The curriculum · Beginner to seasoned

Nine blocks. Read them in order. (We’ll know.)

Each explainer admits the hard parts and wins on honesty anyway, and each assumes a little more than the last. Hand a newcomer Block 1. By Block 9 they’ll understand Bitcoin better than most people who’ve held it for years. The learning curve is steep. The view from the top is worth it.

fact

How the Path works

01 Read a block

Each one is short. The longest is a seven-minute read.

02 Confirm it

Hit confirm at the bottom and the block locks into your chain.

03 Climb the tiers

Four tiers, beginner to capstone. Progress saves in this browser. No account, no email.

Your chain so far.

Confirm a block at the bottom of each explainer and it locks into place here. Nine confirmations and you’ve graduated. (There’s no diploma. There is a shirt.)

T1Start here
T2Core arguments
T3Mechanics
T4Capstones
Your chain: 0/9 blocks confirmed
Progress saves in this browser. No account, no email, no funny business.

Four tiers. One climb.

Each tier assumes the one before it. Skip ahead if you must, but the capstones lean hard on the foundations. (We’ll still know.)

Tier 1 · The foundations

Start here

The core discipline, taught gently, and the comfort tools that make the big numbers small.

Block 01 · 6 min read

The Scarcity, Honestly

The front door. What we know, what we think, and what we’re only guessing, sorted out loud. If you read one, read this.

Block 02 · 3 min read

Sats, Seconds, and Epochs

Three unit swaps that make the scary numbers small: price in sats, debt in seconds, conviction in epochs.

Tier 2 · Why it matters

The core arguments

What Bitcoin is, the energy question answered honestly, and the cornerstone case for holding your own keys.

Block 03 · 3 min read

The Dollar and the SWIFT in One

The money, the rails and the monetary policy were three separate empires. Bitcoin is all three in one.

Block 04 · 2 min read

The Number You Can Check vs. the Number They Won’t

Bitcoin’s energy number is public and checkable. The banking system’s is a 20x range nobody will pin down.

Block 05 · 2 min read

6102: Why ‘Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins’ Is a Law, Not a Slogan

Executive Order 6102 and why custodied Bitcoin carries a confiscation risk that self-custody doesn’t.

Tier 3 · How it holds

The deeper mechanics

Why the energy is the security, and who actually controls the rules (nobody, and it was tested).

Block 06 · 7 min read

The Energy Is the Point

Why the energy is the security, where it comes from, how it steadies grids, and the real tension with AI.

Block 07 · 3 min read

Who Controls Bitcoin? The BIP-110 Story

A 2026 attempt to change the rules failed three ways. That is what ‘nobody is in charge’ looks like.

Tier 4 · Reason from first principles

The capstones

Why every valuation model breaks on fixed supply, and how to read Bitcoin from what’s fixed toward what’s free.

Block 08 · 5 min read

All Your Models Will Be Broken

Every valuation model assumes supply can respond to price. Bitcoin’s can’t, and that cuts both ways.

Block 09 · 6 min read

Reading Bitcoin From First Principles

Issuance, supply, adoption, price, read in order of certainty. The graduation piece.

The reference shelf · pull as needed

The Alphabet vs. One Orange Ball

FDIC, OCC, BIS, IMF, ECB, SWIFT and 100-odd friends, collapsing into one orange ball. The companion to Block 4 and the acronym shirt.

Coming soon. The alphabet is long.