BEST BITCOIN RESOURCES
Bitcoin is a revolutionary system that is quite complex and has a steep learning curve. The goal of this site is to provide an index of curated high-quality educational resources and information about Bitcoin to make it easier to educate yourself. Make sure you have a decent grasp of the system before you store a significant amount of value in it. Note that this list is open source; please suggest changes on Github!
The History of Bitcoin:
- Original Announcement Email Thread
- Historical Literature (work that preceded Bitcoin)
- Essays on Bitcoin
- History from Cypherpunks to JP Morgan
- History Timeline
Online Courses:
- 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)
- Introduction to Bitcoin (create a free trial)
- Introduction to Digital Currency – MOOC offered by University of Nicosia
- Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies – Blockchain at Berkeley
The History of Bitcoin:
- Original Announcement Email Thread
- Historical Literature (work that preceded Bitcoin)
- Essays on Bitcoin
- History from Cypherpunks to JP Morgan
- History Timeline
Documentaries:
- Inside Man (Morgan Spurlock)
News Sites:
- Hodl Hodl News
Video Presentations:
- Construct
Miscellaneous Statistics:
- Bitcoinity – Exchange & Blockchain stats
- BitInfoCharts (Comparison of misc cryptocurrencies)
- Coin Metrics – Open Source Analytics
- How Many Confs (mining security comparison)
- Mempool.space future block predictions
- P2SH.info – historical block & transaction stats
- Statoshi.info – realtime Bitcoin node stats
- TradeBlock – realtime block & mempool stats
- UTXOs Created Per Day
Podcasts:
- Epic List of Podcasts
Transaction Fee Estimates:
- Transaction Fee Estimates (many sources)
Blogs:
- Bitcoin Tech Talk (Various)
- Bitslog (Sergio Demian Lerner)
- The Control (Nick Tomaino)
- Financial Cryptography (Ian Grigg)
- Hacking, Distributed (Emin Gün Sirer)
- The Memory Pool (Satoshi Nakamoto Institute)
- Money and State (Erik Voorhees)
- Truthcoin (Paul Sztorc)
- Unenumerated (Nick Szabo)
Visualizations:
- Bitcoin Globe Transactions
- Bitforce5 Transaction Relationships
- Daily Blockchain Transactions Relationships
- BitListen – 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
- Bitcoin Rain – Transactions
- Blockchain 3D Explorer 3D and VR visualizations
- IOHK – Interactive audiovisual blockchain
- Adjacency Matrix Interactive Tool – Value Flow Between Block Heights
Twitter:
Buying Bitcoins:
Mining:
- How Bitcoin Mining Works (in layman’s terms)
- Mining Hardware Profitability Calculator
- Realtime Mining Statistics
- Organ of Corti (mining / network analysis blog)
- Satoshi Blocks (allegedly mined by Satoshi)
Merchant Adoption:
- Airbitz Merchant Director
- OpenBazaar: P2P Ecommerce
Data Anchoring:
- CoinSecrets (view OP_RETURN data)
- BitcoinStrings (view embedded data)
- Blockcerts (blockchain credentials)
- Eternity Wall (store messages)
- Factom (record management)
- Keybase (secure filesystem)
- Mainstay (sidechain platform)
- Omni Layer (asset platform)Open chain (sidechain platform)
- Proof of Existence (document timestamping)
- Stampery (data certification)
- Tierion (proofs & timestamping)
Advanced Trading:
- The Bitcoin Pub’s video training series
- Altcoin Fantasy – Crypto Fantasy Trading Platform
- Whaleclub Telegram community
Deep Dive Technical Resources:
- Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Technologies (Princeton textbook)
- Bitcoin Edge Workshop (20+ hours of tutorials)
- Bitcoin Stack Exchange (Technical Q & A)
Realtime Exchange Data:
- Bitcoin Trade Volume
Tax Accounting:
- Blockpath – QuickBooks Sync + Tax Prep
Economics:
Developer Tools:
- BlockSci high-performance query engine
Bitcoin Forks:
- Fork Usage Comparison
- BCH Node Stats
- forkdrop.io (Directory of Bitcoin Forks and Exchanges)
Crypto Careers:
- AngelList Blockchain Startups
- Coinality
- Developer Jobs
Security:
- Bitcoin Security & Storage 101 (Pamela Morgan)
- Cryptoasset Inheritance Planning (Pamela Morgan)
- Cryptocurrency Security Standard (for enterprises)
- Intro to Paper Wallets & Cold Storage (James D’Angelo)
- Jolly Roger’s Security Guide for Beginners (online OPSEC)
- Paper Wallet Cold Storage Guide (advanced users only!)
- Crypto Scam Checker
Crypto Charity:
- BitHope
- Bitcoin Core Sponsorship Program
- Dignitas International
Legal:
- Global-Regulation of Cryptocurrency
Privacy:
- Anonymous Bitcoin
- JoinMarket (CoinJoin software)
Setting up a Wallet:
Choose your wallet here
You’ll note that there are a variety of options.
My wallet recommendations:
- Hardware: Trezor or Ledger Nano S
- Desktop: Electrum
- Android: Samourai Wallet
- iPhone: Blockstream Green
- Web: BitGo
- Extreme Privacy: Wasabi
- Extreme Security: Casa
Note that it is NOT recommended that Bitcoin newcomers use the Bitcoin Core wallet. If you want to use a wallet backed by a fully validating node you run, read Securing Your Financial Sovereignty.