positions for Asymmetric Risk/Reward
How a trade's risk/reward ratio can inform position sizing, beyond a fixed percentage rule alone.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Trading Expectancy
How win rate and average win/loss size combine into a single expected-value figure per trade.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Risk of Ruin
How position sizing and win rate together determine the probability of losing an entire account.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Practical How-To
View all →How to Read a Block Explorer
A practical walkthrough of what a block explorer shows and how to use it to verify a transaction.
5 min read · 8 related concepts
How to Safely Bridge Assets Across Chains
How cross-chain bridges work, and practical precautions given their real, documented risk.
6 min read · 1 related concept
How to Evaluate a Crypto Project Before Investing
A practical, general framework for researching a project rather than relying on hype alone.
6 min read · 6 related concepts
How to Safely Approve and Revoke Token Allowances
What a token approval actually grants, and why periodically reviewing and revoking them matters.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
How to Set Up a Multi-Signature Wallet
A practical overview of the general process and decisions involved in setting up a multisig wallet.
6 min read · 1 related concept
On-Chain Analysis
View all →Introduction to On-Chain Analysis
What on-chain analysis is, why it's possible, and what kinds of questions it can help answer.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Reading Whale Wallet Movements
What tracking large wallet activity can and can't reasonably tell you.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Exchange Flow Metrics
How net inflows and outflows to exchange addresses are tracked, and their real limitations.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Using On-Chain Data to Research a Protocol
Practical on-chain questions worth asking when researching a DeFi protocol's real activity.
6 min read · 1 related concept
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) Explained
How some crypto networks coordinate real-world physical infrastructure using token incentives.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization
How off-chain assets get represented on-chain, and the trust question this depends on.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Portfolio Management
View all →Building a Diversified Crypto Portfolio
General, educational considerations for structuring a portfolio across multiple dimensions of risk.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Risk-Adjusted Returns
Why comparing raw returns alone can be misleading, and how risk-adjusted measures help.
5 min read · 2 related concepts
Rebalancing Strategies for Crypto Portfolios
Common general approaches to deciding when and how to rebalance a crypto portfolio.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Tax-Efficient Portfolio Management Basics
General, educational concepts relevant to managing a portfolio with tax consequences in mind.
5 min read · 1 related concept
Understanding Time-Weighted vs. Dollar-Weighted Returns
Two different ways of measuring investment performance, and why they can tell different stories.
5 min read · 1 related concept