Understand Bitcoin before you buy any.
I teach Bitcoin to adults who never expected to care about how money works. This book is that class: what Bitcoin is, why people trust it, and how to own a little without getting scammed. No math. No hype. Not financial advice.
Paperback [PRICE] · Kindle [PRICE] · Signed copies, paid in dollars or bitcoin
Teaches Bitcoin Basics at UNLV’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Why it matters: Chapter 3, Where money comes from“No man should work for what another man can print.”
If one of these sounds like you, yes.
“Everyone talks about Bitcoin and I feel behind.”
Chapter 1 gives you the sixty-second answer. Read it twice and you will be ahead of most of the people talking.
“Someone I love owns some, and I worry.”
Chapters 10 and 11 show how people keep bitcoin safe and how the common scams work, so you can ask good questions.
“I want to buy a little, carefully.”
Chapter 9 walks through a first purchase one decision at a time, with a written plan before you spend a dollar.
Looking for price predictions or get-rich tips? There are none in here.
Four steps. No math.
The whole system in four pictures. Chapters 1 and 4 take each step slowly.
- 1
You hold a key
A secret only you keep. It is the one thing that can move your bitcoin.
Chapter 1 - 2
You sign a payment
Your wallet uses the key to sign it, like a signature no one can forge.
Chapter 1 - 3
Thousands of computers check it
Each one checks the rules for itself. No boss, no off switch.
Chapter 4 - 4
It joins the chain
About every 10 minutes, a new block links to the last. Change an old one and every later link breaks.
Chapter 4
21 million, on a schedule.
New bitcoin arrive on a fixed timetable that halves about every four years. Nobody can speed it up, slow it down, or print extra. That one rule is why people call it scarce. Chapter 1 explains it, and Chapter 6 shows what it does to the price.
See the numbers
| Year | Bitcoin issued |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 2.69 million |
| 2013 | 10.63 million |
| 2017 | 16.08 million |
| 2021 | 18.59 million |
| 2025 | 19.80 million |
| 2030 | 20.48 million |
| 2040 | 20.91 million |
Use them today. Book or no book.
Is this a Bitcoin scam?
Got a text about a locked account, a giveaway, or your “wallet”? Paste it here before you do anything. Private, on your device.Check a messageHeard something about Bitcoin?
Energy, crime, Ponzi. Type it in and get my answer from the book, then the research if you want it.Check a claimDCA calculator
Any start month, any amount, run to today, with the worst stretch marked so you meet it on paper first.Run the historyWhat you will be able to do
Every chapter opens with the outcomes it promises and ends with a short check, so you always know whether it worked.
Short sections. Plain words. A picture when it helps.
When words get hard, there is a picture.
Every idea that trips up my students has a drawing in the book. Here are six. Click one to open its chapter page.
Ask the question you are embarrassed to ask.
Is it too late to invest in bitcoin?
People have said “too late” at every price for 17 years, and roughly 4% of the world holds any bitcoin at all. You are late, but it’s not where you think.
Chapter 6Is Bitcoin money for criminals?
Some criminals use bitcoin. Far more use dollars, and every bitcoin transaction sits on a public ledger forever, which is how investigators catch people who thought they were hidden.
Chapter 7Isn’t Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme?
No. A Ponzi scheme has an operator who promises returns and pays early investors with newer investors’ money until it runs out. Bitcoin has no operator, promises no return, and pays no one; buyers buy from sellers at a market price. The price can still fall hard.
Chapter 8Is bitcoin safe to own? Can it be hacked?
The network has run since 2009 without being hacked, with one early exception in 2010 that was fixed within hours. Companies and apps around it have been hacked many times, and people have been tricked, so keeping bitcoin safe mostly means keeping it away from other people’s mistakes and your own.
Chapters 4, 10, 11“The class is called Bitcoin Basics, not Bitcoin Believers.”
Stacey Boyle, PhD
[Two or three sentences in your own words: why you teach Bitcoin, and who you wrote this for.]
What people are talking about
- Example headline: miners report a new record hash rateBitcoin Magazine · 12 min ago
- Example headline: spot bitcoin ETFs see a week of inflowsCoinDesk · 1 hr ago
- Example headline: a state treasurer explains a bitcoin reserve billThe Block · 3 hr ago
Examples shown. Live headlines load on the published site and refresh every 10 minutes.
Start with Chapter 1. It is free.
Read it here with no sign-up. Or ask for it as a printable file, with the sixteen questions on one page and a short note when there is news about the book.
Get your copy
Like the B on the cover? Bitcoin stickers at my Etsy shop.