Bitcoin, explained like you’re a person.
Short, honest explainers that start where you actually are. Understand what you’re holding. Then hold it like you mean it.
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Intermediate
9 articles01Why nobody can guess your seed phrase
Twelve words drawn from a public list of 2,048 sounds guessable. It isn’t, and the reason is a number big enough to break your intuition. Here’s what entropy is, and what happens when a wallet gets it wrong.
02Decoy wallets, duress PINs, and the $5 wrench
Most security advice is about hackers. But what if the threat is a person who can simply make you hand it over? Decoy wallets, duress PINs, and a few other tricks for the human side of security.
03Public keys, private keys, and addresses
Three words that sound interchangeable and aren’t. Get the key pair straight and self-custody finally makes sense under the hood.
04How a Bitcoin transaction works
What actually happens between “send” and the coins showing up? A plain-English tour of inputs, miners, and confirmations.
05What is the Lightning Network?
Bitcoin’s base layer is great for settlement, slow for buying coffee. Lightning is the fast lane built on top.
06Network fees, demystified
Why does the same payment cost different amounts on different days? Fees are an auction for block space. Here’s how to win it cheaply.
07Is Bitcoin anonymous? (Not quite)
A myth cuts both ways here: critics call Bitcoin a criminal’s paradise, fans call it private. The truth is more interesting: it’s pseudonymous, and the ledger never forgets.
08Is Bitcoin bad for the environment?
Bitcoin uses real energy on purpose. That’s not a bug, it’s the lock on the vault. Here’s the honest, hype-free look at what that energy buys and where it comes from.
09Who’s actually in charge of Bitcoin?
No CEO, no board, no head office. So who decides how Bitcoin works? The surprisingly balanced answer, and where “running a node” fits in.