Cryptography Learning Resources
Curated cryptography courses, papers, and references — from applied crypto to modern protocols and engineering.
29 curated cryptography resources — ranked by Cypherpunk relevance, not trading hype.
A Cypherpunk's Manifesto
Eric Hughes' foundational 1993 text defining cypherpunk philosophy: privacy as selective revelation, code over policy, cryptography as liberation.
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Satoshi Nakamoto's original 2008 whitepaper introducing Bitcoin. Essential reading for understanding peer-to-peer electronic cash without trusted third parties.
Cypherpunk Mailing List Archive
Historical archive of the cypherpunk mailing list (1992–present) — debates that shaped modern cryptography and digital rights.
Cypherpunk School 101
12-week hands-on curriculum covering threat modeling, GPG, encrypted filesystems, Tor, SSH tunnels, and digital sovereignty. Terminal-first, zero fluff, completely free.
Satoshi Nakamoto Institute Library
Archive of foundational cypherpunk and Bitcoin literature — manifestos, mailing list posts, early cryptography papers, and historical documents.
The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto
Timothy C. May's 1988 manifesto envisioning crypto-enabled anarchic communities beyond government control — a cypherpunk origin text.
Chaincode Bitcoin Protocol Development Curriculum
Open-source syllabus and study groups for Bitcoin protocol development — from the whitepaper through soft forks, mempool policy, and peer-to-peer networking.
Cryptocurrency Engineering and Design
MIT course on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency design — cryptography, game theory, network architecture, Lightning Network, and practical engineering.
MIT MAS.S62 — Cryptocurrency Design and Engineering (2025)
MIT Digital Currency Initiative course on Bitcoin protocol design, cryptography, consensus, mining, privacy, and scaling — open slides, readings, and assignments on GitHub.
Monero Research Lab
Academic research on Monero's privacy protocols — bulletproofs, CLSAG, Seraphis, Triptych, and ongoing cryptographic improvements.
Moneropedia
Community-maintained encyclopedia of Monero terminology — ring signatures, stealth addresses, RingCT, RandomX, fungibility, and more.
OpenPGP Best Practices
Community guide to using OpenPGP securely — key lengths, subkeys, expiration, and common mistakes to avoid.
Ring Signatures (Moneropedia)
Explanation of ring signature cryptography — how Monero obscures the true signer among a group of possible signers.
The GNU Privacy Handbook
Practical introduction to GnuPG — key generation, encryption, signing, and key management for secure communications.
Applied Cryptography (Schneier)
Classic reference on practical cryptography — protocols, algorithms, and real-world security. Referenced throughout cypherpunk literature.
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies
Princeton's comprehensive course covering Bitcoin's technical foundations, cryptography, consensus, mining, wallets, anonymity, regulation, and altcoins.
Bitcoin Dojo
7-week open-source developer cohort (CC0) covering finite fields, elliptic curves, Bitcoin keys, serialization, Script, and SegWit — from Code Orange Dev School.
Crypto 101
Free introductory cryptography course for programmers — block ciphers, hash functions, TLS, public-key crypto, and hands-on exercises for breaking common flaws.
MIT 15.S12 — Blockchain and Money
Gary Gensler's MIT Sloan course on Bitcoin fundamentals, blockchain technology, distributed ledgers, smart contracts, and financial policy — full lecture videos on OpenCourseWare.
Monero Developer Guides
Technical documentation for Monero developers — daemon, wallet RPC, cryptography primitives, and integration patterns.
Plan ₿ Academy
Multilingual open-source e-learning platform for Bitcoin — courses on Bitcoin, Lightning, cryptography, mining, and privacy. Content repo on GitHub, courses at planb.academy.
RandomX Proof-of-Work (Moneropedia)
CPU-optimized, ASIC-resistant proof-of-work algorithm designed for equitable mining and network decentralization.
Why Johnny Can't Encrypt
Landmark usability study on why encryption tools fail in practice — essential context for building and using privacy technology.
Crypto and Cypherpunk Ethics (Teaching Module)
University teaching module exploring ethical dimensions of cryptography, surveillance, and the cypherpunk movement.
Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technologies
Stanford course on cryptocurrency foundations, consensus mechanisms, smart contracts, and blockchain scalability.
Cryptography I (Coursera)
Stanford's Dan Boneh teaches core cryptography — block ciphers, MACs, public-key encryption, and TLS. Essential theoretical foundation.
MIT 6.875 — Foundations of Cryptography
Rigorous graduate-level cryptography course covering provable security, zero-knowledge proofs, and modern cryptographic primitives.
Nostr Protocol (NIPs)
Decentralized social protocol using cryptographic keys — censorship-resistant communication without central servers.
Signal Protocol Specifications
Technical specifications for the Signal Protocol — Double Ratchet, X3DH key agreement, and forward secrecy in messaging.