Letter 88: Books, Podcasts, YouTube Channels, X Accounts, and Newsletters
25 recommendations across five categories to help you stay informed
Back in April I wrote about curating your information flow and how important that was. I ended by sharing a list of X accounts to follow. Today I want to expand on that topic and create a resource that includes not just an updated list of X accounts, but also podcasts, newsletters, and other channels to gather information from.
There are a lot of resources here so I don’t expect anyone to consume everything I mention, but rather, treat this as a buffet where you pick and choose the things that appeal to you.
Shoutout to premium subscriber Slack who recommended this topic in our private telegram chat. If you want to subscribe and join our chat, we’d love to have you in the group!
Okay I’ve broken this down into the following five categories with five recommendations from each category:
X Accounts
Newsletters
Podcasts
YouTube
Books
X Accounts
One of my favourite new follows, Tulip King isn’t just another copypasta account that echoes the sentiment of the rest of CT. He has his own views, often contrarian, and always backed up with solid research and reasoning. A very high value account to follow.
The single best person you can follow if you want to stay up to date on all things at the intersection of AI and Crypto (and now, Robotics, too). S4mmy is across everything, researching and sharing all of the newest and latest protocols. If you want to be early to things in this sector, follow s4mmy.
One of the few accounts that trades in significant size and still shares their views in public. Often contrarian, I appreciate their pragmatic takes in the face of euphoria, and their sober takes when the market is struggling. Good to balance the hopium with reality.
If it’s happening in crypto, Tyler is probably sharing it. From macro moves, to airdrops, to NFT mints, and the latest memecoin risers, Tyler somehow seems to always be on top of everything. Great follow to just keep an eye on everything going on.
Hoeem is a deep researcher who doesn’t have blinders on and will look for edges and opportunities in the deepest depths of the crypto ocean. Sometimes he’s trading the biggest moves of the month, other times he’s talking about some obscure chain or DeFi protocol that most haven’t heard of. A great follow to expand your horizons.
Newsletters
Mentioned s4mmy already in the X section but his Newsletter is an even more fantastic way to stay up to date. X can be chaotic and you sometimes miss things, by subscribing to his newsletter you’ll get an even-more-curated snapshot of what’s going on in AI x Crypto x Robotics.
Just a fantastic quick newsletter sent out with all of the important news topics of the day. Succinct yet thorough, you’ll rarely miss things if you’re paying attention to Mando Minutes.
Not strictly a crypto newsletter, Not Boring covers all things technology and the internet. I still think it’s very worth subscribing to for a broader picture of what’s going on online, and the occasions that crypto is covered. Not Boring is the newsletter that opened my eyes to the possibilities of NFTs in early 2021, and I will always have a special place in my heart for them because of that.
One of my favourite newsletters — data backed insights into market conditions, written by an OG who has been around the block. High value, low fluff.
I recently stumbled upon Happy’s Substack, and it’s a treat to read. Well written and across a diverse range of topics, you’ll be mentally richer for subscribing here.
Podcasts
Probably the single best podcast to listen to if you want to stay up to date with crypto. The hosts are always at the very forefront of the latest trends and metas, and have a very pragmatic and level headed approach to markets, trading, and investing. Plenty of excellent opportunities shared on this show.
Great podcast hosted by traders, for traders. They talk about current trends and it’s a good way to stay on top of the space + learn about new things.
Weekly long form interviews and discussions with some of the most interesting people in the space. Hosted by Laura Shin, Unchained has been running since 2016 and is a great weekly listen.
Co-hosted by the founders of Alliance DAO, a very successful incubator for crypto startups, this show is always full of insightful takes. They don’t post super regularly, but I never regret listening to them to get their thoughts on the market.
Really great catch-all podcast to listen to with interviews and conversations with many of the top founders in the space.
Bonus: UpOnly
One of the best podcasts in the space. Casual and fun style interviews with some of the toughest-to-get and most interesting guests. There hasn’t been a new episode in years, but they’ll be coming back with at least 8 more episodes soon.
