BITCOIN RESOURCES
Bitcoin is a revolutionary system that is quite complex and has a high learning curve. Make sure you have a decent grasp of the system before you store a significant amount of value in it.
Bitcoin by the numbers, 2018:
Getting Started:
- Explain Bitcoin Like I’m Five
- Bitcoin Explained (illustrated guide in simple terms)
- The Bitcoin Whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto
- The Bitcoin Whitepaper with annotations
- The Bitcoin Whitepaper read out loud
- The Value of Blockchains
- How Bitcoin Works (non technical) (5 min video)
- How Bitcoin Works (a bit technical) (5 min video)
- How Bitcoin Works (very technical) (26 min video)
- How Bitcoin Works Under the Hood (22 min video)
- Bitcoin 101 (Balaji Srinivasan)
- Bitcoin for Beginners (Andreas Antonopoulos)
- Beginner’s Guide to Bitcoin by CoinDesk
- Bitcoin is Like…
- A Bitcoin Webcomic (with educational notes)
- 5 ways to get started with Bitcoin
The History of Bitcoin:
- The Rise of the Cypherpunks
- Bitcoin’s Academic Pedigree
- Cypherpunk Research Archive
- Complete Writings of Satoshi Nakamoto
- The Book of Satoshi
- Original Announcement Email Thread
- Historical Literature (work that preceded Bitcoin)
- Essays on Bitcoin
- History from Cypherpunks to JP Morgan
- Digital Gold
- The Bitcoin Standard
- The Age of Cryptocurrency
- History Timeline
- Bryan Bishop’s Bitcoin Event Transcripts
- Premature Obituaries
- Bitcoin’s Family Tree
News Sites:
Podcasts:
- Epic List of YouTube Channels
- Bad Crypto
- Bitcoin and Markets
- Bitcoin Knowledge Podcast
- Citizen Bitcoin
- Crypto 101
- Crypto Voices
- Epicenter
- Let’s Talk Bitcoin
- Noded
- Tales from the Crypt
- Unchained
- Unconfirmed
- World Crypto Network
Discussion Forums:
- Bitcoin Subreddit
- Bitcoin Beginners Subreddit
- Bitcoin IRC Channel
- Bitcoin Core Slack
- Bitcoin Core Telegram
- Bitcoin Talk Forum
- Bitcoin Development Mailing List
- List of Telegram crypto groups
Miscellaneous Statistics:
- Blockchain Charts
- Bitcoin Charts
- Bitcoin Nodes by Country
- Non-Listening Node Software Estimates
- Bitcoin Core Repository Stats
- Bitcoin demographics & misc stats
- Bitcoin Richlist – see the distribution of wealth
- Bitcoinity – Exchange & Blockchain stats
- BitInfoCharts (Comparison of misc cryptocurrencies)
- Coin Metrics – Open Source Analytics
- DSN Network Stats
- Joehoe’s Mempool Size Stats
- OP_RETURN Stats
- Payment Stats
- P2SH.info – historical block & transaction stats
- Statoshi.info – realtime Bitcoin node stats
- TradeBlock – realtime block & mempool stats
- Transaction fee & UTXO stats
- UTXO Age
- UTXO Age (HODL Waves)
- UTXOs Created Per Day
Transaction Fee Estimates:
- Transaction Fee Estimates (many sources)
- Bitcoin Core Fee Estimates
- Earn.com Fee Estimates
- Estimate Smart Fee
- Coinbin Fee Estimates
- fees.truelevel.io
- Mempool Based Fee Estimates
- Fee Efficiency Checker
Block Explorers:
- Blockchain Browser and Tutorial
- Blockchain.info
- BlockCypher
- Blocktrail
- OXT – blockchain explorer + privacy analysis
- Blockpath Explorer + Addr/Tx Relationships
- SoChain
- Wallet Explorer
- Yogh.io – raw data block explorer
Visualizations:
- Bitcoin City
- Blocks & Transactions by Geography
- Bitcoin Globe Transactions
- BitBonkers Blocks & Transactions
- Chainflyer Blocks & Transactions
- Live Node Geographic Map
- Live Node Network ASN Map
- Bitforce5 Transaction Relationships
- Daily Blockchain Transactions Relationships
- BitListen – Transactions by Value
- Virtual Reality Transactions by Value
- Bitcoin Monitor – Transactions by Value
- Federal Bitcoin – Transactions by Value
- Interaqt – Transactions by Value
- Value Visualizer – Transactions by Value
- Fiat Leak – Realtime Exchange Flows
- Blockchain 3D Explorer 3D and VR visualizations
Mining:
- The History of Bitcoin Mining
- How Bitcoin Mining Works (in layman’s terms)
- Getting Started Guide
