There's a bunch of crypto/web3 content out there: articles, books, videos, tweets, etc. However, nothing beats actually trying things out and seeing how web3 works with your own eyes.

This post should help you do just that. Think of it as a hands-on beginner's guide to web3. My hope is that this helps you get your feet wet in the space, and sparks your curiosity to dig further!

We’ll cover the following topics:

• Custodial vs non-custodial crypto

• Wallets & identity

• ENS domains

• Decentralized exchanges (DEXs)

• Investigating transactions

• Web3 communities

To do so, we’ll go through the following steps:

1. Buy ETH

2. Set up MetaMask

3. Send ETH to your MetaMask

4. Set up your .eth name with ENS

5. Swap ETH for AAVE on Uniswap

6. Buy an NFT

7. Investigate transactions on Etherscan

8. Join web3 communities

We’ll be focused on the Ethereum ecosystem. Since we’ll be making transactions, we’ll have costs along the way (e.g. gas fees, NFTs, etc), so be ready to dedicate ~$500 for this.

In the first iteration of this post, I’m making the choice to not distill every single step and screenshot, since I think there’s value and figuring stuff out on your on (to some extent).

You’ll need ETH to buy NFTs, pay for gas fees, trade for BTC, etc. You should buy it from an exchange that allows you to transfer cryptocurrency out of their custody, such as Coinbase and Gemini. I recommend buying at least 0.1 ETH for this exercise.

MetaMask is the most popular crypto wallet, and it’s how you’ll interact with dApps (decentralized applications). While it’s called “wallet”, you can think of it as your “crypto profile” that you can use across any web3 app — kind of like a “Login with Facebook”.

First set up MetaMask as a browser extension, and then download the accompanying mobile app.

When setting up MetaMask, you’ll create a wallet address, that might look something like this: 0x9fD7c5133243696784771cE7Fb0d8433D91Cd730. This is the public unique identifier of your wallet (i.e. “crypto profile”).

Make sure you store your MetaMask seed phrase and password in a safe place!

Send ETH from your centralized exchange (i.e. Coinbase, Gemini) to your newly-created MetaMask account. In other words, send the ETH to your wallet’s address.

You now officially have full custody of your ETH, congrats!!

You can think of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) as a “domain registrar” for web3. You can use it to buy .eth names.

For instance, I own the bru.eth name, which now maps to my wallet address 0x9fD7c5133243696784771cE7Fb0d8433D91Cd730. This is cool because bru.eth can substitute my super long address number, which is much more user-friendly (e.g. in searches, in apps, etc).

Once you buy your .eth domain, you’ll need to do two things:

1. Map your .eth name to your wallet address

2. Map your wallet address to your .eth name

Then you’re done, and your .eth name will start resolving to your wallet address!

As you might expect, the .eth is an NFT, as it is unique (i.e. non-fungible).

Uniswap is a Decentralized Exchange (DEX). Essentially a web3 version of Coinbase, based on smart contracts. Uniswap was built on top of Ethereum. Let’s try it out.

Connect your wallet to Uniswap — if you did the previous step correctly, you should see your newly created .eth name there, instead of a long wallet address.

Now let’s swap some ETH for another token, like AAVE for instance. Enter the amount of ETH you want to swap for AAVE (or whatever other token you choose).

Once the swap has been completed, you should see both ETH and AAVE in your wallet.

OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace. Find a cheap NFT to purchase that speaks to you, and go for it!

As a suggestion, these Fucked Crypto Homers are pretty cool (and, more importantly, very cheap).

Your wallet should now have:

• Some ETH

• Some AAVE

• Your .eth name

• Your newly bought NFT

Etherscan is essentially a search engine for Ethereum transactions. Since the Ethereum blockchain is public, anyone can see every transaction in it. Transparency is one of the beautiful things about web3.

Search for your wallet address on Etherscan, and then find all the transactions you’ve done so far:

• Transfering ETH from centralized exchange to MetaMask

• Buying .eth name on ENS

• Swapping ETH for AAVE on Uniswap

• Buying NFT on OpenSea

Make sure to spend some there clicking things through, reading every label, and really wrapping your head around how etherscan works. Feeling comfortable using etherscan will pay a lot of dividends in your web3 journey.

Communities are at the core of web3. And they tend to be concentrated in Discord, Twitter and Telegram.

Here are some interesting Discord communities for you to join:

1. Bored Ape Yacht Club: Website and Discord.

2. Art Blocks: Website and Discord.

3. Uniswap: Website and Discord.

4. ENS: Discord.

I also created this NFT Twitter List a while back with some relevant people in the space. Get ready for a lot of avatars on your timeline!

If you want to dig deeper, here are some resources and ideas:

• Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps. Probably the best book to ramp up on Ethereum.

• Learn the following concepts: liquidity provider, Impermanent loss, flash loans, vampire attacks, yield farming, NFT minting, ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155

Hope this was helpful! Feel free to reach out with any thoughts or ideas on Twitter — I’m @bdmartino.

Also, check out the project I’ve been hacking on: Troop (troop.gg). We make it easy to buy NFTs in a group and manage fractional ownership.