YouTube Channels
If you’re looking for a channel that covers macro as well as crypto (but is still very crypto aligned), then Real Vision is the place to be. Probably the best one stop shop for staying up to date across all markets.
One of the best channels to watch if you’re interested in level headed technical analysis. Personally I have never traded much based on TA, but whenever I am curious to know what the best and brightest in the TA world are thinking, I head over to Ben’s channel. He’s been on point with a ridiculous amount of predictions this cycle, and while he obviously doesn’t always get things right, he’s honest about it, and doesn’t sell fake dreams.
I came across this channel in early 2021 when I was first learning about DeFi. It was an excellent resource then, and it’s an excellent resource now. They haven’t posted a new video in a while but deserve a spot on this list purely for the archive they have. If you want to learn about the more complex and technical side of crypto and DeFi, this channel makes it easy.
Another channel that hasn’t posted a new video in a while, but was integral to my learning and understanding about Bitcoin. If there was literally one person in the entire crypto space I would say has had the largest impact on the most amount of people from an education perspective, that person would be Andreas M. Antonopoulos. Read his books, watch his videos, and witness your mind expand.
One of the most genuine creators out there, not to mention consistent, hardworking, smart, and generous. Trader Mayne shares his expertise with his viewership in a way that is approachable and digestible.
Books
The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous
This book frames Bitcoin as the latest chapter in a long history of monetary evolution. It explains why sound monetary principles mattered in ancient civilizations, how fiat currency broke that historical pattern, and why Bitcoin (through its fixed supply, decentralisation, and predictable issuance) may restore monetary discipline. Very very very worth reading.
Read Write Own by Chris Dixon
Author Chris Dixon lays out a blueprint for an internet where users, creators, and developers hold genuine ownership rather than ceding value to centralised platforms. The book connects the early ideals of the web with today’s crypto infrastructure and argues that these tools finally enable a bottom-up, user-aligned internet.
Holds a special place in my heart as Chris is a big fan of NFTs and sees them for what they are, a technology that will underpin the future of the internet and not just monkey jpegs.
Mastering Bitcoin & The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Two books by the goat Andreas M Antonopoulos. Mastering Bitcoin was the first book I read on crypto, and while it’s certainly a bit more on the technical side, it’s explained in an easy-enough-to-understand way that really made me feel like I finally got it. It covers a lot of important concepts to understand like keys, addresses, transactions, blocks, mining, networking, wallets, security models, etc etc.
The Internet of Money is a collection of talks by Andreas and is just a really good read to get a deeper and fuller understanding of a lot of the philosophical concepts behind why Bitcoin is so important and necessary.
Broken Money by Lyn Alden
Similar to The Bitcoin Standard, this book analyses how the modern monetary system evolved into its current state and why it increasingly fails to serve individuals. The book dives deep into topics like inflation, capital misallocation, and declining trust. Alden argues that today’s money is “broken” because technology and policy drifted apart, and that Bitcoin and related innovations represent a corrective shift toward more transparent, rules-based forms of value storage and transfer.
The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson & William Rees-Mogg
An insanely prescient book written in the 1990s. The Sovereign Individual correctly forecasted so many things about how technology would fit in our new world. It argues that as information becomes the primary economic resource, individuals will gain unprecedented mobility and bargaining power, while governments struggle to maintain traditional control through taxation and regulation.
The authors predict the rise of digital money, cryptographic self-sovereignty, and jurisdictional competition, painting a future where individuals operate more like free agents than subjects of geographic monopolies (sound familiar?? it’s basically the world today, or at least the direction we’re headed in).
Hopefully you find some (or all) of these resources helpful. Other than a couple of the books that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet, I personally consume content from everything on this list. It’s obviously not exhaustive but it’s a very good start and a really great way to ensure that you not only don’t miss things, but that you might also be early to things too.
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