Zelcore

Coin & Chain Guides

Deep dives into the 50+ chains Zelcore supports.

Each guide covers what the coin does, how its chain works, how to hold it in Zelcore, and what quirks to watch out for — fees, address formats, memo fields, staking rules.

The Long Tail: SSF, Verkle Trees, EOF, and Ethereum's Endgame

The Long Tail: SSF, Verkle Trees, EOF, and Ethereum's Endgame

Pectra and Fusaka were the warm-up. Single-slot finality, Verkle trees, and EOF are the long-tail upgrades that define Ethereum in 2030.

8 min read
Glamsterdam: ePBS, Block-Level Access Lists, and the MEV Endgame

Glamsterdam: ePBS, Block-Level Access Lists, and the MEV Endgame

Glamsterdam enshrines proposer-builder separation and adds Block-Level Access Lists in H1 2026. Here is what changes for MEV, validators, and gas.

8 min read
PeerDAS Explained: Data-Availability Sampling and the L2 Fee Story

PeerDAS Explained: Data-Availability Sampling and the L2 Fee Story

How PeerDAS turned Ethereum's data layer into a sampled network and pushed L2 fees below a cent in Q1 2026. Part 2 of Ethereum After Pectra.

8 min read
Ethereum After Pectra and Fusaka: The State of the Network in 2026

Ethereum After Pectra and Fusaka: The State of the Network in 2026

Pectra (May 2025) and Fusaka (Dec 2025) reshaped Ethereum into a DA layer for rollups. Where ETH the asset and ETH the network actually stand in 2026.

7 min read
Choosing and Using a Bitcoin L2 in 2026: A Self-Custody Operational Guide

Choosing and Using a Bitcoin L2 in 2026: A Self-Custody Operational Guide

A practical 2026 decision guide for picking and using a Bitcoin L2 with self-custody discipline, peg-risk checks, and clear exit planning anchored to native BTC.

7 min read
Babylon and Rootstock: BTC Restaking and the Original Sidechain

Babylon and Rootstock: BTC Restaking and the Original Sidechain

Babylon keeps your BTC self-custodial and slashable. Rootstock locks it in a federation and gives you EVM. Two opposite philosophies for putting Bitcoin to work.

7 min read
Stacks Nakamoto and sBTC: BTC Programmability via Threshold Signers

Stacks Nakamoto and sBTC: BTC Programmability via Threshold Signers

Part 3 of our Bitcoin L2 series: how Stacks Nakamoto and sBTC deliver BTC programmability today via a 15-signer threshold federation, not zero-trust cryptography.

8 min read
BitVM2, Citrea, and Alpen: The Validity-Proof Generation of Bitcoin L2s

BitVM2, Citrea, and Alpen: The Validity-Proof Generation of Bitcoin L2s

How BitVM2 unlocked optimistic verification on Bitcoin without a soft fork, and what Citrea, Alpen, and Bitlayer actually ship in 2026.

8 min read
The Case for Bitcoin L2s: From Sidechains to BitVM

The Case for Bitcoin L2s: From Sidechains to BitVM

Why Bitcoin's L1 stays small on purpose, and how the L2 trust spectrum from WBTC to BitVM rollups finally made trust-minimised BTCFi real in 2024-2026.

7 min read
Privacy Coins Explained: Zcash, Monero, and the Self-Custody Path in 2026

Privacy Coins Explained: Zcash, Monero, and the Self-Custody Path in 2026

Zcash and Monero in 2026: two privacy designs, the 2024 delisting wave, and how to hold ZEC and XMR in Zelcore — with honest capability limits.

9 min read
Bitcoin Cash Explained: The 2017 Fork That Kept Building

Bitcoin Cash Explained: The 2017 Fork That Kept Building

Bitcoin Cash in 2026: 32 MB blocks, ASERT difficulty, CashTokens since 2023, the scheduled May 2026 Layla upgrade, and how to hold BCH in Zelcore.

8 min read
Dogecoin Explained: From Meme to Merge-Mined Coin in 2026

Dogecoin Explained: From Meme to Merge-Mined Coin in 2026

Dogecoin in 2026: Scrypt PoW, AuxPoW merge-mining with Litecoin, 10,000 DOGE tail emission, ~3.4% inflation, Grayscale ETF, and DOGE in Zelcore self-custody.

7 min read
Litecoin Explained: Scrypt, MWEB, and the Original Altcoin in 2026

Litecoin Explained: Scrypt, MWEB, and the Original Altcoin in 2026

Litecoin in 2026: Scrypt proof-of-work, 2.5-minute blocks, 84M supply cap, optional MWEB privacy, and what LTC actually looks like in Zelcore self-custody.

8 min read
Holding SOL in Zelcore: Outage Lessons and Practical Self-Custody

Holding SOL in Zelcore: Outage Lessons and Practical Self-Custody

Capstone of the Solana Deep Dive: what the outage history teaches a holder, how Zelcore handles SOL and SPL tokens, ATA rent, priority fees, and staking.

7 min read
Solana's Validator Set, Nakamoto Coefficient, and the Firedancer Rollout

Solana's Validator Set, Nakamoto Coefficient, and the Firedancer Rollout

Solana has ~1,414 validators, a Nakamoto coefficient of 19, and ~95% of stake on Agave-lineage code. Here is what Firedancer changes — and what it doesn't.

