Bitcoin Signet: Controlled Testing Without Testnet Chaos
Signet replaces proof-of-work with a signature check, giving Bitcoin developers stable block times and reproducible test conditions. The mechanism, examined.
№ 002BitcoinBitcoin's Unspendable Outputs and the Shrinking Float
Millions of BTC are locked in addresses no one controls. The supply effect is real; the estimates are murkier than most analysts admit.
№ 003BitcoinBitcoin Proof-of-Work: Why Blocks Cost Real Energy
Bitcoin's Hashcash mechanism forces miners to burn electricity to produce valid blocks. The energy expenditure is the security model, not a design flaw.
№ 004BitcoinBitcoin Node Security: Outbound vs Inbound Connections
Bitcoin Core trusts outbound connections more than inbound, and for precise reasons. The security logic behind that asymmetry, explained for node operators.
№ 005BitcoinBitcoin's Script Version Byte and Soft Fork Upgrades
Bitcoin's one-byte witness version field lets soft forks add new spending rules without invalidating old wallets or splitting the chain.
№ 006BitcoinBitcoin Full Node Economics: A Ten-Year Breakdown
Hardware, bandwidth, and opportunity costs all shape whether running a full Bitcoin node makes financial sense. The arithmetic, read straight.
№ 007BitcoinBitcoin Coin Selection: Fees, UTXOs, and Wallet Algorithms
Coin selection algorithms quietly determine your transaction fees and UTXO bloat. This piece breaks down Branch and Bound, dust, and consolidation strategy.
№ 008BitcoinBitcoin Timelocked Multisig for Inheritance Planning
Timelocked multisig scripts can serve as a Bitcoin dead-man's switch. Here are the mechanics, the design tradeoffs, and the failure modes.
№ 009BitcoinBitcoin Compact Filters: Private Light Client Sync
BIP 157/158 compact filters let Bitcoin light clients verify transactions locally without exposing addresses to any full node. The mechanism, plainly explained.
№ 010BitcoinBitcoin Anti-Fee-Sniping: Mechanism and Miner Incentives
Anti-fee-sniping uses nLocktime to make block reorgs unprofitable. Learn the exact mechanism, the privacy tradeoff, and why it matters more each halving.
№ 011BitcoinLightning Node Routing Revenue: The Real Net Math
Channel open/close costs and rebalancing fees routinely exceed routing income. A breakdown of the full cost structure most node dashboards hide.
№ 012BitcoinBitcoin SPV Bloom Filters and the Privacy Leak
SPV bloom filters were designed to obscure your addresses from nodes, the intersection attack math shows why they don't, and what actually works instead.
№ 013BitcoinBitcoin Script Has No Loops: Security by Design
Bitcoin Script omits loops entirely, not as a limitation, but as a deliberate defense against Denial-of-Service attacks on every node in the network.
№ 014BitcoinBIP-32 HD Wallets: How Key Derivation Actually Works
BIP-32 derives millions of Bitcoin keys from one seed without exposing the root. The exact mechanism, the hardening tradeoff, and where the real risks sit.
№ 015BitcoinBitcoin Halving Explained: The Code That Slows New Coin Supply
Every four years, Bitcoin cuts its mining reward in half. Here's what that actually means for supply, miners, and the 21 million cap, without the price hype.
№ 016BitcoinPSBT and Bitcoin Multisig: The Offline Signing Format
BIP-174's PSBT format lets distributed signers approve Bitcoin transactions independently, on air-gapped devices, with no shared online session required.
№ 017BitcoinBitcoin Compact Block Relay: Latency, Numbers, Mechanics
Compact block relay cuts Bitcoin's propagation bandwidth by ~98%. BIP 152 explained with figures, a worked example, and misconceptions addressed.
№ 018BitcoinWhy Bitcoin's Timechain Makes Censorship Very Costly
Bitcoin's block structure makes retroactively censoring a confirmed transaction ruinously costly. Here's the exact mechanism, with numbers.
№ 019BitcoinBitcoin Network Topology: Speed vs Privacy Explained
How Bitcoin's peer-to-peer topology shapes how fast your transaction spreads and how private it stays. The tradeoff most guides skip entirely.
№ 020BitcoinBitcoin Schnorr Signatures and Key Aggregation Explained
Schnorr signatures let multiple Bitcoin signers collapse into one. Here's exactly how key aggregation works and why it cuts fees and improves privacy.
№ 021BitcoinBitcoin Replace-by-Fee: Why Merchants and Devs Clash
Replace-by-Fee lets senders bump stuck transactions, but it breaks zero-confirmation payments. Here's the real mechanic behind the tension.
№ 022BitcoinHow Bitcoin Script Evaluates Multi-Condition Spending Paths
Bitcoin's Script interpreter walks a stack machine through every spending condition. Here's exactly how multi-path validation works, with a concrete example.
№ 023BitcoinBitcoin Halving and Transaction Fees: What Changes
The block reward halving cuts miner subsidies, not fee revenue. Here's the exact mechanism, with numbers, and why the distinction matters.
№ 024BitcoinBitcoin Pay-to-Script-Hash: How P2SH Works
P2SH lets Bitcoin hide multisig and contract logic until coins are spent. Here's the exact mechanism, with a worked example.
№ 025BitcoinBitcoin's Coinbase Maturity Rule Explained
Bitcoin forces miners to wait 100 blocks before spending a block reward. Here's the exact mechanic, why it exists, and what it prevents.
№ 026BitcoinHow SegWit Changed Bitcoin Transaction ID Calculation
SegWit didn't just shrink fees. It fixed a subtle flaw in how Bitcoin transaction IDs are built. Here's the exact mechanism, explained clearly.
№ 027BitcoinWhy High Bitcoin Fees Don't Always Mean Faster Confirmation
A higher fee doesn't guarantee a faster Bitcoin confirmation. Here's the exact mechanics of mempool prioritisation, and where the logic breaks down.
№ 028BitcoinHow Bitcoin's UTXO Model Prevents Double Spending
Bitcoin stops double spending without a bank using unspent transaction outputs. Here's the exact mechanism, with a worked example.
№ 029BitcoinHow Hash Functions Prevent Bitcoin Block Malleability
Cryptographic hash functions lock every Bitcoin block into place. Here's the exact mechanism that makes retroactive tampering computationally absurd.
№ 030BitcoinHow Taproot Changed Bitcoin Multisig's On-Chain Footprint
Taproot made complex Bitcoin multisig wallets look identical to single-sig on-chain. Here's the exact mechanism, the tradeoffs, and what it means for privacy.
№ 031BitcoinBitcoin Dust Threshold: What Makes a UTXO Unspendable
The Bitcoin dust threshold isn't arbitrary. Here's the exact fee logic that turns a tiny UTXO into an unspendable output — and why it matters.
№ 032BitcoinOP_RETURN: How Bitcoin Stores Data On-Chain
OP_RETURN lets anyone embed up to 80 bytes of arbitrary data in a Bitcoin transaction. Here's exactly how it works and what it costs.
№ 033BitcoinBitcoin Institutionalization Faces a Fundamental Clash
A circular economy founder argues bitcoin institutionalization works against the asset's original design. Here's where the friction actually lives.
№ 034BitcoinHow Mempool Congestion Spreads Across Node Clusters
Mempool congestion doesn't hit all nodes at once. Here's how geographic propagation works and why your fee estimate can lag reality by minutes.