Phase 2 — Technical Deep Dive

With philosophy and the whitepaper under your belt, it is time to understand Bitcoin's internals.

Weeks 3–4: Core technical concepts

Primary resources

Resource Format Focus
Learn Me A Bitcoin Interactive guide Blocks, transactions, keys, scripts
Mastering Bitcoin (Ch. 1–7) Book Keys, addresses, wallets, transactions, scripting
Princeton Bitcoin Course Video course Cryptography, consensus, mining, anonymity

Topic map

Study these topics in order:

Keys & Addresses
    ↓
Wallets (HD, seed phrases, derivation paths)
    ↓
Transactions (inputs, outputs, fees)
    ↓
Scripts & Scripting Language (P2PKH, P2SH, SegWit)
    ↓
Blocks & Blockchain Structure
    ↓
Mining & Proof-of-Work
    ↓
Consensus Rules & Forks
    ↓
Network Protocol (P2P, mempool)

Week 3: Keys, wallets, and transactions

Learn Me A Bitcoin — focus areas

  • Private keys and public keys
  • Addresses (Legacy, SegWit, Taproot)
  • How transactions are constructed
  • The mempool and fee market

Mastering Bitcoin — chapters

  • Chapter 4: Keys, Addresses, Wallets
  • Chapter 5: Transactions
  • Chapter 6: Advanced Transactions and Scripting

Exercise

  1. Generate a test wallet (testnet only)
  2. Write down the seed phrase on paper (never digital)
  3. Construct a mental model: "I want to send 0.001 BTC" — trace every step from wallet to confirmation

Week 4: Scripts, blocks, and consensus

Learn Me A Bitcoin — focus areas

  • Script and locking/unlocking scripts
  • Block structure and merkle trees
  • Difficulty adjustment
  • Soft forks vs hard forks

Princeton course — focus weeks

  • Week 3: Mechanics of Bitcoin (transactions, scripts)
  • Week 4: How to store and use bitcoins (wallets, exchanges vs self-custody)
  • Week 5: Bitcoin mining
  • Week 6: Bitcoin and anonymity

Exercise

  1. Look up a recent block on mempool.space
  2. Identify: block height, number of transactions, total fees, miner
  3. Pick one transaction and trace its inputs and outputs

Optional deep dives

Topic Resource When
Lightning Network Mastering Lightning After Phase 3
Taproot Bitcoin Optech Topics After scripting basics
Mempool policy Bitcoin Core docs After node setup

Checkpoint

Before moving to Phase 3, confirm:

  • [ ] I can explain how a Bitcoin transaction is constructed
  • [ ] I understand HD wallets and seed phrases
  • [ ] I know the difference between P2PKH, P2SH, and SegWit addresses
  • [ ] I can read a block explorer and understand what I see
  • [ ] I have completed at least 3 weeks of the Princeton course (or equivalent reading)

Platform path: Bitcoin Sovereignty — steps 1–3