explainer

Part 4 of the beginner guide. A sent payment sits in a waiting room each node keeps on its own before a miner seats it in a block — and even then, it only gets safer with time.

Part 1 of the beginner guide. A bitcoin is not a coin sitting in an account — it behaves more like a receipt, unlocked by a key only you hold.

Part 5 of the beginner guide. Two simple rules — everyone checks the rules, and the chain with the most work wins — are what keep a system with no boss honest.

Part 3 of the beginner guide. New bitcoins exist because computers race to win a lottery-style puzzle, and the prize is the right to add the next page.

Part 2 of the beginner guide. Thousands of computers end up agreeing on the exact same record by checking each other's work and chaining every page to the one before it.

Where Bitcoin's current reality has drifted from Satoshi's design intent: four axes — mining (one-CPU-one-vote to ASIC oligopoly), custody (own keys to exchange IOUs), governance, and scaling.

Start here if you know nothing about Bitcoin beyond the price. A five-part guide to what a bitcoin is, who keeps the record, how new coins appear, and why no one can cheat it.