EPISODE 82 — What Are Gas Fees — and How Do You Avoid Paying Too Much?

Gas fees are the transaction costs you pay to use a blockchain — and if you have tried to interact with Ethereum during periods of peak demand, you may have paid twenty, fifty, or even one hundred dollars for a single swap or token transfer. Gas fees have frustrated users for years, pricing ordinary people out of DeFi, creating unpredictable costs that make applications feel unreliable, and pushing entire communities toward cheaper alternatives. In 2026, with Layer 2 networks now dominant and mainnet fees down from historical peaks, understanding fees and how to minimise them is more achievable than ever.

In this episode of Crypto for Beginners, we explain exactly what gas fees are and where they come from. We cover the computational resource model: every operation a blockchain executes has a gas cost, and the total gas for your transaction multiplied by the gas price determines what you pay. We explain Ethereum's EIP-1559 fee mechanism introduced in 2021: the base fee that adjusts automatically with network demand, the priority fee you add to get faster inclusion, and how burning the base fee creates deflationary pressure on ETH supply over time.

We explain why fees spike during NFT mints, token launches, and market volatility events — and why the same transaction can cost ten times more during peak hours than at three in the morning UTC when demand is low. We then walk through every practical strategy for paying less: using Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base where identical transactions cost fractions of a cent; using Solana for everyday activity at near-zero cost; timing mainnet transactions for low-demand windows; setting custom gas limits; and using gas tracker tools that show real-time network conditions. We cover which transactions genuinely require Ethereum mainnet and which ones you are simply overpaying for out of habit.

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EPISODE 81 — Notcoin — The Telegram Game That Became a Token

In early 2024, a Telegram mini-app called Notcoin asked users to tap a coin on their phone screen. That was the entire game. No complex mechanics, no blockchain knowledge required, no wallet setup, no seed phrase. Within weeks, tens of millions of people were playing. When the NOT token launched and accumulated points converted into real tradable cryptocurrency — distributed entirely for free to everyone who had played — it became one of the most successful and most studied crypto onboarding events ever recorded.

In this episode of Crypto for Beginners, we tell the full Notcoin story. We explain how the tap-to-earn mechanic worked — what the energy and squad systems did, why the leaderboard structure created organic social sharing, and why the deliberate simplicity was the point. The team wanted to onboard people who had never touched crypto before without asking them to understand anything technical first. We cover how the point-to-token conversion was structured to be fair to early participants while creating meaningful distribution across tens of millions of wallets simultaneously.

We explain the NOT token in full: its launch on The Open Network blockchain, how it was structured, and how it performed in the weeks and months after the airdrop. We then look at what Notcoin demonstrated for the industry as a whole: that the friction of crypto onboarding is a solvable problem, that Telegram mini-apps can reach populations that DeFi websites will never reach, and that simple game mechanics with real economic rewards may be the most effective mass-adoption tool in the space. We cover the broader TON ecosystem and the projects that built on the model Notcoin established. We address the sustainability question — whether play-to-earn models that maintain value beyond the initial airdrop moment are achievable — and what the data from Notcoin's first year actually shows.

If you have searched for Notcoin explained, NOT token, Telegram crypto games, or how to earn crypto on Telegram, this episode covers everything.

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EPISODE 80 — How to Buy Crypto for the First Time

Millions of people try to buy their first cryptocurrency every year and make avoidable mistakes that cost them money, time, or both. They choose an unregulated exchange operating from an unknown jurisdiction. They fail to complete identity verification before the price moves. They buy on the wrong network and discover the difference between ETH on Ethereum and ETH on Arbitrum at the worst possible moment. They leave significant holdings on an exchange indefinitely, unaware that exchange failures have permanently wiped out billions in customer funds over crypto's history. Every one of these mistakes is preventable with a little preparation.

In this episode of Crypto for Beginners, we walk through every step of buying your first cryptocurrency correctly. We start with choosing the right exchange — what regulated actually means, why it matters, what fee structures to look for, and which platforms are most suitable for European and global beginners in 2026. We cover identity verification: what documents you need, why KYC is legally required, and how long the process typically takes on major platforms.

We walk through funding your account — bank transfer versus card payment, the fee difference between them, and settlement timing. We explain the purchase itself: market orders versus limit orders, how to read the price and quantity fields, what order confirmation looks like, and how to verify a transaction on a block explorer. We cover what happens after you buy: the choice between leaving crypto on an exchange for convenience or moving it to a self-custody wallet for security, and how to make that transfer safely — choosing the correct network, sending a test transaction first, and triple-checking the recipient address. We end with the ten most common first-purchase mistakes and exactly how to avoid each one.

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