- Mining Hardware Profitability Calculator
- Mining Pool Relative Profitability
- Realtime Mining Statistics
- Cryptocoin mining relative profitability
- Mining pool hashrate distribution
- Organ of Corti (mining / network analysis blog)
Deep Dive Technical Resources:
- Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Technologies (Princeton textbook)
- Bitcoin Developer Guide
- Bitcoin Edge Workshop (10 hours of tutorials)
- Bitcoin Ninja
- Bitcoin Protocol Reference
- Bitcoin Stack Exchange (Technical Q & A)
- The Bitcoin Wiki
- Comprehensive Academic Bitcoin Research Archive
- How the Bitcoin Protocol Actually Works
- Learning Bitcoin from the Command Line
- Mastering Bitcoin
- Grokking Bitcoin
- Epic List of Bitcoin Books
- Intro to Bitcoin for Developers
- Programming the Blockchain in C#
- Using the Raw Bitcoin Protocol
- A Peek Under Bitcoin’s Hood
- How to Parse the Bitcoin Blockchain
Developer Tools:
- Awesome Extensive Tools List
- BlockSci high performance query engine
- BTCPay Payment Processor
- Bitcoin Graph Database Builder
- Bitcoin JavaScript Library
- Bitcoin Java Library
- Bitcoin Script Debugger
- Bitcoin Core RPC Documentation
- HD Key Derivation Tool
- NodeJS HD Key Library
- Libbitcoin
- Omni Layer
- OpenTimestamps
- Vanity Address Generator
- GPU Vanity Address Generator
- Wallet Recovery (brute forcing) tool
Security:
- Bitcoin’s Security Model: A Deep Dive
- Bitcoin Threat Modeling
- Bitcoin Security & Storage 101 (Pamela Morgan)
- Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning (Pamela Morgan)
- Coindesk’s Bitcoin Storage Guide
- Cryptocurrency Security Standard (for enterprises)
- Glacier: A protocol for high security Bitcoin storage
- Intro to Paper Wallets & Cold Storage (James D’Angelo)
- Jolly Roger’s Security Guide for Beginners (online OPSEC)
- Paper Wallet Cold Storage Guide
- Securing Your Wallet
- Thoughts on Secure Storage of Crypto Assets
- Bitcoin’s Balance of Power
- Crypto Scam Checker
Setting up a Wallet:
Choose your wallet here
You’ll note that there are a variety of options.
My wallet recommendations:
- Hardware wallet (best security): Trezor or Ledger Nano S
- Desktop wallet: Electrum
- Android wallet: Samourai Wallet
- iPhone wallet: GreenAddress
- Web wallet: BitGo
Note that it is NOT recommended that Bitcoin newcomers use the Bitcoin Core wallet. The Core wallet is much more resource intensive than other wallets and will not function properly unless it is running constantly on an active Internet connection.
Running a Node:
- Why Run a Full Node?
- How to Run a Full Node
- Bitcoin Core Config File Generator
- Bitseed Node Hardware
- Raspberry Pi Node Guide
Online Courses:
- Bitcoin Video Course for Non-Technical Newbies
- 10 Day Email Course: Basics of Bitcoin
- Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Technologies (Princeton)
- In-depth Udemy Course (over 8 hours of video tutorials)
- Coursera Cryptocurrency Course (61 videos in 11 sections)
- Khan Academy Bitcoin Course (9 ~10 minute videos)
- Bitcoin 101 Blackboard Series (7+ hours of tutorials)
- Learn Me A Bitcoin Lessons
- Introduction to Bitcoin (create a free trial)
- Introduction to Digital Currency – MOOC offered by University of Nicosia
Documentaries:
- Banking on Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Films
- Bitcoin in Uganda
- Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It
- Deep Web
- Hash Power
- Inside Man (Morgan Spurlock)
- Life Inside a Secret Chinese Bitcoin Mine
- Magic Money: The Bitcoin Revolution
- The Bitcoin Doco
- The Bitcoin Gospel
- The Bitcoin Phenomenon
- The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin
- Ulterior States
Video Presentations:
- BitcoinExplainers.com Epic List of Videos
- Another Epic List of YouTube Talks
- Baltic Honeybadger Conference
- Bitcoin Africa Conference
- Bitcoin Investor Conference
- Bitcoin London 2012
- BPASE
- Breaking Bitcoin
