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Bitcoin - The best monetary technology ever invented.

Bitcoin is the most fascinating subject I've encountered. It is simultaneously a:

It is available to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Always.

Revolutionary technology

Bitcoin is an engineering masterpiece that combines two groundbreaking discoveries in computer science and monetary policy.

  1. Firstly, Bitcoin solves a fundamental problem in computer science known as the "Byzantine fault" using Proof of Work. This problem is commonly illustrated as the "Byzantine generals problem", which describes the difficulty of achieving consensus in a distributed system, illustrated as follows:

    Several army generals (representing a distributed system) must reach consensus on a coordinated time to attack a city without access to instant communication; this illustrates the synchronisation challenges in distributed systems, where thousands of computers must agree despite latency and uncertainty across the global internet.

  2. Secondly, as a result of this mechanism, Bitcoin prevents double spending without relying on a trusted intermediary.

Resilient, borderless payment layer

The 24/7 operation of the network permits transactions to occur without breaks.

Decentralised communications protocol

Data contained within transactions and on Layer 2 (Lightning and Ecash) and associated technologies (Nostr) can be used to communicate peer-to-peer with humans and machines.

And so much more...

Those who use Bitcoin, whether daily for work or occasionally for fun, witness positive change in energy production, finance, socioeconomics and politics.

Promotes green energy

Bitcoin mining aligns economic incentives with renewable power generation by acting as a flexible, price responsive load. Rather than competing with other consumers, miners absorb excess generation and provide grid services.

  • - Demand response: Miners ramp up when renewable output is high (e.g. midday solar peaks) and curtail when supply dips, smoothing net load.
  • - Stranded energy utilisation: Facilities sited at remote wind, hydro or geothermal plants convert otherwise wasted energy into economic value.
  • - Grid stability: Rapid on/off capability allows miners to provide frequency regulation and voltage support to the grid.
  • - Investment signal: Predictable, continuous revenue streams encourage development of new renewable capacity.

Numerous studies estimate that over 50% of global Bitcoin mining already uses renewable sources, and this share continues to grow as renewables become the lowest cost electricity option.

Proof of Work

Proof of Work is the consensus algorithm that secures Bitcoin by requiring miners to solve computationally intensive puzzles. This creates an economic cost to block creation and ensures network integrity.

  • - Sybil resistance: Only those expending substantial energy can propose new blocks, preventing an attacker from cheaply flooding the network with bogus identities.
  • - Economic security: The cost of mounting a 51% attack (controlling >50% of hash-rate) scales linearly with energy price and global hash-rate, making such attacks prohibitively expensive.
  • - Difficulty adjustment: Every 2,016 blocks (~2 weeks), mining difficulty recalibrates to maintain a 10-minute block interval, ensuring consistent issuance regardless of hardware improvements.
  • - Decentralisation incentive: As mining hardware competes globally, no single actor can dominate, fostering a distributed validator set and resilience.

By tying security directly to real-world energy expenditure, PoW transforms electricity into a cryptographic shield, naturally penalising misbehaviour and promoting honest collaboration.

Education

This is a fantastic resource to learn more: learnmeabitcoin.com

As is this, Vlad does amazing long-form podcasts amongst magazines: bitcoin-takeover.com

This is a great place to read about the latest related news: news.bitcoin.com