Bitcoin and Blockchain: Start Here

March 6, 2018

by Sharon Moran

I strongly believe that no individual should invest in cryptocurrency, bitcoin, Ethereum, or even lesser-known altcoins, without understanding the underlying technology, or at least making an effort to understand it.

So, the best place to begin is where it all started, by reading the Bitcoin whitepaper that pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto published in late 2008. (Ok, it technically all began even before that. Don’t worry, I’ll cover the digital currency predecessors, Digicash, egold, RPOWs, etc in other posts.)

The Bitcoin whitepaper is only 9 pages long, 8 if you don’t count the reference page! So, get started reading here:

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Remember when your high school English teacher cautioned you to read the book before watching the movie? Come back when you’re done reading the Bitcoin whitepaper. We’re aiming for the same approach here, folks. Video next.

I haven’t found a better visual demo explaining how the blockchain works than this one below by Anders Brownworth.