Bitcoin about $83,000 book figure, Oct 2026Chapter 1 is free to read. Start reading
Your Bitcoin Basics
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Part OnePart TwoPart ThreePart FourClosingThe short quiz
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Part One · What is Bitcoin?
Part One in five sentences
  1. Bitcoin is a shared record of who owns what, kept in identical copies on thousands of computers, with no company and no boss.
  2. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin, and each one divides into 100 million sats, so nobody has to buy a whole one.
  3. A key, not an account, proves what you own, and whoever holds the key controls the bitcoin.
  4. Most people find bitcoin through another person, and the reason you came predicts what you will do when the price falls.
  5. “Too late” is a feeling, and being early to understand something is not the same as it being a good buy.
1. How many bitcoin will ever exist?
2. A satoshi is
3. What makes Bitcoin’s ledger different from your bank’s?
4. About what share of people worldwide own any bitcoin, by the most careful estimates?
5. The adoption curve tells you
Part Two · The problem and the fix
Part Two in five sentences
  1. Since 1913 a committee decides how many dollars exist, and since 1971 nothing physical limits the number.
  2. New money reaches banks and asset owners first, and savers and wage earners last.
  3. Nodes check every rule, miners order the transactions, and proof of work makes rewriting the record too expensive to try.
  4. The difficulty adjustment keeps blocks about 10 minutes apart, and the halving cuts new supply every 210,000 blocks.
  5. Developers can propose changes, but nothing changes unless the people running nodes choose to run it.
1. The Federal Reserve was created by an Act signed in
2. At the Fed’s 2% inflation target, a dollar loses about half its buying power in roughly
3. Who enforces Bitcoin’s rules?
4. About how often does the network produce a new block?
5. If one mining pool briefly got more than half the network, what happened in 2014?
Part Three · Why is Bitcoin valuable?
Part Three in five sentences
  1. When money fails people, it fails through inflation, freezes, and closed doors, and bitcoin answers each with a rule no one can change.
  2. The price is set by a supply that cannot grow meeting a demand that can, which is why it swings.
  3. Bitcoin has fallen more than 75% four times, and a position is the right size when a 50% drop would be a bad day, not a changed life.
  4. Every price model you see online extends the past forward, so treat it as a reason for optimism, never a promise.
  5. The hard questions about crime, energy, bubbles, and quantum computers have honest answers, and some are still open.
1. What does a typical bank deposit agreement say about closing your account?
2. Bitcoin has fallen more than 75% from a high how many times?
3. Dollar-cost averaging means
4. In March 2024, a judge in the High Court of England and Wales ruled that Craig Wright
5. Has the Bitcoin network itself ever been hacked?
Part Four · How do I buy it, keep it and use it?
Part Four in five sentences
  1. Know where your money sits and what it is exposed to before you add anything new.
  2. Start small, sign your volatility contract first, and if you buy, buy on a schedule you decided in advance.
  3. Higher on the custody ladder means more control, not more safety for everyone, and no one pays you back for lost self-custody.
  4. Every scam ends with the same request: send first, read back a code, type your words, or hurry.
  5. Spending bitcoin is a taxable sale, so keep records from the first purchase, and leave your heirs a plan they can follow.
1. Every scam in Chapter 11 wants one of two things. Which two?
2. Someone calls, says your wallet needs to be “validated,” and asks for your 12 words. You should
3. What is the difference between a fee and a spread?
4. A Lightning payment
5. Which of these should your recovery letter for your family never contain?
Closing · What does it change?
The closing in five sentences
  1. Holding money that keeps its rules can teach patience, and patience grows from trust.
  2. Bitcoin can fix some things about money. It cannot fix scams, wages, or rent.
  3. Learn, buy small, secure, share, in that order.
  4. Be the peer, not the preacher: answer when asked, and let people see your plan.
  5. Things change after a book is printed, so check yourbitcoinbasics.com for what is new.
1. Multiply the current block height by 10 minutes and divide by 525,600. What do you get?
2. Block 840,000, in April 2024, was
3. The four steps of the plan, in order, are
4. Which of these fails the “teacher or salesman” test?
5. Someone asks, “So what do you think of Bitcoin?” The script says to end with
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Part One

What is Bitcoin?

  • I can give the sixty-second answer to “what is Bitcoin?” without notes. Ch. 1
  • I can name the five ideas and say one sentence about each. Ch. 1
  • I can explain what a satoshi is and why 21 million is enough. Ch. 1
  • I can sort a digital asset into one of four types by asking who issued it, and say why this book covers only one. Ch. 1
  • I can explain the difference between “late” and “too late” to a friend. Ch. 2
  • I can say roughly what share of the world owns bitcoin and where that puts it on the adoption curve. Ch. 2
  • I can name two reasons other than price that people come to Bitcoin. Ch. 2
  • I can describe my own starting point in one sentence. Ch. 2

Part Two

The problem and the fix

  • I can say in one sentence each what changed in 1913, 1933 and 1971. Ch. 3
  • I can explain why a bank’s records can show more dollars than were ever deposited. Ch. 3
  • I can describe who receives new money first and who receives it last. Ch. 3
  • I can explain why the Bitcoin whitepaper appeared in the fall of 2008. Ch. 3
  • I can explain the mailbox and the stamp to a friend, and say what a hash adds. Ch. 4
  • I can say what a node does, what a miner does, and which one gets paid. Ch. 4
  • I can explain why it costs more to cheat than it pays, without using the word “trust.” Ch. 4
  • I can describe the halving schedule and say roughly what share of bitcoin has already been created. Ch. 4
  • I can give both energy estimates, say which one is higher, and name a fair point on each side. Ch. 4

Part Three

Why is Bitcoin valuable?

