Taproot

The day quantum computers break Bitcoin — will the world end?

Which Bitcoin assets are at risk from a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, and what the timeline and migration debate around post-quantum cryptography looks like.

SegWit2x cancelled about a week before activation — Mike Belshe ends the New York Agreement (November 2017)

Mike Belshe suspended the SegWit2x hard fork on the mailing list, about a week before the planned 2 MB activation at block 494784. The New York Agreement collapsed without a chain split.

Bitcoin Cash splits at block 478558 — the block-size war's first surviving fork (August 2017)

Bitcoin Cash forked from Bitcoin at block 478558, mined by ViaBTC around 12:37 UTC. The 8 MB, no-SegWit chain became the first protocol fork to leave a lasting separate network.

The block-size war (2015–2017) — Bitcoin XT, BIP148, the New York Agreement, and the Bitcoin Cash fork

Cross-cutting reading of Bitcoin's 2015–2017 block-size war by phase, faction, and turning point: Bitcoin XT, BIP148 UASF, the New York Agreement, Bitcoin Cash, SegWit2x cancellation.

Pieter Wuille (dates unknown) — Bitcoin Core developer behind BIP-32, libsecp256k1, SegWit, and Taproot

Belgian software engineer (sipa), Bitcoin Core committer since 2011. Author/co-author of BIP-32, BIP-141 (SegWit), BIP-340/341 (Schnorr/Taproot). Initiator of libsecp256k1; Blockstream co-founder.

Bitcoin's time-warp attack — Satoshi's 2016-block off-by-one and the Great Consensus Cleanup (2024–2026)

Satoshi's difficulty retarget has an off-by-one: it measures 2,015 blocks instead of 2,016. A hashrate majority can exploit it via timestamp manipulation. The Great Consensus Cleanup proposes a fix.

Bitcoin architecture evolution — Satoshi era v0.1 vs modern v27+ baseline

Cross-cutting architecture comparison across every subsystem: Satoshi's v0.1 (January 2009) side by side with modern Bitcoin Core v27+, with split diagrams and domain tables.

Bitcoin block and chain design — headers, Merkle trees, and chain selection

How Bitcoin blocks are structured, how Merkle trees commit transactions to block headers, and how the most-work chain selection rule resolves forks.

Bitcoin ecosystem design — Lightning Network, sidechains, and L1 extensions

How the Bitcoin ecosystem layers above and around the base chain: Lightning payment channels, federated sidechains, L1 envelope extensions, and mining pool architectures.

Bitcoin consensus design — proof of work, difficulty adjustment, and fork handling

How Bitcoin nodes agree on a single chain: SHA-256d proof of work, the difficulty adjustment algorithm, block validation rules, fork resolution, and probabilistic finality.

Bitcoin cryptography design — keys, signatures, hashes, and address derivation

How Bitcoin uses elliptic-curve keys, digital signatures, hash functions, and deterministic derivation to secure ownership without trusted third parties.

Bitcoin system design overview — architecture, data flow, and design-document index

High-level system overview of Bitcoin's architecture, layer model, and data flow. Entry point to a 12-page design-document series covering every major subsystem.

Bitcoin's family tree: forks, altcoins, and the mainline Bitcoin that endured

Genealogy of every Bitcoin protocol fork that left a separate chain alive (Bitcoin Cash, SV, Gold) and the adjacent cryptocurrencies derived from Bitcoin (Namecoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin).