What is Bitcoin? Why is it unique? How does it work? Why should you care?
There are dozens of wallets to choose from when it comes to securing your private keys. Hardware, software, metal, paper, each with their own trade-offs. Remember: if you aren't holding your own private keys, you don't actually own BTC - you only own an IOU!
Holding your own keys ensures you can't lose money due to mistakes made by other people. Running a full node ensures no one can trick you into accepting invalid payments. Running and using your own node is how you attain the strongest security model available to Bitcoin users and also strengthens the system as a whole.
Managing private keys to "be your own bank" is no small task. It can involve complex processes if you want thorough protection against many threats. There's also a balance against making it so complex that you lose access to your own keys - keep it as simple as possible!
If you want to use bitcoin you must first own some. You can exchange other money for BTC or you can earn it by selling goods & services. A variety of platforms are available for both buying & earning.
Bitcoin didn't appear out of thin air - it is the result of decades of work. Many digital currency projects failed before it succeeded. Understanding how we got here will help you understand where we're going.
Miners maximize their profits by confirming transactions with the highest processing fees. Since the demand for transactions fluctuates it can be hard to know the appropriate fee. A variety of fee estimation services are available to help users navigate the fee market.
Contrary to popular belief, cryptocurrency is not anonymous. There are many ways you might leak information that can be used to identify your activity on the network. Understanding the risks can help you mitigate them with software and best practices.
Check these out if you learn well from structured lectures and challenges. The online courses are free or low cost while the offline ones are faster paced with more feedback.
If you want to understand low level details of the protocol, this documentation will get you up to speed. These resources are useful for developers who want to build robust applications on top of the blockchain.
There are many open source tools available to help developers save time. There's no need to re-invent the wheel!
The blockchain is a public ledger of every transaction that has ever happened. Explorers provide us with a view of this history, enabling us to follow the flow of money. You can also drill down into specific addresses and transactions.
These works go into great detail about the system or ideas that are foundational to its value and operation.
The investment of capital into the ecosystem grows each year. This results in more full time employment opportunities. You don't have to be a developer to contribute to this industry!
There are a plethora of metrics available about different aspects of the network. They can help us track its adoption and use.
Mining is an important aspect of Bitcoin's security. Miners timestamp batches of transactions and make it expensive to roll back history. The time, skills, and investment required to mine profitably place it out of reach for most hobbyists. Stay away from cloud mining - it's often a scam, or more expensive than directly buying BTC!
It is hard to find trustworthy reporting in the crypto space. Many "news" sites are pay-to-play or have incentives to favor certain projects. My recommended sites feature quality content and don't publish press releases as news.
Financial systems are complex and there are a variety of use cases for this system. As a result there are a variety of perspectives for why investing in BTC may be a prudent decision.
Bitcoin is not just a technology - it's helping people all around the world. You can learn about the impact it's making from a variety of documentaries.
Conferences, meetups, and individuals discuss every aspect of this multifaceted ecosystem. As a result, thousands of hours of educational content are available for free.
A great way to keep up with current events. Quality podcasts provide high signal / low noise digestible information.
Long-form thought pieces go into far greater detail than you'll find via other mediums. Quality blog posts expand our understanding via theses and analysis.
Bitcoin is an open collaborative project. As such, public discussion of current events and improvement proposals is crucial to its healthy evolution.
It's not a great medium for nuanced discussion, but X is an easy way to track news and sentiment.
Visual representations of the data on the blockchain can simplify analysis of trends. Plus, some of them are entertaining to watch!
The blockchain is useful for more than simple transfers of BTC between peers. It can also create immutable timestamped records of small amounts of data. This enables other protocols and applications to make use of Bitcoin's security properties.
Permissionless protocols enable anyone to program their own economic rules. We can now experiment with economic theories at an unprecedented pace.
Collectibles, grafitti, memes, music, powerful pieces of uniquely constructed art. Talented creative bitcoiners have been applying their craft with a focus on this ecosystem.
WARNING: a great way to lose your money is by playing the trading game as an amateur! Don't invest more into BTC than you can afford to lose. Don't trade more BTC than you are willing to lose, either!
Cryptocurrency trades 24/7/365 on hundreds of markets around the world. Due to volatility it can be important to have reliable realtime data if you're engaging in trade with BTC.
Today innumerable merchants accept BTC in return for goods and services. Many tools are available for merchants to integrate cryptocurrency payments into their systems.
Volatility, regulatory complexities, and poor software can make tax accounting a nightmare. These services can ingest transaction and trade data to calculate capital gains.
Censorship resistant currency enables us to send money directly to those who need it. We no longer need worry about corrupt governments or fickle middlemen intercepting funds.
The regulatory landscape is in flux due to the rapid pace of technological development. Several firms and individuals focus on this sector and share their interpretation of recent events.
Bitcoin's governance is often misunderstood because it's informal. It's further confusing to newcomers because it's inverted in comparison to traditional governance. No one can dictate the system's governance, but we can describe it from observation.
Because no one controls Bitcoin, no one can stop people from creating modified versions of it. But it's hard to overcome the network effect and convince users to switch to a new protocol.
In order to achieve better scalability, privacy, and versatility, developers build desired functionality as new layers of technology that anchor onto Bitcoin.
This site attempts to list every quality educational resource. Even so, you may find other resources compiled by the maintainers of these other lists.