What is a whitepaper? - Crypto in Plain English - Episode 259 - by cryptohunt.it

What is a whitepaper?

Welcome to the Cryptohunt Jam, where we spend one minute a day to explain crypto. In plain English. My name is Christian Byza, Co-Founder of Cryptohunt.it and I am your host of this daily show.

Let’s say you want to learn more about a new crypto currency that was recently in the news.

Quickly, all signs will point towards a so-called whitepaper. The official site will link to it from the very top, and people will tell you to read it.

And then you realize: This whitepaper is confusing, and full of jargon, code, algorithms, and math.

So… what is going on here?

A whitepaper is meant to be a scientific, detailed document explaining in great detail how something complex works.

When Bitcoin came out in 2008, there was just that one whitepaper to explain what it does. But back then, the audience was a different one too: Cryptographers, mathematicians, computer scientists. For them, it made sense to have that level of technical detail.

But why is it that, even today, everyone still points to whitepapers that you and us can’t possibly understand? Part of this is tradition, and part of it is to give the impression of credibility. Because how, after all, could something possibly be bad if it’s got a document full of impressive formulas?

Well, it still can, and those rarely help. In fact, many bad projects hide behind complicated whitepapers.

Next time, give us a try a Cryptohunt instead - where we’ve gone through the trouble of looking at many projects already and break it down the best we can with an independent, critical perspective - just like in this podcast!

You’ll find us at www.cryptohunt.it.

Disclaimer: This podcast references our opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Do your own research and seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.