29 sections · est. 8 h 18 min of reading, more if you practise as you go
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Drafted with Claude, approved by Marius. How this site is made: the proof of work →
New to Bitcoin? Start with § 01 What is Bitcoin? No prior knowledge needed.
Some topics change too fast for a lesson. Radar tracks them live: Strategic Reserves · Bitcoin ETFs · CBDCs · DeFi on Bitcoin.
Every section is refined and expanded over time, in public. Want to help improve it? Writers and reviewers welcome → Help build this.
Need a term explained? See our Bitcoin Glossary — 112 terms in plain English.
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21 core sections in three tiers, plus 8 supplementary articles and topics. Each links to its lesson.
Anyone can understand. No prior knowledge needed. Start here if you're completely new to Bitcoin.
What is Bitcoin in simplest terms? Why does it exist? Who created it? How is it different from regular money? Is it legal? Why should you care?
Inflation and currency debasement. Financial censorship and freedom. Banking the unbanked. Store of value. Real-world use cases and stories.
Steps to buy your first Bitcoin. Choosing where to buy. How much to buy. What to expect. First-time buyer checklist. Common beginner mistakes.
What is a Bitcoin wallet? Hot vs. cold, custodial vs. non-custodial. Mobile wallets for beginners. Hardware wallets. Backup and seed phrases. Basic security.
How to send and receive Bitcoin. Understanding transaction fees. Confirmation times. Using Bitcoin for purchases. Payment processors.
Legal status by country. Tax obligations. KYC/AML requirements explained. Regulatory landscape overview. When to consult professionals.
Is Bitcoin used for crime? Does it have intrinsic value? Is it too expensive? What about the environment? Am I too late? Will it be replaced?
Ready to go deeper. Understand how Bitcoin really works, its economics, history, and global impact.
Blockchain explained. How transactions work with inputs and outputs. Mining basics. Network consensus. Bitcoin nodes. Proof of Work concept.
Fixed supply of 21 million. Halving events. Stock-to-flow and scarcity. Bitcoin as sound money. Deflationary vs. inflationary. Economic incentives.
What is Lightning? Why we need Layer 2 scaling. How channels work. Lightning wallets. Benefits and tradeoffs. Real-world Lightning usage.
Multi-signature wallets. Hardware wallet advanced usage. Air-gapped solutions. Metal backups and seed splitting. Inheritance planning. Operational security.
Bitcoin adoption by country. Regulatory environments globally. Bitcoin in developing countries. Circular economies. Cross-border payments.
Bitcoin's privacy model: pseudonymous, not anonymous. Chain analysis and surveillance. CoinJoin. Using Bitcoin privately. Privacy tools and best practices.
Pre-Bitcoin digital cash attempts. Satoshi's creation. Early history 2009–2012. Major events. Forks and controversies. Evolution of the ecosystem.
For developers, researchers, and technical experts. Node operation, cryptography, protocol development.
Sections 15–21 are technical. Each was drafted with Claude at Marius's direction and approved by Marius.
Full node technical details. Why run a node. Hardware requirements. Node software options (Bitcoin Core). Installation, setup, and maintenance.
Bitcoin Core development process. Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs). How to contribute. Understanding the codebase. Testing and code review.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography. SHA-256 hash function. Digital signatures (ECDSA, Schnorr). Public key cryptography. Merkle trees. Security assumptions.
Proof of Work in depth. ASIC hardware. Mining pool mechanics. Difficulty adjustment algorithm. Consensus rules in detail. Fork types. Nakamoto Consensus.
Bitcoin Script basics. Common script types (P2PKH, P2SH, P2WPKH, P2WSH). OP_CODES. Script validation. Timelock scripts (CLTV, CSV). Advanced patterns.
§ 20 Protocol Improvements & Research
Current BIPs under discussion. Proposed protocol improvements. Taproot and recent upgrades. Scaling research. Privacy improvements. Covenant proposals.
§ 21 Advanced Topics & Research
Theoretical Bitcoin research. Cryptographic research. Scaling (channels, rollups, sidechains). Game theory and incentives. Network security. Academic papers explained.
Articles cover one subject in depth. Topics follow a subject that keeps changing and are updated as it does.
Complete guide to Bitcoin’s halving mechanism — from Satoshi’s code to the 2028 countdown. All four halvings analysed, the security budget debate, miner economics after the reward squeeze, and what history says about post-halving cycles.
The definitive Bitcoin-vs-gold showdown — scarcity, confiscation history, annual returns 2017–2026, ETF head-to-head, volatility analysis, and the macro case for holding both. Gold at $5,000/oz meets Bitcoin’s digital scarcity.
The complete fiat-vs-Bitcoin comparison — supply, inflation, censorship resistance, seizure risk, settlement speed, and financial exclusion. Seven hyperinflation case studies, documented account freezes, and the honest case for Bitcoin as sound money.
Bitcoin vs Crypto: Why Bitcoin Is Not “One of Many”
28 million cryptocurrencies created. More than half already dead. A data-driven comparison of decentralization, fair launch, survival rates, regulatory status, and real-world use cases. Every claim sourced from primary data.
How Michael Saylor went from dismissing Bitcoin in 2013 to building the largest corporate treasury in history — 843,738 BTC. The complete Strategy transformation story.
What Is Truly Bitcoin — The Protocol
Bitcoin is not an app, not a coin, not a company. It’s a protocol — like TCP/IP. You don’t “use” TCP/IP, you use things built on top of it. The network itself is what truly matters. Everything else is built on top.
Bitcoin dominance — the percentage of total crypto market cap — is the health metric of the ecosystem. Raw ~57%, stablecoin-adjusted ~65%. The case for why it should be above 95%, backed by data from gold markets, ETF flows, and network effects.
The quantum computing threat to Bitcoin explained — what's vulnerable, when Q-Day might arrive, how BIP-360 works, and what you can do today. ~6.9M BTC ($470B+) sits in wallets with exposed public keys.