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SLIP39: An Easy and Powerful Way to Secure Your Wallet Backup
When you hold bitcoin in self-custody, your backup is the master key to your wallet. It represents all your private keys and allows you to restore access to your funds if your device is lost, damaged, or inaccessible. Most wallets today use the BIP39 standard, which generates a 12 or 24-word seed phrase to secure…
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Codex32: On the Quest to Hand-Computed Bitcoin Wallets
An initiative called Codex32 has emerged in the world of modern cryptography, where computers dominate. Created with Blockstream Research, Codex32 proposes an approach which bypasses electronics — a throwback to the historical roots of encryption. But why opt for hand computation in a world dominated by lightning-fast electronic devices? What Is Codex 32? Developed in…
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Whirlpool CoinJoin with Sparrow Wallet — A quick guide to enhance your Bitcoin privacy
In terms of user privacy, the Bitcoin network is very different from the legacy system of banks that most people are accustomed to. Traditional bank accounts provide a centralized and regulated form of privacy, ensuring the security of personal and transaction data within the institution. However, this information remains accessible to authorized parties and regulatory…
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Bitcoin and the Open Source Revolution
Open source started with the free software foundation, founded to defend the rights and freedoms of software users. Today, open source software is being used and developed by billions of individuals, and across all industries. Just like the free software foundation that inspired the more pragmatic open source movement, Bitcoin too started as an ideologically-driven…
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What are BIP 39 seed phrases?
The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal or ‘BIP’ 39, was introduced in 2013 with the aim of creating a common standard for easy and safe wallet backups. Today, almost every Bitcoin wallet is compatible with BIP 39 seed phrases, and as such it is important for users to understand what they are and how to use them.…
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How can BIP 39 passphrases help secure your bitcoin?
Passphrases are a feature of BIP 39, the standard that describes how to convert raw wallet seeds into easy to read seed phrases. What is a passphrase? A passphrase is an extra word used to encrypt your BIP 39 seed phrase. This ‘word’ can be any string and may contain lower or upper case letters,…
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Bitcoin in 21 pictures
In this article we try to introduce some of the many aspects of Bitcoin in 21 images and captions. We attempt to give an overview of Bitcoin as a money and a payment network, as well as its historical, economic, environmental and societal context. 🔽 Links Images Posted at block 792272
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Bitcoin’s UTXO model and its implications for user privacy
Bitcoin is a financial network that allows users to store and send value over the internet without a trusted central authority. In order to achieve this, Bitcoin relies on a transparent ledger of transactions shared between its users. The system is fully auditable, and every unit of value can be traced back to the block…
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Can Bitcoin help you escape fiat inflation?
The 20th century saw government currencies abandon the gold standard, instead pegging themselves to the gold-backed US Dollar until 1971, when the United States followed suit and put the final nail in the gold standard coffin. Since then, the amount of a currency in circulation has become arbitrary, determined by central bank policies which have…
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The Blocksize War: Who Makes the Rules in a Decentralized Network?
Decentralization is an often underappreciated and misunderstood feature of Bitcoin. Achieving consensus without a trusted third party was the biggest technical hurdle to the invention of a peer-to-peer electronic cash. While centrally controlled monetary networks can be corrupted or shut down, Bitcoin’s decentralized nature makes it permissionless, uncensorable and immutable. However, decentralization is a design…
Bitcoin Bumblebee 