Markets, financialization, and risk
Connect protocol mechanics to real financial systems without confusing forecasts with facts.
Follow these 8 lessons in order, or choose the topic you need. Each lesson combines an explanation, a worked example and practice inside the Guild.
Spot, forwards, and futures
Market instruments differ in settlement, leverage, margin, counterparty exposure, and relationship to spot bitcoin.
35 minutes · Open lessonThe basis trade
A cash-and-carry trade holds spot and shorts a premium future, earning convergence while bearing funding, custody, margin, and execution risks.
45 minutes · Open lessonETFs and custodial products
Exchange-traded products improve access but introduce custody, authorized participant, tracking, jurisdiction, and redemption structures.
55 minutes · Open lessonLiquidity and market microstructure
Order books, spreads, slippage, fragmentation, leverage, and liquidation cascades shape realized execution.
65 minutes · Open lessonMining economics
Revenue depends on subsidy, fees, hash price, energy, hardware efficiency, uptime, financing, and difficulty.
35 minutes · Open lessonTreasury strategy
Holding bitcoin changes liquidity, refinancing, accounting, governance, and drawdown risk rather than simply adding upside.
45 minutes · Open lessonStablecoins and bitcoin-backed credit
Credit systems add liquidation, oracle, governance, and maturity risks around otherwise bearer collateral.
55 minutes · Open lessonScenario modelling
Forecasts must expose assumptions, ranges, sensitivities, and version history instead of presenting a single projected number as truth.
65 minutes · Open lesson