Last updated: April 1st, 2021
Welcome to your bankless journey!
This guide is your roadmap to the unknown. It’s your guide to the wild west of open finance. Don’t worry about figuring this out all at once. Just commit to learning a bit each week.
Welcome to the frontier.
- RSA
P.S. Get your crypto off an exchange using our Ultimate Guide to Ledger
The Bankless Guide
Start with this 8 minute video to get the basics.
Join us on the journey toward financial freedom! We’ll send you one crypto level-up daily.
Here’s what this guide covers:
Bankless goals
Resources for the journey
Understanding core concepts
Developing key skills
Where to get help
1. Bankless goals
Going bankless is a journey towards freedom—self-sovereignty. Financial independence.
That means less reliance on two types of banks:
Commercial banks
It’s not that we hate banks—we just don’t need them anymore. At least, we need them a lot less in our new crypto money systems.
But we’re practical. It’s too early to do this all at once. Too risky. Too difficult.
This open money system is just getting started.
That’s why it’s a journey.
Must do actions:
🎙️Listen: Welcome to Bankless (2021 edition) 👈 do this first
📄Read the Bankless Skill Cube (that’s our map)
Westward for Gold!
Like all worthwhile journeys, this one isn’t easy! It takes effort. It requires risk!
We’re not just starry-eyed dreamers—we’re heading west because there’s gold! If we’re right—massive upside! New economies. New asset classes. The opportunity to become financially independent.
This is like learning HTML and buying .com domains in 1995.
Why go bankless?
To maximize your crypto wealth (independence & wealth)
To become a Bankless Jedi (skills & knowledge)
And it’s about a better system for future generations:
It’s about rejecting authoritarianism (read the deeper reason)
It’s about building it up not burning it down (read the cities burn below)
It’s about how we can change the world (read the 3.5% rule)
It’s about access for developing world (read straddling two worlds)
It’s about a hedge against their money printing (read the cost of money printing)
Bankless means freedom and upside for each of us as individuals and an opportunity make the world a better place for future generations. If bankless wins, the world wins.
2. Resources for the journey
With your goals in let’s make sure you have the resources for your journey.
Weekly level-ups:
📄Subscribe to Bankless newsletter - read daily, recap on Saturday, see archive
🎙️Subscribe to Bankless podcast - weekly episodes & check the archive (the why)
📺Subscribe to Bankless YouTube - weekly Shows, Recaps, & tutorials
Get on the schedule:
(Mondays) Read rundown, watch video tactic, & listen to new podcast episode
(Tuesdays) Read new tactic to learn & watch State of the Nation video show
(Wednesdays) Read written piece by a Bankless community member
(Thursdays) Read thought piece for strategy calibration
(Fridays) Watch weekly rollup and discuss topic on open thread
(Saturdays) Read weekly recap and do the action items
(Sundays) Rest up for next week!
Community engagement:
🧑🤝🧑 Bankless Discord - a community chat for the Bankless community
💬 Bankless AMAs - AMAs w/ fascinating guests 2nd & 4th Thurs of the month
🐦 Bankless Twitter - follow for news, updates, & inspiration
🖼️ Bankless Instagram - for the dank memes
Starter Equipment:
You’ll need an exchange account to buy crypto (I like Gemini)
You’ll need a DeFi wallet (I recommend MetaMask for desktop & Argent for mobile)
You’ll need a hardware wallet for cold storage (Use the Ultimate Guide to Ledger)
Member Equipment:
📄Claim your Bankless Token Badge for 2021 (how to self claim here!)
Crypto is moving fast…don't get left behind! Join us on the Bankless journey and we’ll send you daily insights and tactics to grow your crypto wealth and get to financial freedom using tools like Bitcoin, Ethereum and DeFi! (It’s free to get started)
Recommended Tools:
Hardware Wallet: Ledger X or Ledger Nano S (our Guide here)
Desktop Wallet: MetaMask
Mobile Wallet: Argent
Earning interest: Aave (decentralized) or BlockFi (centralized)
Tax tracking: CoinTracking (advanced) or TokenTax (good DeFi support)
Retirement account: RocketDollar (self-directed IRAs and 401ks)
Crypto Visa card:
Crypto.com (U.S. - “BANKLESS2020” code)
Monolith (Europe—purely bankless 🔥)
Also—check out the Deal Sheet for the best deals on crypto products! 💸
Actions:
3. Understand core concepts
With your resources by your side you can start digging into the core concepts.
Read these first:
Money:
Investing:
Paradigms:
Ethereum & Bitcoin are Digital Nations
Economic bandwidth explains why ETH & BTC are irreplaceable as money
Protocol Sink Thesis explains why DeFi will win
Ethereum & ETH:
Bitcoin & BTC:
DeFi & Crypto Banks:
📄The 2 faces of Ethereum (DeFi is a spectrum) 🔥
Investing in DeFi Tokens:
Token Reports
Yield Farming:
Stablecoins:
Governance
NFTs
Technology:
Crypto eating traditional finance:
4. Develop Key Skills
While you learn the key concepts take time to level-up on the key skills so you can do things in the the bankless money system—pay, lend, borrow, earn, trade, and invest.
Going Bankless:
Pay & Receive:
Lend & Borrow:
Earn:
Invest:
Stake:
Wallets & Addresses:
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs):
Collectibles & Gaming:
Trading & Betting
Risks:
Taxes:
Security & Privacy:
Hedging Risk:
Learning to learn:
Essential Editorials
📄ETH is doubly undervalued (May 25, 2020)
📄You’re not late! (January 20, 2020)
📄Rise of the protocol politicians (October 21, 2019)
📄DeFi in ten years (December 5, 2019)
📄Money metaphors (January 13, 2020)
📄Crypto is for mainstream (December 16, 2019)
📄Everyday is proof of keys for DeFi (January 6, 2020)
📄Voting for cash flows (May 4, 2020)
📄ETH futures (May 11, 2020)
📄What happens when you attack DeFi? (February 17, 2020)
📄Why Pomp is wrong about ETH (August 20, 2020)
📄Uniswap and the Overton Window of Capital (September 21, 2020)
📄An Acid Test for Decentralization (September 28, 2020)
📄Exploring the Dark Forest (September 30, 2020)
5. Where to get help
In the American West settlers traveled across the plains and mountains passes in covered wagons banded together for mutual help. These wagon trains were the best way to survive the rugged westward road.
The bankless journey is rugged too. And like early settlers we survive as a wagon trail.
The entire bankless community is ready to help you on your journey.
Go to the Inner Circle Discord channel and just ask.
You’re not alone.
You’re in the bankless nation now.
To continue the bankless journey sign-up for the daily newsletter now. The lite version is free.
More guides!
Guide 1: Starting with the Bankless newsletter (👈 you are here)
Special thanks to @Abv_Avg_Joe and @0x_Lucas for helping to put this guide together. Members like these make the bankless community special.
Note: some links above are affiliate meaning at no cost to you if Bankless earns a commission
Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Thanks for this epic piece, Ryan! It's this kind of content that makes this crazy journey feel comfortable and fun.
slowly wading into this but it looks promising