9 min read
Solana Fees Explained: Base Fees, Priority Fees, and the Jito MEV Auction

Solana Fees Explained: Base Fees, Priority Fees, and the Jito MEV Auction

How Solana fees really work: a flat 5,000-lamport base fee, a priority-fee auction in micro-lamports per CU, and the Jito MEV bundle market.

8 min read
Proof of History and Tower BFT: How Solana Hits 400ms Slots

Proof of History and Tower BFT: How Solana Hits 400ms Slots

Proof of History and Tower BFT explained: how Solana uses a SHA-256 VDF and doubling vote lockouts to hit 400ms slots and ~13s rooted finality.

8 min read
Solana's Origins and Architecture: One Monolithic Chain, Eight Innovations

Solana's Origins and Architecture: One Monolithic Chain, Eight Innovations

Why Solana bet on one high-throughput Layer 1 instead of rollups, and how eight coordinated innovations built the monolithic blockchain camp.

8 min read
Holding Ethereum in Zelcore: Gas Hygiene, L2 Access, and What Pectra and Fusaka Change

Holding Ethereum in Zelcore: Gas Hygiene, L2 Access, and What Pectra and Fusaka Change

Capstone of the Ethereum Deep Dive: one 0x address for everything, reading EIP-1559 fees, auditing approvals, L2 choice, and Pectra plus Fusaka in practice.

8 min read
Ethereum Rollups Explained: Optimistic vs ZK, Data Availability, and the Post-Dencun L2 Economy

Ethereum Rollups Explained: Optimistic vs ZK, Data Availability, and the Post-Dencun L2 Economy

How Ethereum rollups actually work: optimistic vs ZK, the 7-day challenge window, EIP-4844 blobs, L2Beat Stages, the sequencer problem, and how to pick an L2.

10 min read
Ethereum Staking Explained: Validators, Beacon Chain, and Liquid Staking Tokens

Ethereum Staking Explained: Validators, Beacon Chain, and Liquid Staking Tokens

How Ethereum validators earn, get slashed, and exit the queue — plus solo vs SaaS vs stETH/rETH, and where EigenLayer restaking stacks extra slashable risk.

10 min read
Ethereum Gas Mechanics: EIP-1559, Priority Fees, and Blob Fees After Dencun

Ethereum Gas Mechanics: EIP-1559, Priority Fees, and Blob Fees After Dencun

How Ethereum gas fees actually work in 2026: the EIP-1559 base-fee auction, priority-fee tips, and the independent blob market born at Dencun and scaled by Pectra.

9 min read
Accounts, Contracts, and the EVM: How Ethereum Actually Executes

Accounts, Contracts, and the EVM: How Ethereum Actually Executes

Ethereum replaces Bitcoin's UTXO purse with a giant table of accounts and a gas-metered stack machine. Here is how the state, the opcodes, and an ERC-20 transfer actually work.

10 min read
Ethereum's Supply Story: From ICO to The Merge to Post-Dencun Issuance

Ethereum's Supply Story: From ICO to The Merge to Post-Dencun Issuance

How ETH's supply went from a 2014 presale to a proof-of-stake asset whose net issuance oscillates near zero — and what that actually means for holders.

9 min read
Holding Bitcoin in Zelcore: UTXO Hygiene, Lightning Access, and Self-Custody in Practice

Holding Bitcoin in Zelcore: UTXO Hygiene, Lightning Access, and Self-Custody in Practice

A practical, advanced guide to storing Bitcoin in Zelcore: BIP-84 addresses, UTXO hygiene, fee tiers, Lightning split, and a risk checklist that ties the whole series together.

9 min read
The Bitcoin Halving Schedule: Why BTC Supply Is Capped at 21 Million

The Bitcoin Halving Schedule: Why BTC Supply Is Capped at 21 Million

Bitcoin's halving cuts the block subsidy every 210,000 blocks, enforcing a hard 21 million cap. Here is the schedule, the math, and why it matters.

6 min read
UTXOs Explained: How Bitcoin Tracks Balances Without Accounts

UTXOs Explained: How Bitcoin Tracks Balances Without Accounts

Bitcoin has no account balances. It tracks unspent outputs (UTXOs) like coins in a purse. Here is how the model works, why it exists, and what it means for you.

7 min read
Bitcoin Fees and the Block-Space Market: SegWit, Mempool, and Fee Estimation

Bitcoin Fees and the Block-Space Market: SegWit, Mempool, and Fee Estimation

How Bitcoin transaction fees work: weight units, the SegWit witness discount, address types, mempool dynamics, RBF, CPFP, and why fees spike.

7 min read
The Lightning Network: Payment Channels, Routing, and Bitcoin's Scaling Layer

The Lightning Network: Payment Channels, Routing, and Bitcoin's Scaling Layer

How Lightning turns Bitcoin into a payment network: 2-of-2 channels, HTLC routing, liquidity, Taproot channels, splicing, LSPs, and honest trade-offs.

9 min read
51% Attack Economics: Why Bitcoin's Security Budget Matters

51% Attack Economics: Why Bitcoin's Security Budget Matters

Why Bitcoin's ~900 EH/s hashrate makes 51% attacks economically irrational, what smaller chains like BTG, ETC, and BSV teach us, and how to pick a safe confirmation depth.

10 min read
    Coin & Chain Guides | Zelcore Academy