  • I can tell the story of two of the six people in this chapter and say what happened to their money. Ch. 5
  • I can name the one thing all six cases had in common. Ch. 5
  • I can explain what a CBDC is and give one reason it does not fix the problem in this chapter. Ch. 5
  • I can state, in a sentence, what Bitcoin offers the refugee at the border, and what it does not. Ch. 5
  • I can find the sentence in my own bank’s deposit agreement that says the bank may close my account. Ch. 5
  • I can explain why a fixed supply makes the price rise over long windows and swing hard over short ones. Ch. 6
  • I can name the four largest drawdowns by year and say what happened after each one. Ch. 6
  • I can describe what $50 a month looked like from 2015 to 2026 and say where to check the figures. Ch. 6
  • I can name the three kinds of large holders that arrived after 2020 and say why that is context and not a reason. Ch. 6
  • I can state the greater-fool objection fairly and give both halves of the answer. Ch. 6
  • I can name three of the six biases and say which one I am most prone to. Ch. 7
  • I can explain why “Bitcoin was hacked” is the wrong description of every major theft so far. Ch. 7
  • I can give the cash number and the crypto number for money laundering, and say where each comes from. Ch. 7
  • I can say what a government can and cannot do about Bitcoin, with one example of each. Ch. 7
  • I can say what a quantum computer could and could not do to Bitcoin, and what I can do about it today. Ch. 7

Part Four

How do I buy it, keep it and use it?

  • I can rate my own financial literacy and name two reasons a low score is not mainly my fault. Ch. 8
  • I can say what a 401(k) is and how it differs from a pension. Ch. 8
  • I can explain why a savings account can pay interest and still lose ground. Ch. 8
  • I can explain present bias and say what the later marshmallow research found about trust. Ch. 8
  • I can name the five ways to buy bitcoin and the way of getting a cup of coffee that matches each one. Ch. 9
  • I can say where every dollar of a thousand-dollar purchase goes, including the fee, the spread, and the network fee. Ch. 9
  • I can explain what an exchange knows about me and what the public ledger shows. Ch. 9
  • I can explain why buying a fixed amount on a schedule is a behavior and not a prediction. Ch. 9
  • I have written my own rules and signed the page. Ch. 9
  • I can explain “not your keys, not your coins” in one breath and back it with Mt. Gox or FTX. Ch. 10
  • I can name the four rungs of the custody ladder and say what each protects against. Ch. 10
  • I can say who, if anyone, pays me back if bitcoin is stolen from each rung, and why FDIC insurance does not apply. Ch. 10
  • I can explain why the top rung is not the right place for everyone, and what a fund or an exchange trades away. Ch. 10
  • I can say which rung I am on and what would move me up the ladder. Ch. 10
  • I can describe how to write down and store a seed phrase, and list four things never to do with it. Ch. 10
  • I can explain, in plain words, why a device that was never online could still lose its keys in 2026. Ch. 10
  • I can name at least six of the nine kinds of scams and say the tell for each. Ch. 11
  • I can say the two things every scam is after. Ch. 11
  • I can explain the difference between the Bitcoin network being hacked and an exchange failing, with one example of each claim’s record. Ch. 11
  • I can say the pause line and the callback rule from memory. Ch. 11
  • I can list the first three things to do if someone I love has been scammed. Ch. 11
  • I can explain why the Bitcoin ledger is slow on purpose and what the fast lane on top of it does. Ch. 12
  • I can describe how a Lightning payment works using the vault and fast-road picture, including why the ledger only sees the beginning and the end. Ch. 12
  • I can convert a dollar amount to sats when I know the price. Ch. 12
  • I can find a place near me that accepts Lightning and describe what happens at the register. Ch. 12
  • I can say what the IRS calls it when I buy lunch with sats, and what record I need to keep. Ch. 12
  • I can name the things that come before bitcoin on an ordinary financial list, and say why my time horizon decides whether it belongs on the list at all. Ch. 13
  • I can explain what a spot bitcoin ETF is, what a Bitcoin IRA gives up, and why someone might hold bitcoin both ways. Ch. 13
  • I can state the one tax rule, name three taxable events and three that are not, and explain why the 1-year mark matters. Ch. 13
  • I can list the four things my heirs need and say which one a will provides. Ch. 13
  • I can say what I would do at a 50% fall, and where that answer is written down. Ch. 13

Closing

What does it change?

  • I can explain why patience has more to do with trust than willpower, and name the research behind that. Ch. 14
  • I can say what “low time preference” means and give one example from my own life outside money. Ch. 14
  • I can name two things that change when money cannot be debased or frozen, and two things that do not. Ch. 14
  • I can say what “fix the money, fix the world” can plausibly deliver and name two things it cannot. Ch. 14
  • I can describe a Bitcoin standard as a mindset and name one practice with its trade-off. Ch. 14
  • I can name the four steps of the plan, in order, and say why buying comes after the safety chapters. Ch. 15
  • I can write my own plan with dates, including “not yet” as an answer. Ch. 15
  • I can apply the four tests that separate a teacher from a salesman to a new Bitcoin source. Ch. 15
  • I can explain, with one example, why showing changes more behavior than telling. Ch. 15
  • I can answer “what do you think of Bitcoin?” in under two minutes without predicting a price or telling anyone what to buy. Ch. 15

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