Wallets & security
Sign-In with Ethereum: what a login signature actually opens
Read the domain, the challenge and the session before treating a signature as a harmless login.
Research · History · Reference
MASTR Crypto Wiki
Investigations, crypto history and practical explanations of scams, market incentives and blockchain systems. Start with MASTR’s own research, follow the timeline or search the archive.
Image & sources
Editorial selection from separate research topics.
24 · Reference chapters / 6 · Learning paths
History & systems atlas
Understand how crypto was built, how its systems connect and where trust enters the picture.
01
From digital cash to programmable systems
6 · Reference chapters · 18 min →02Before you sign
4 · Reference chapters · 12 min →03Follow the money and the exit
6 · Reference chapters · 18 min →04What the infrastructure guarantees
4 · Reference chapters · 12 min →05From a claim to evidence
5 · Reference chapters · 15 min →06What do you actually own?
4 · Reference chapters · 12 min →09.10.2026 · Web2 / Web3
Six new technical guides
The details behind a login, a payment and the page in your browser.
Blockchain fundamentals
CREATE2: knowing an address before the contract exists
A predictable address commits to deployment inputs. It does not tell you that the resulting application is safe.
Research methods
eth_getProof: check the state, then check the root you trusted
Account and storage proofs can make an RPC answer verifiable, but they do not choose the canonical chain for you.
Web fundamentals
Service workers: why a web app can show yesterday’s interface
The page, its cache and its network data can be on different versions. A successful deployment does not update every open tab immediately.
Blockchain fundamentals
Bitcoin payment links: read the request behind the QR code
A bitcoin: link carries payment instructions. Its label is not a verified identity and scanning it is not payment confirmation.
Web fundamentals
CORS: a browser reading rule is not API authentication
Understand why an API can fail in a browser yet remain reachable, and why removing a CORS error can create a different problem.
New in the reference library
Explore the new guides ↗24 new guides to wallets, Bitcoin, Solana and market mechanics. Follow a reading path or choose a specific question.
07
Bitcoin: recovery and Lightning
6 · Reference guides →08Names, identity and web content
4 · Reference guides →09Solana: from quote to settlement
5 · Reference guides →10Liquidity, prices and pool rules
4 · Reference guides →11Smart accounts and governance
5 · Reference guides →
Names, identity and web content
Passkeys and crypto wallets: easier login, a new recovery map
The origin-bound credential, the account’s authority and the backup system need separate inspection.
Solana: from quote to settlement
Jupiter quotes: expected output, minimum output and the actual exit
A route quote is a timestamped estimate for a size, not a promise that the last chart price is executable.
Liquidity, prices and pool rules
Aave health factor: a moving buffer, not a safety rating
Collateral prices, debt growth and configured thresholds determine the liquidation boundary.
People behind the protocols
Original photography, with source and licence.
Vitalik Buterin
David Chaum
Gavin Wood
Find your starting point
Investigations
Follow MASTR’s investigations, then inspect the original articles, threads and evidence.
Topics
Understand wallets, scams, markets, DeFi and the technology underneath.
Crypto history
From the ideas before Bitcoin to programmable networks, market cycles and failures. Read by era or year.
Glossary terms
Look up a term and continue to the explanation, mechanism or case behind it.
Research & commentary
694 · Selected publications ↗Original investigations, critical essays and the conversations behind them. Read by subject, follow a thread, or find a person or project in the source texts.
Inside the investigations
Investigations ↗
MASTR research
LAPTOP: pre-launch inventory and $2.34 million in sale receipts
MASTR's reconstruction connects a distribution allocation to 107 matched sales and reconciles the USDC outflows.
MASTR research
BlockLayerPod and BeaconLayerPod: the interview invitation
MASTR's archived research follows the social-engineering stage before a wallet loss.
MASTR research
FOMO / MEME: launch timing and investor conflicts
The public dossier supports specific red flags and rejects the claim that the displayed traders all entered on the same terms.
Illustrated reference guides
Technical diagram
Hardware-wallet tampering
Check the delivery, setup instructions and device authentication separately. A convincing box cannot establish who controls the keys.
Technical diagram
NFT metadata: where the image and its description actually live
Follow the token’s reference to its metadata and media, then check who can change each layer and who keeps it available.
Technical diagram
Proof-of-work mining
How Bitcoin miners build blocks, how nodes validate them, and how to examine mining investment claims.
New reference entries
All entries A–Z ↗
Crypto history
Hashcash: proof of work before Bitcoin
A computational postage stamp for internet abuse became one ingredient in a different system: public transaction ordering.
Crypto history
b-money: shared balances before the blockchain
Wei Dai’s 1998 proposal explored pseudonymous accounts, distributed bookkeeping and contract enforcement before Bitcoin.
Crypto history
RPOW: reusable tokens and the hardware trust boundary
Hal Finney’s 2004 experiment made proof-of-work tokens reusable through an attested server, with a different trust model from Bitcoin.
Investigation guides are included in the article count. Original publications, glossary terms and timeline events are counted separately.
Search everythingPrivate chat with MASTR ↗