Resources

Books, articles, and videos

The Bullish Case for Bitcoin by Vijay Boyapati

Many people have been introduced to the “why” of bitcoin through one article published on Medium: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin. It’s an inspiring introduction to Bitcoin, including a review of money throughout history. Boyapati writes a primer on the value of Bitcoin, and why it’s superior to government currency, and even gold. He’s also expanded the article into an entire book, which is also a good read.

The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous

This classic book is the one that everyone even remotely interested in Bitcoin should read. Ammous goes into great depth on what makes a good money, and why. He writes about the best monies throughout history, and how when one type of money replaces another, those who hold on to the old form of money are impoverished.

Bitcoin University YouTube channel

One of the YouTube channels that I recommend for learning about Bitcoin is Bitcoin University (https://www.youtube.com/@Bitcoin_University). The creator, Matthew Kratter has solid information on self custody as well as many other aspects of Bitcoin.
A reminder—with YouTube channels, the comments section will often have scammers, so be cautious.

The Lightning Network

Bitcoin’s blockchain is secure and reliable, but it can be inconvenient and expensive for small transactions. This is especially a problem when the transaction fees are high. To solve this, developers have created what’s called “Layer-2” solutions. These work on top of the Bitcoin network, to make transactions faster and cheaper.

The most popular layer 2 is the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network lets users open payment channels, to send bitcoin instantly with very low fees. Instead of recording every transaction on the blockchain, lightning handles them off-chain, and only settles the final result on the bitcoin blockchain. This makes it perfect for small transactions.

If you’re using lightning regularly, be aware that it evolves quickly, and wallet apps sometimes disappear. In the United States, some of the most popular lightning wallets have been removed from app stores because of financial regulations. So, it’s important to stay informed, and avoid keeping large amounts in your lightning wallet.

Lightning wallet apps fall into two categories—custodial and non-custodial.

Custodial Lightning

The custodial ones take custody of your bitcoin on the app, and don’t allow you to manage it directly. But they also don’t require you to know the details of payment channels and nodes, which can be very challenging. These types of app charge a small fee for sending transactions. Also, since it’s not self custody, it’s best to avoid storing larger amounts on them.

Some of the more popular ones are:

·       CoinOS (https://coinos.io/)

·       Aqua (https://aquawallet.io/)

·       Wallet of Satoshi (https://www.walletofsatoshi.com/, not available in the US).

If you purchased your bitcoin with the Strike app, you already have a lightning wallet built into it. However, it’s KYC, and thus tied to your identity.

Non-custodial Lightning

The non-custodial apps do not take charge of your bitcoin, instead you work with your own bitcoin on the app. They require you to understand and manage your own lightning channels and nodes. You still pay a fee, but it’s lower and you have much more control over fees. Lightning is a fascinating area to learn about, but self custody with lightning is challenging for beginners. So, I’d recommend lots of research before setting up a lightning channel. Some of the more popular non-custodial apps are

·       Zeus (https://zeusln.com/)

·       Breez (https://breez.technology/)

·       Phoenix (https://phoenix.acinq.co/)

Support

If you need more support for any of the tools you’ve worked with, a good place to go is the sites recommended on the official website. Often these are hosted on Telegram.

For instance, if you need help with Sparrow, go to the official Sparrow website (https://sparrowwallet.com/), and look for the Telegram link, right above the Download button. The hardware wallet SeedSigner also has a link to their Telegram group on the FAQ page.

One thing to note about any public bitcoin group, especially in Telegram, is that they are very heavily targeted by scammers. If you ever post on one of these, you’ll immediately get multiple people sending you private messages. They’re all from scammers, so never respond to any private messages. Everything that’s legitimate is in public chat on these groups. And of course, never give anyone your seed phrase.

Never search for bitcoin related telegram groups by searching directly in Telegram. There are many groups out there that have official sounding names, but are actually run by scammers.

For instance, there’s a Telegram group called Sparrow Technical Support, run by scammers. If you post there, the administrators will try to get you to reveal your seed phrase. When looking for a support group on Telegram, only go to the Telegram group link from the official website.