I've been following the cryptocurrency news for some time and finally took the time to read the original Bitcoin paper to see how it all worked. I was surprised to find out the essentials are very straightforward. I've created the presentation (linked below) to describe not only how cryptocurrencies work in general, but to show an example by creating my own 'PaperCoin', a cryptocurrency where all the work can be done by hand.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I had putting it together.
Cryptocurrency mining by hand