Whitepaper
A document in which a project explains what it is building, how the technology works and how its token functions.
✦ Key Insight
It is often the only structured statement of what a project intends to do, and vagueness in it is itself a signal.
✕ Common Misconceptions
Treating a polished document as diligence. Whitepapers are frequently plagiarised, and technical density is often used to obscure rather than explain.
Detailed Explanation
In Practice
Dig Deeper
Wallet
Software or hardware that stores your private keys and lets you sign transactions.
Token
An asset created by a smart contract on an existing blockchain rather than being that blockchain's native currency.
Blockchain
A shared, append-only record of transactions maintained by many independent computers at once.
Transaction
A blockchain transaction is a signed or authorized instruction that changes blockchain state or transfers value when accepted by the network.