The cover of Using Bitcoin: a hand pressing an orange button on a cream ground

Draft edition, updated 2026-10-12.

The web edition, free

Using Bitcoin

Learn bitcoin by using bitcoin.

A short, illustrated book that ends with you sending your first transaction. Read it here, a chapter at a time, in the order it is printed.

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Contents

  1. 1 Start Here
  2. 2 Why Direct Payments
  3. 3 What Bitcoin Is
  4. 4 Wallets
  5. 5 Seed And Recovery
  6. 6 First Transaction
  7. 7 Network Reference
  8. 8 After The First Send
  9. 9 Quick Words
  10. How This Started

Every chapter ends with a pointer to a LiveWallet notebook where you do the same thing with working code.