Market Ecosystem

What this section covers

• Miners and Validators — Learn what miners and validators do, how Proof of Work and Proof of Stake differ, and why consensus participants matter to crypto market structure.
• Protocol Developers — Understand who protocol developers are, how blockchain upgrades are proposed and adopted, and why development activity matters to crypto market research.
• Crypto Exchanges — Learn how centralised and decentralised crypto exchanges work, how orders are matched or routed, and which liquidity, custody and execution risks matter.
• Market Makers and Liquidity Providers — Learn how crypto market makers and liquidity providers support trading, manage inventory, influence spreads and depth, and differ between order books and DeFi pools.
• Retail vs Institutional Participants — Compare retail and institutional crypto market participants, including how capital size, execution, custody, compliance and risk controls shape behaviour.

5 guides, about 22 minutes of reading, written for novice level.

Questions these guides answer

• Are miners and validators the same thing?
• Do validators earn guaranteed income?
• Can miners or validators reverse a transaction?
• Do protocol developers control a blockchain?
• What is a client?
• Is a hard fork always bad?
• Is a crypto exchange the same as a broker?
• What is an order book?