Peter Kent - Bitcoin For Dummies

Bitcoin For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

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Copyright © 2022 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022932288

ISBN 978-1-119-60213-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-60216-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-60214-9 (ebk)

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright

4 Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here

5 Part 1: Bitcoin Basics Chapter 1: Bitcoin in a Nutshell In the Beginning, There Were … Digital Currencies? The Birth of Bitcoin But Who Is Nakamoto? Understanding What Bitcoin Actually Is Understanding Bitcoin Units Cryptocurrency or Cryptoasset? If There Is No Bitcoin, How Can It Be Valuable? Understanding Bitcoin Benefits Chapter 2: Bitcoin Tech Explained Understanding That There Is No Bitcoin! Discovering the Bitcoin Ledger Looking at the Bitcoin Distributed, Peer-to-Peer Network Using the Bitcoin Blockchain’s Blocks of Business Finding Out How the Ledger Functions

6 Part 2: Using Bitcoin Chapter 3: Buying, Using, and Selling Bitcoin Finding the Price of Bitcoin Your Options for Acquiring Bitcoin “Bitcoin Back” on Credit and Debit Cards Earning Your Bitcoin Mining Bitcoin Finding Bitcoin Everywhere Selling Your Bitcoin Chapter 4: Taking Control of Your Wallet (and Hodling Your Bitcoin) What Is a Wallet? Exploring Wallet Hardware Finding a Wallet Setting Up a Bitcoin Wallet Using the Lightning Network Chapter 5: Keeping Your Bitcoin Safe Understanding How You Can Lose Control of Your Bitcoin Grasping the Goal: Private Key and Seed Protection Making a Choice: Custodial or Private Wallet? Devising Your Cryptocurrency Safety Plan Exploring More Ways to Protect Your Bitcoin (and Everything Else) Knowing What Happens When You Kick the Bucket Chapter 6: Investing in Bitcoin Bitcoin: Valuable Asset or Bubble About to Burst? So You Want to Buy Bitcoin… Hodling II — An Even Better Strategy The New Frontier — Other Cryptocurrencies NFTs — What’s It All About?

7 Part 3: Getting Geeky Chapter 7: Understanding the Bitcoin Network and Bitcoin Mining The Bitcoin Network Submitting Transactions Bitcoin Presets Chapter 8: Bitcoin Adoption in the Real World Bitcoin in the Boardroom Bitcoin in Nations Chapter 9: Bitcoin Botheration Bitcoin Is Too Volatile Governments Ban Bitcoin Bitcoin: A 21st-Century Ponzi Scheme The Bitcoin Bubble Bitcoin Costs Too Much to Use Bitcoin Security Risks Bitcoin Energy Usage

8 Part 4: The Part of Tens Chapter 10: Ten Tips to Hodl and Stack Sats Invest in Knowledge, Do Your Homework Get Off Zero (B) Lower Your Cost Basis, Buy the Dip Dry Powder, or Get on Zero ($)? Run Your Own Bitcoin Node Secure your Keys, Test Seed Backups Bitcoin Price-Prediction Models Bitcoin Technical Analysis, Market Indicators, and Other Tea Leaves Slow and Steady Wins the Race Tell Everyone, or Speak Softly? Chapter 11: Ten Types of Bitcoin Resources Bitcoin Documentaries Bitcoin Books Bitcoin Guides and Walkthroughs Bitcoin Block Explorers Bitcoin Data Aggregators Bitcoin Forums Bitcoin Volatility Charts Bitcoin Foundational Documents Bitcoin Wikis Bitcoin Data Visualizations Chapter 12: Ten (Plus One) Thoughts about the Future of Bitcoin Bitcoiners Love Lindy’s Law Bitcoin’s Limited Supply Drives Price Bitcoin Adoption Coin Rush Bitcoin Adoption by Corporations Bitcoin Is Dead! Bitcoin Boom-and-Bust Cycles The Halvening and Bitcoin Price New Bitcoin “Layers” Bitcoin Will Get Easier Bitcoin Development and Bitcoin Improvement Proposals What Is the Future of Bitcoin?

9 Index

10 About the Authors

11 Advertisement Page

12 Connect with Dummies

13 End User License Agreement

1 Chapter 1 TABLE 1-1 Bitcoin Units

2 Chapter 3TABLE 3-1 $500 Trades Compared

3 Chapter 6TABLE 6-1 Gold versus Bitcoin

1 Chapter 1FIGURE 1-1: How much Bitcoin is needed to buy a share of Apple?

2 Chapter 2FIGURE 2-1: Each block’s hash is stored in the next block of data. The hashes c...FIGURE 2-2: Your browser’s lock icon means that data submitted back to the web ...FIGURE 2-3: An example of a blockchain explorer tool, found at https://live.blo...FIGURE 2-4: The Bitcoin is associated with an address in the blockchain; the ad...