There's a bunch of crypto/web3 content out there: articles, books, videos, tweets, etc. However, nothing beats actually trying things out and seeing how web3 works with your own eyes.

This post should help you do just that. Think of it as a hands-on beginner's guide to web3. My hope is that this helps you get your feet wet in the space, and sparks your curiosity to dig further!

We’ll cover the following topics:

• Custodial vs non-custodial crypto

• Wallets & identity

• ENS domains

• Decentralized exchanges (DEXs)

• Investigating transactions

• Web3 communities

To do so, we’ll go through the following steps:

1. Buy ETH

2. Set up MetaMask

3. Send ETH to your MetaMask

4. Set up your .eth name with ENS

5. Swap ETH for AAVE on Uniswap

6. Buy an NFT

7. Investigate transactions on Etherscan

8. Join web3 communities

We’ll be focused on the Ethereum ecosystem. Since we’ll be making transactions, we’ll have costs along the way (e.g. gas fees, NFTs, etc), so be ready to dedicate ~$500 for this.

In the first iteration of this post, I’m making the choice to not distill every single step and screenshot, since I think there’s value and figuring stuff out on your on (to some extent).

You’ll need ETH to buy NFTs, pay for gas fees, trade for BTC, etc. You should buy it from an exchange that allows you to transfer cryptocurrency out of their custody, such as Coinbase and Gemini. I recommend buying at least 0.1 ETH for this exercise.

MetaMask is the most popular crypto wallet, and it’s how you’ll interact with dApps (decentralized applications). While it’s called “wallet”, you can think of it as your “crypto profile” that you can use across any web3 app — kind of like a “Login with Facebook”.

First set up MetaMask as a browser extension, and then download the accompanying mobile app.

When setting up MetaMask, you’ll create a wallet address, that might look something like this: 0x9fD7c5133243696784771cE7Fb0d8433D91Cd730. This is the public unique identifier of your wallet (i.e. “crypto profile”).

Make sure you store your MetaMask seed phrase and password in a safe place!

Send ETH from your centralized exchange (i.e. Coinbase, Gemini) to your newly-created MetaMask account. In other words, send the ETH to your wallet’s address.

You now officially have full custody of your ETH, congrats!!

You can think of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) as a “domain registrar” for web3. You can use it to buy .eth names.

For instance, I own the bru.eth name, which now maps to my wallet address 0x9fD7c5133243696784771cE7Fb0d8433D91Cd730. This is cool because bru.eth can substitute my super long address number, which is much more user-friendly (e.g. in searches, in apps, etc).

Once you buy your .eth domain, you’ll need to do two things:

1. Map your .eth name to your wallet address

2. Map your wallet address to your .eth name

Then you’re done, and your .eth name will start resolving to your wallet address!

As you might expect, the .eth is an NFT, as it is unique (i.e. non-fungible).

Uniswap is a Decentralized Exchange (DEX). Essentially a web3 version of Coinbase, based on smart contracts. Uniswap was built on top of Ethereum. Let’s try it out.

Connect your wallet to Uniswap — if you did the previous step correctly, you should see your newly created .eth name there, instead of a long wallet address.

Now let’s swap some ETH for another token, like AAVE for instance. Enter the amount of ETH you want to swap for AAVE (or whatever other token you choose).

Once the swap has been completed, you should see both ETH and AAVE in your wallet.

OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace. Find a cheap NFT to purchase that speaks to you, and go for it!

As a suggestion, these Fucked Crypto Homers are pretty cool (and, more importantly, very cheap).

Your wallet should now have:

• Some ETH

• Some AAVE

• Your .eth name

• Your newly bought NFT

Etherscan is essentially a search engine for Ethereum transactions. Since the Ethereum blockchain is public, anyone can see every transaction in it. Transparency is one of the beautiful things about web3.

Search for your wallet address on Etherscan, and then find all the transactions you’ve done so far:

• Transfering ETH from centralized exchange to MetaMask

• Buying .eth name on ENS

• Swapping ETH for AAVE on Uniswap

• Buying NFT on OpenSea

Make sure to spend some there clicking things through, reading every label, and really wrapping your head around how etherscan works. Feeling comfortable using etherscan will pay a lot of dividends in your web3 journey.

Communities are at the core of web3. And they tend to be concentrated in Discord, Twitter and Telegram.

Here are some interesting Discord communities for you to join:

1. Bored Ape Yacht Club: Website and Discord.

2. Art Blocks: Website and Discord.

3. Uniswap: Website and Discord.

4. ENS: Discord.

I also created this NFT Twitter List a while back with some relevant people in the space. Get ready for a lot of avatars on your timeline!

If you want to dig deeper, here are some resources and ideas:

• Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps. Probably the best book to ramp up on Ethereum.

• Learn the following concepts: liquidity provider, Impermanent loss, flash loans, vampire attacks, yield farming, NFT minting, ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155

Hope this was helpful! Feel free to reach out with any thoughts or ideas on Twitter — I’m @bdmartino.

Also, check out the project I’ve been hacking on: Troop (troop.gg). We make it easy to buy NFTs in a group and manage fractional ownership.