It’s the Last day of our 18 days of reading Mastering Ethereum.
To close it out, this chapter talks about zero-knowledge proofs.
In simple terms, zero-knowledge proofs let you prove something is true without showing the details.
Instead of everyone checking every single step of a transaction, one party does the work and provides a small proof that others can quickly verify. This helps Ethereum become faster and cheaper without giving up security.
That’s why zero-knowledge proofs are important for scaling Ethereum they reduce how much work the network has to do while keeping trust intact.
Final note,
Learning Ethereum in public reminded me that understanding the ideas behind the tech matters just as much as the tools.
About me;
I’m Faith — a Web3 Virtual Assistant, Community Manager, Social Media Manager, and Researcher.
I help Web3 teams with operations, content, and community growth.
📩 Open to work and collaborations. Let’s work together.
Day 17— Mastering Ethereum (Scaling Ethereum)
Ethereum struggles to be decentralized, secure, and fast all at once. Currently, its popularity causes high gas fees and network congestion because every node must process every transaction.
Additionally, the "state" (the massive amount of data the network must remember) is growing so fast that it's becoming difficult for regular people to run the hardware needed to support the network.
To fix this, Ethereum is moving toward a "modular" future where most transactions happen on Rollups.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 16— Mastering Ethereum (Consensus)
Ethereum handles high costs and slow speed caused by too many users competing to use the network. Because every transaction is processed by all nodes, Ethereum can become expensive and congested.
To solve this, Layer 2 solutions are introduced. These are systems built on top of Ethereum that process transactions off the main chain and then send the final results back to Ethereum for security. E.g. rollups, which bundle many transactions together to reduce fees.
The key idea is that Ethereum focuses on security and decentralization, while Layer 2 solutions focus on speed and lower costs, allowing the network to scale without losing trust.
Day 15— Mastering Ethereum (The Ethereum Virtual Machine)
Think of the Ethereum Virtual Machine as a machine that must give the same answer everywhere on Earth.
If it ever guessed or checked the internet by itself, different computers would see different results, and Ethereum would break.
So the EVM stays blind and predictable on purpose.
When it needs real-world information, oracles whisper it the answer, carefully and in the same way for everyone.
That’s what keeps Ethereum trustworthy.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 14 — Mastering Ethereum
Here are some of the most shocking facts about Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
-Through a unique DeFi feature called "flash loans," users can borrow funds without providing any collateral at all, provided the entire loan is taken and repaid within a single blockchain transaction.
-Two tokens with the same name can have completely different risk profiles. e.g, native USDC issued directly on a chain is generally safer than "bridged" USDC (USDC.e)
-Despite the name, many protocols rely on a small core team or specific admin addresses with "significant privileges" that could allow them to control the system.
-Because smart contracts are immutable once deployed, governments cannot "turn off" a protocol like Tornado Cash. Instead, they target the human developers; one developer was sentenced to 64 months in prison for writing code that was later misused by others.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 13— Mastering Ethereum (Decentralized Applications)
I’m sure a lot of you have wondered what Decentralized Applications, or DApps are.
They represent a major shift from traditional apps because they replace centralized servers and databases with open-source smart contracts running on the Ethereum blockchain.
This unique architecture ensures the application remains persistent and censorship-resistant, meaning it can continue to function even if its original creators disappear or if governments attempt to block it.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 12 — Mastering Ethereum (Oracles)
Smart contracts on Ethereum cannot access real-world information or generate true randomness on their own because all computers in the network must reach the same result.
To solve this, oracles are used. Oracles act as bridges that bring outside information such as prices, weather, random numbers, or events from other blockchains, into smart contracts.
Oracles make smart contracts more useful, allowing them to react to real-life events. However, they also introduce risk because if an oracle is hacked or dishonest, the smart contract can behave incorrectly.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Resea
Day 11 — Mastering Ethereum (Tokens)
Did you know?
Tokens didn’t originally mean valuable assets, the word comes from Old English tācen, meaning a sign or symbol, like arcade or bus tokens
Did you know?
Blockchain tokens can represent many things at once; currency, access, voting rights, identity, or ownership all in a single token
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 10 — Mastering Ethereum (Smart Contract Security)
Smart contracts are powerful, but that power comes with risk.
Once deployed, a contract can’t be easily changed which means mistakes can’t be undone.
Most security issues don’t come from hackers being clever, but from simple logic errors, bad assumptions, or overlooked edge cases in the code.
This is why audits, testing, and writing simpler contracts matter.
In Ethereum, security isn’t about reacting after something breaks, it’s about preventing failure before deployment.
Note;
In smart contracts, prevention is the real protection.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 9 — Mastering Ethereum (Smart Contracts & Vyper)
Vyper is a programming language used to write Ethereum smart contracts, but it’s designed to be simpler and safer than Solidity.
It removes complex features on purpose so contracts are easier to read, audit, and reason about. The trade-off is less flexibility, but fewer hidden behaviors.
Vyper’s focus isn’t convenience; it’s clarity and security, especially for contracts that handle value.
Quick question - Do you think limiting developers actually makes blockchain systems more secure?
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 8 — Mastering Ethereum (Smart Contracts & Solidity)
Smart contracts are programs that live on Ethereum and run exactly as written.
No approvals, no intermediaries, no “we’ll get back to you.”
Once deployed, a smart contract becomes immutable; it can’t be changed, paused, or reversed unless that logic was written into it from the start. That’s both its power and its risk.
Solidity is the programming language used to write these contracts.
It translates real-world rules and agreements into code the blockchain can enforce automatically.
This is why Ethereum isn’t just for payments — it’s for building systems that execute trustlessly.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 7 — Mastering Ethereum (Transactions)
An Ethereum transaction is more than just sending ETH from one address to another.
It’s a signed instruction that tells the network to do something; transfer value, deploy a contract, or interact with an app.
Every transaction must be signed with a private key, paid for with gas, and then verified by the network before it becomes permanent.
Once confirmed, a transaction cannot be reversed.
Ethereum doesn’t rely on customer support or dispute resolution, it relies on cryptographic finality.
What part of Ethereum transactions confused you the most at first?
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Day 6 — Mastering Ethereum (Wallets)
An Ethereum wallet doesn’t actually store your crypto.
What it really stores is your private keys, the proof that you own and can control assets on the blockchain.
Your funds always live on the blockchain.
The wallet is simply the interface that lets you view balances, sign transactions, and interact with applications.
This is why losing your seed phrase means losing access; not because the crypto is gone, but because the key to it is.
Note: In Web3, access matters more than accounts.
______________________________
-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
Mastering Ethereum Day 5
Cryptography is the science of securing information using mathematics.
In simple terms; it allows people to prove ownership, send messages, and verify actions without trusting a middleman
Ethereum security is built on cryptography, not trust in people or institutions.
You don’t need to understand the math behind cryptography to use Ethereum; but the math is why it works.
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-Web3 VA -Community Mod -SMM -Researcher
