depth with sources
Dossiers
Four longer pieces on the questions that keep coming back. Every claim is a consensus rule, a documented fact, or a figure with a date and a source. Where something is an estimate, it says so.
- 12 minwith quiz
Mining and energy
What miners actually do, why the work has to be wasteful to be useful, and how to read energy figures honestly.
Read dossier - 11 minwith quiz
Custody: who really holds your bitcoin
Keys, backups, and the difference between owning bitcoin and owning a claim on someone else's bitcoin.
Read dossier - 10 minwith quiz
Lightning: payments off the chain
How payment channels move value instantly while still being enforced by bitcoin transactions, and what you give up.
Read dossier - 13 minwith quiz
History and attacks
The bugs, forks and attacks that actually happened, what fixed them, and what each one proved about the system.
Read dossier