- Construct
- Cryptolina
- Dubai Bitcoin Conference 2015
- Dutch Blockchain Conference
- European Bitcoin Conference 2011
- MIT Bitcoin Expo
- North American Bitcoin Conference 2017
- Paralelni Polis
- San Jose Bitcoin Conference 2013
- Scaling Bitcoin Workshop
- Texas Bitcoin Conference
- The Atlanta Blockchain Conference
- The Bitcoin Conference 2016
- The Future of Bitcoin
- World’s First Bitcoin Conference (2011)
- Zürich Bitcoin Meetup Lectures
High Quality Blogs:
- Recommended Bitcoin Twitter Accounts
- Bitcoin Developers on Twitter
- Crypto Influencers on Twitter
- Bitcoin Tech Talk (Various)
- BitFury Research
- BitMEX Research
- Bitslog (Sergio Demian Lerner)
- Chris Burniske
- The Control (Nick Tomaino)
- Eric Lombrozo
- Financial Cryptography (Ian Grigg)
- Fred Wilson
- Freedom to Tinker
- Gavin Andresen
- Hacking, Distributed (Emin Gün Sirer)
- Jimmy Song
- JP Koning
- Matt Corallo
- The Memory Pool (Satoshi Nakamoto Institute)
- Money and State (Erik Voorhees)
- Nicolas Dorier
- nopara73
- Oleg Andreev
- Peter Todd
- Richard Gendal Brown
- Tim Swanson
- Truthcoin (Paul Sztorc)
- Tuur Demeester
- Unenumerated (Nick Szabo)
- Vinny Lingham
- Willy Woo
- Wladimir van der Laan
- William Mougayar
Buying Bitcoins:
- How to buy bitcoins
- Reviews of Popular Exchanges
- Comparison of Best Bitcoin Exchanges
- List of Decentralized Exchanges
- Bitcoin ATM Map
- Coin ATM Radar
- Australian ATMs
- Local Bitcoins
- Changelly
- Shapeshift
- Realtime Exchange Price Comparison
- Traditional Bank Ratings
Vendors Accepting Bitcoin:
- OpenBazaar: P2P Ecommerce
- Airbitz Merchant Directory
- Map of physical stores accepting Bitcoin
- UseBitcoins.info
- Bitcoin Debit Card Comparison
Advanced Trading:
- The Bitcoin Pub’s video training series
- Intro to Crypto Trading
- An Overview of Cryptocurrencies for the Savvy Investor
- Comparisons of coins, exchanges, wallets
- CoinGecko coin statistics
- BitInfoCharts coin statistics
- BitcoinMarkets Reddit community
- BitcoinMarkets flair stats
- Podcast: Magic Internet Money
- Podcast: BTCVIX
- Sifr Data – Financial Analytics
- Twitter Mention Stats
- Realtime Twitter Sentiment
- TradingView
- Altcoin Fantasy – Crypto Fantasy Trading Platform
- Crypto trading simulator
- Volatility Index
- Whale Calls – large market movements
- WhalePool trading community
- Whaleclub Telegram community
- Woobull Charts
Realtime Exchange Data:
- All Market Tickers in One Chart
- Onchain FX
- Coin Market Caps
- Market prices and portfolio feature
- Crypto Market Cap Visualization
- Bitcoinity
- Bitcoin Average
- Bitcoin Market Metrics
- Bitcoin Wisdom
- Blockchain.info
- CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index
- Cryptowatch
- TensorCharts
- Winklevoss Price Index
Tax Accounting:
Privacy:
- Anonymous Bitcoin Book – how to maintain your privacy
- Bitcoin.org’s Privacy Guide
- JoinMarket: Improve the Privacy of Your Bitcoins and Earn Fees
- How TumbleBit Works
- How to Run Bitcoin as a Tor Hidden Service on Ubuntu
- ZeroLink: The Bitcoin Fungibility Framework
Lightning Network:
- Comprehensive Resources List
- Explain it Like I’m 5
- Explain it Like I’m 25
- Explained in greater detail in layman’s terms
- Technical Specifications (BOLTs)
- Lightning Network FAQ
- Lightning Apps Directory
- Lightning Resources, Apps, & Libraries
- Lightning Network Developer site
- Atomic Swap Readiness charts
- Network statistics
- More network statistics
- Mainnet Network Graph
- List of stores
- Another list/map of stores
- RPi Lightning node guide
Bitcoin Forks:
- Fork Usage Comparison
- Mining Stats
- Mempool Comparisons
- Fork Support by Company
- BCH Node Stats
- How to Claim Airdrops
Crypto Careers:
- CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium
- AngelList Blockchain Startups
- Coinality
- Crypto Jobs
- Cryptocurrency Jobs
- Crypto Jobs List
- Developer Jobs
- Freelance Gigs
- Jobs4Bitcoins subreddit