Avalanche Basics
How the chain actually works, driven from a command line, with the state drawn next to it. No wallet, no install, no code.
By the end
You can read a block, explain a fee, tell the three chains apart, and spot a manufactured wallet.
- 1
What is a block?
Blocks are not containers of money. They are a ledger that only ever grows. Seal a few and watch it happen.
5 min - 2
What an address really is
Nobody creates an account on Avalanche. Addresses already exist, all of them, and one becomes yours the moment you hold the key.
5 min - 3
The waiting room
The gap between "sent" and "settled" is a real place with a name. Fill it up, then clear it in one block.
4 min - 4
Gas, and why it is not the price
Gas is work. Gas price is what you pay per unit of work. Change one and watch the other move.
6 min - 5
C, P and X
Avalanche is not one chain. It is three, each built for a different job, and knowing which is which saves you a lost transfer.
5 min - 6
Who actually runs this
No miners, no electricity race. Validators put their own AVAX at stake, and the minimum is a real wall you can walk into.
6 min - 7
Finality, not confirmations
Block time is the number people quote. Finality is the number that decides whether you can ship the goods.
5 min - 8
Reading a wallet like an analyst
Everything you have learned, pointed at one question: can you tell a real wallet from a manufactured one?
7 min