A blockchain node is any computer running that network’s software, holding a copy of the ledger, and helping check that new transactions follow the rules. Some nodes just watch and relay data; others also produce blocks, store the network’s entire…
Lazy minting is a way to create an NFT without paying gas upfront: the creator signs a free, off-chain authorization instead of broadcasting a transaction, and the actual on-chain mint only happens once a buyer completes a purchase. Nothing is…
ERC-721 and ERC-1155 are the two token standards behind almost every NFT on Ethereum. ERC-721 gives each token its own unique ID inside a dedicated contract, which is why it’s the default for one-of-a-kind art and PFP collections. ERC-1155 lets…
A zero-knowledge rollup, or ZK-rollup, is a Layer-2 network that moves Ethereum transactions off the main chain, bundles them together, and proves the whole batch is correct with math instead of asking anyone to trust the result. That proof —…
A custodial wallet is one where someone else holds your private keys — an exchange, a broker, a payment app. A non-custodial wallet is one where you hold them yourself, on your own device, with no company standing between you…
The blockchain trilemma is the observation that a blockchain can fully optimize for only two of three properties at once: decentralization, security, and scalability. Push a network to process more transactions and it usually leans on fewer, more powerful validators…
Open any Ethereum smart contract on GitHub and the code looks like a cross between JavaScript and C++ — curly braces, semicolons, functions, and a few keywords you won’t find anywhere else. That’s Solidity. It’s the language behind most of…
A blockchain application is any piece of software that stores its data or runs its logic on a distributed ledger instead of a single company’s server. Rather than one database controlled by one party, the record is copied across many…
A merkle tree is a cryptographic data structure that summarizes a large set of data in a single hash while making individual pieces of that data easy to verify. Instead of checking an entire dataset, a system can verify one…
Ethereum wallets have traditionally worked in a simple way: one private key controls one externally owned account, or EOA. That model is predictable, but it makes modern wallet features such as transaction batching, sponsored gas, spending limits, alternative authentication, and…