It has been an intense learning week for me during my spare time. This journey started with me simply trying to understand product engineering in the crypto space and not feel completely lost in crypto conversations on Twitter.

I have been a heavy user of crypto for a while. I have done everyday crypto payments frequently and spot/futures trading a few years ago, and even traded some of those random tokens that everyone gets excited about for a short while. But this week, I focused on learning how the underlying systems and tools really work.

Here are some things I learnt:

Understanding the Layers (L0 – L2)

• I finally got clarity on blockchain layers from Layer 0 (Polkadot, Hyperbridge) to Layer 1 (Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana) and Layer 2 (Base, Optimism, Polygon, Celo, and others).
• Before now, I only had a rough idea, but this week I connected the dots. It is interesting how each layer serves its purpose — from the base infrastructure (Layer 0) to the scaling layers (Layer 2) that make transactions faster and cheaper.
• I also have my own theory about Layer 3 and Layer 4, but that’s a story for another time.

Bridging, RPC, and Wallets

• Then came bridging and Remote Procedure Calls. These were terms I had heard a lot but never really understood. Now I see that Remote Procedure Calls act as gateways that let applications talk to blockchain nodes.
• I also explored crypto wallet service providers like Coinbase Wallet, Privy, Magic, and even Blockradar.co from Africa. I now understand why some builders prefer to manage wallets themselves instead of using a service. Personally, I see the value in handling wallet management directly — it gives more control and flexibility, even though it might be more expensive.
• For Remote Procedure Calls, instead of setting up connections for each blockchain network one by one, you can work with a service like Alchemy that handles that for you.

Smart Contracts, Ethereum Virtual Machine, and Frameworks

• I had learned about smart contracts before, but this week I saw how much things have changed. There are now frameworks like Hardhat that make it easier to build, test, and deploy smart contracts.
• I also learned more about the Ethereum Virtual Machine and how wallet addresses work across networks.
• I found it fascinating that I have been using the same wallet address on different networks in most crypto apps simply because they are all Ethereum-compatible wallets.

Deciding What to Build Onchain

• This learning streak made me start mapping out what is possible to be built onchain considering the products I am working on. I am still deciding which Layer 2 network to build on, but I have been spending time in the Base and Celo communities to learn from people already building there. Maybe I will experiment with Lisk too.

Tools

• I finally understood what Njoku built some months back that went viral on Twitter — BaseMigrate and SuperMigrate. These tools automate the process of importing ERC-20 tokens into networks like Base. It made a lot more sense to me this week, so that’s a good sign.

Communities and New Platforms

• On the community side, I attended a Celo event this week, which was inspiring. That was where I finally understood why ChatGPT once said Celo is both a Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchain. It is technically a Layer 1 but has Layer 2-like features because it is built for interoperability and scalability. I mean, they also announced earlier this year that they are migrating to become a Layer 2 on the Ethereum blockchain.
• I am open to exploring other ecosystems too so I can gain more context.
• I also joined Farcaster this week — you can follow me here: https://farcaster.xyz/goodnesskay. I am still figuring out who to follow and how to use it, but it has been fun so far.
• I have also started taking Discord channels seriously this week. Joined a couple. Never knew “GM” was a slang in web3 lol.

Wrapping Up

This week reminded me of how deep and fast-evolving the blockchain space really is. Every new thing I learn leads to three more things I need to understand. There are so many terms and concepts, and sometimes they overlap, but it is starting to make sense bit by bit.

I might document what I learn next week too. It’s a good way to keep track of the journey and share my progress as I go.