Where It Started Before I joined the ALANA Project, I was just a typical copywriter. I had worked in two previous DAOs, so I wasn’t completely new to Crypto or Web3. I understood the basics and had some exposure to how decentralized communities functioned. But if I’m being honest, my skills were limited, and my perspective was small. I didn’t fully understand how my abilities could evolve or how far they could go within the Web3 space. I saw myself in a narrow role, contributing in familiar w...

Every crypto transaction leaves behind a long string of letters and numbers. Most people never learn what it actually says. A block explorer is the tool that turns that string into a readable receipt. Addresses, hashes, gas, token transfers, internal transactions — all of it, decoded. Once you can read the chain, you never have to take anyone's word for anything.

The word "token" reminds me of coins or arcade games. So when I first heard it in the context of blockchain technology, I had a light reference, but I didn't feel I fully understood its meaning either. While the term seems obvious, I believe it actually feels rather vague. So let's start drawing a complete picture together, by unearthing the history and meaning of tokens and what exactly token standards and token usage look like in the blockchain world.A Brief Origin Story of TokensThe word "...

Imagine you and a group of creators, like designers, filmmakers, and musicians, decide to fund something together. No boss, no bank, no middleman taking a cut (nice, right?). You pool your money into a shared digital safe that only opens when most of you agree. Everyone sees every transaction. Votes happen on your phone. Decisions stick because they’re written into code, not buried in traditional legal contracts. That’s how a DAO works at its most fundamental level, also known as a Decentrali...

The first ALANA webinar of the year wasn't just a tutorial; I want to believe it was much more of a statement of empowerment!Joined by Onome (Irene) Emeya, founder of Announced Digital Fashion (ADF), Yemi Scott of XRology and lead tech partner at ADF, and Eric, CTO at ADF, we sat down to answer one question that rarely gets asked in creator spaces: what if your art could live on the internet, belong fully to you, be protected and be buyable by anyone. All of that without asking a platform for...

At The ALANA Project, we continue celebrating the values that connect us as a community. Those values often refer to our community as a whole, and today, in our fifth point of the ALANA manifesto, we will focus on why "Sustainable Growth" matters as much as the previous points. The ALANA manifesto encapsulates ALANA’s "10 Principles of a Good Community." The inspiration for these principles came from a thoughtful conversation with Dani, a fellow DAO member, in which we reflected on how Dieter...

Imagine you could write down a simple set of rules for your services or products that no one could quietly edit later or take away from you. Now imagine that rule doesn't live in a platform’s closed backend or in your notebook, but inside a tiny program that runs the same way for everyone, anywhere in the world. The program automatically checks: did a person pay, does the set time window still apply, has this item already been claimed? If the answers match your rule, it grants access or marks...

When I started The ALANA Project as a personal avatar project a few years ago, I would not have thought that it would turn into a community that outlives many other creative educational projects built on the evolutionary sentiments of Web3.But here we are, almost 4 years later, quietly building in the background and still standing strong. As we close out 2025, we can proudly pat each other on the back for several reasons and in several ways as members of the ALANA community. We have been furt...

“Emerging technologies are bringing great opportunities that must be seized early on. On the other side of the spectrum, there are always malicious actors who are trying to exploit these technologies before reaching maturity to discover new cyber threats and cause harm.”Yazeed Alabdulkarim - Principal Research and Innovation AdvisorWeb3 may feel brand new when it comes to safety, and may I add, for good reason. Most of us are stepping into uncharted digital territory, where the rulebook is st...

What we call the Web3 ecosystem—a compilation of decentralized finance, tooling, and governance—can be a dangerous place. One of the first articles we published by ALANA was about vetting Web3 projects, enabling users to make informed decisions about the projects they encounter through a step-by-step process. We recently felt this guide could use a hefty upgrade with more resources attached to it, and based on the latest knowledge available to us. The DangersThe digital space is full of dange...

"This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can't see how deep it is.”Dennis Rodman, NBA PlayerSwimming pools offer a refreshing oasis during the scorching summer months, providing numerous positive effects that enhance both physical and mental well-being. As the sun beats down and temperatures soar, the calm, inviting waters of a swimming pool serve as a perfect escape from the heat. In the DeFi space, Liquidity Pools offer a decentralized way to exchange value and t...

At The ALANA Project, we continue celebrating the values that connect us as a community. Those values often refer to our community as a whole, but today, in our fourth number on the ALANA manifesto, we will be focusing on how "Respecting the Individual" matters equally. The ALANA manifesto encapsulates ALANA’s "10 Principles of a Good Community." The inspiration for these principles came during a thoughtful conversation with Dani, a fellow DAO member, where we reflected on how Dieter Rams' "1...