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@ josh
2025-05-07 15:09:46Table of Contents
- Intro
- Important Terminology
- Getting Started
- Where do I buy bitcoin?
- Okay, I bought some bitcoin-now what?
- Less than 0.01 BTC
- More than 0.01 BTC and less than 0.1 BTC
- More than 0.1 BTC
- How Bitcoin Works
- Skepticism
- Someone will hack it
- The government will try to stop it
- It’s not backed by anything
- Conclusion
Intro
Maybe you saw an article in Forbes, a news segment about MicroStrategy (MSTR), or you glanced at the bitcoin price chart; whatever the spark, your curiosity led you here. Enough friends and relatives keep asking me about bitcoin that I finally organized my thoughts into a single reference. This is not a comprehensive guide—it assumes you trust me as a heuristic.
Important Terminology
Sat (satoshi) – the smallest unit of bitcoin. One bitcoin (₿) equals 100 000 000 sats.
Getting Started
Where do I buy bitcoin?
I use River because it publishes proof‑of‑reserves, supports the Lightning Network, and pays interest on idle USD balances (currently 3.8 %).
Okay, I bought some bitcoin-now what?
Withdraw it immediately. Centralized exchanges can and do fail. Your next step depends on how much bitcoin you hold.
If at any point you're struggling, please reach out to me.
Less than 0.01 BTC
- On your phone open Safari (iOS) or Chrome (Android).
- Paste
https://wallet.cashu.me?mint=https://mint.westernbtc.com. Confirm the prompt that asks whether you trusthttps://mint.westernbtc.com. I run this mint so beginners can skip the gnarly parts. - Complete setup.
- Tap Receive → LIGHTNING → enter amount → COPY.
- In River choose Send → Send to a Bitcoin wallet, paste the invoice, verify, and send.
- Return to the wallet; your sats should appear.
More than 0.01 BTC and less than 0.1 BTC
It's time for cold storage. Cold storage means a dedicated signing device not connected to the internet. Think of it like keys to a house. If you have the keys (your cold storage signing device), you can get into your house (the bitcoin). I recommend and use the COLDCARD Q or COLDCARD MK4 from COLDCARD. See this thorough walkthrough.
The creator nostr:npub1rxysxnjkhrmqd3ey73dp9n5y5yvyzcs64acc9g0k2epcpwwyya4spvhnp8 makes reliable content.
More than 0.1 BTC
The next security upgrade involves something called multisig. It requires the use of multiple devices instead of one. Think of those nuclear launch silos in movies where two keys need to be turned in order to launch the missile. One person can't reach both keys, so you need two people. Like the two keys needing to be turned, we need a certain number of keys (signing devices) to be used.
This offers a number of benefits. Say you have a 2-of-3 multisig setup. You would need two of the three keys to move the bitcoin. If you were to lose one, you could use the two others to move it instead. Many choose to geographically distribute the keys; choosing to keep one at a friend’s house or with a bank.
The previous video I linked covers multisig as well. Again, please reach out to me if you need help.
How Bitcoin Works
I'm going to paint a scene portraying the basics of how bitcoin works. Picture a race that's supposed to take 10 minutes to run start-to-finish, and there's a crowd of people spectating. When the fastest runner crosses the finish line, they're awarded 50 bitcoin. Everyone in the crowd recognizes who won, and writes it down on their own scoreboard. Then, the next race begins.
Now, let's say more racers who've had special training join. They start winning consistently because of it, and now the race only lasts about 9 minutes. There's a special rule everyone in the crowd agreed to, that they can make the race harder to ensure it's around 10 minutes long. So they make the race harder to counteract the faster runners.
With this in mind, let's get to the skepticism you might have.
Skepticism
Someone will hack it
Think of bitcoin as the people in the crowd. If someone tries to cheat and writes on their scoreboard that they have a billion bitcoin, their scoreboard is going to look different than everybody else’s. The other people in the crowd will cross-reference with each other and decide to ignore that person who cheated.
The government will try to stop it
Again, think of the crowd. In reality, the "crowd participants" are scattered all around the world. You might be able to stop many of them, but it would be almost impossible to stop everyone. Imagine people are watching the race on TV, can you find everyone who's spectating? Ironically, attempted bans often increase interest.
It’s not backed by anything.
Think of the runners. The runners are bitcoin miners. They have to expend real energy to participate in the race. The more bitcoin miners, the more secure the network. In summary, it's backed by electricity and work.
Conclusion
There are too many topics to cover in one article. I haven't even touched on the history of money, what money is, scarcity, etc. The best way to learn is to research the topics you're interested in for yourself. It took months of deep diving before I was sold on bitcoin, and I had many touch points before that.
Once you see it though, you can't unsee it.