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Blockchain 101 - A Visual Demo

Anders Brownworth
Tutorials
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this tutorial3 months2017–2025 score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN repeatedly recommends it as the best ground-up, non-hype introduction for people who want to understand what a blockchain actually is.

Anders Brownworth gives a basic visual introduction to blockchain using an interactive web demo, covering SHA256 hashes, blocks, chains, distribution, tokens and coinbase transactions.

“It explains from ground up without getting complicated” (HN, 2017)

2 strong recommendations · 1 recommendations · 3 citations · Tutorials · intro

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@dave7 Aug 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Storj: Not a Dropbox Killer
This is much more basic than academic level, for which you could maybe start with the original Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin white paper? - but this video is a fantastic introduction [this video]
Basic visual introduction to blockchain.
@andreasklinger Oct 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Blockchains explained visually (part 1 of 2)
My favorite: [this video] It explains from ground up without getting complicated - it basically demystifies the whole thing completely i give this to everyone - even to non technical people
Ground-up blockchain explanation that demystifies it for non-technical people.
@phn Feb 2018 Recommends
on HN thread Ask HN: Would like to learn blockchain tech, where do I start? What to build?
If you're really wondering what a blockchain actually is, this video is a really good intro: [this video] If you want something a bit more hands-on, I'm currently following this course: [link] I have only made it through the first section, and it does a really good job of explaining the basics of Ethereum and what a smart contract actually is.
Good introduction to what a blockchain actually is.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@fergazen May 2017 Cites it
on HN thread Blockchains from the ground up: Part 1
In every post i've made it has been crystal clear I'm referring to "blockchain the data-structure"... The "consensus component" is an algorithm for detecting if one blockchain disagrees with other blockchains, and ignoreing it if it does. [this video]
Visual demo of blockchain as a data structure.
@agreen Oct 2017 Cites it
on HN thread Ask HN: Resources to learn blockchain and smart contracts?
Read more
Intro: 1. [link] 2. [link] 3. [link] 4. [this video] 5. [link] 6. [link] Build Your Own Blockchain: 1. [link] 2. [link] 3. [link] Resource List for an Advanced Understanding (Multidisciplinary Approach): 1. [link] --- Additionally, here is some advice from Balaji Srinivasan (source: [link] ): 1. First, I'd master database and cryptography fundamentals, with something like Dan Boneh's course for the latter 2. Then, I'd read the Bitcoin.org and Ethereum documentation 3. Then, you should write short Python or Go scripts to do things like printing out the blockchain, formatting and signing a transaction by hand, managing private keys, that type of thing. This will give you a feel for the raw data structures. 4. After doing all this, I'd take a look at application libraries like Ryan Shea and Muneeb Ali's new blockstack.org The reason I'd do it in this order is that you would learn fundamentals first before proceeding to the cutting edge.
Blockchain demo included in a learning resource list.
@glaucon Sep 2025 Cites it
on HN thread Show HN: Demochain, a toy blockchain network that runs on the browser
Great looking tool, thanks. Looking through your "Futures" on the README I do think ... "Add videos demonstrating common concepts and attacks (such as race attack, finney attack etc)." ... would certainly make it accessible to a wider audience which, given the amount of effort you've put in, seems like a good idea. Something like these two videos, only based on your tool, would be very good - to [this video] (Part 1), [link] (Part 2) .
Visual blockchain demo cited as a model for explainer videos.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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