Beginners' course
Twelve lessons over three Tuesday evenings, for adults who start from nothing.
Three evenings, in order
Tuesdays from 18:30 to 20:30 in the library reading room, with tea at the break.
Twelve lessons, in order
Each lesson builds on the one before, from what money is for to how scams work. Read them online for free, or take them as three evening classes.
01 money
What money has to do
Why people agree on money, what makes it hard to fake and who keeps the record of who owns what.
02 ledger
One record, many copies
How thousands of computers keep the same ledger of payments without a bank in the middle.
03 keys
Keys and signatures
A private key signs a payment; the public key lets anyone check the signature without seeing the secret.
04 wallet
What a wallet holds
Wallets hold keys, not coins. Phone, computer and hardware wallets, and what each one protects you from.
05 address
Addresses
Where a payment goes, why a wallet makes a new address each time and how to check one before you send.
06 fee
Fees
What you pay to have a payment included in a block, and why the fee depends on how busy the network is, not on the amount.
07 block
Blocks
A page of payments added about every ten minutes, and why waiting for a few more pages makes a payment final.
08 mining
Mining
How computers compete to add the next block, what that costs in electricity and why it keeps the record honest.
09 halving
The halving
The reward for a new block halves every 210,000 blocks, which is why the total stops just under 21 million.
10 node
Running a node
Checking every rule yourself with free software on an ordinary computer, and what a node can and cannot see.
11 backup
Backups
Writing down recovery words, paper or steel, where to keep them and how to test a backup before you rely on it.
12 scam
Scams
Giveaways, fake support, recovery services and pressure tactics: the tells, and what to do if it happened.
What the course does not do
- No tips on what to buy, when to buy or what it will be worth
- No exchange sign-ups, referral links or sponsored wallets
- Nobody asks for your recovery words, not even to practise
- No payment in bitcoin, for anything
Bitcoin’s value can rise and fall sharply, and you can lose all the money you put in. Nothing on this site is financial advice: we explain how bitcoin works, never whether to buy it.
Start with lesson 1 tonight
Lesson 1 takes twenty minutes online and costs nothing. When you are ready, book a seat at the evening course.