# Bitcoin: A Work in Progress

*Technical innovations from the trenches*

2024-08-02 | `bitcoin` `privacy` `software-design`

> With thousands of 'crypto' projects out there, they say Bitcoin is old and boring, but nothing could be further from the truth. This book will guide you through the latest developments in Bitcoin, as seen through the eyes of one of its many developers.

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With thousands of "crypto" projects out there, they say Bitcoin is old and boring, but nothing could be further from the truth. This book will guide you through the latest developments in Bitcoin, as seen through the eyes of one of its many developers.



You'll learn about the latest soft fork known as Taproot, the challenges of keeping open source software free of money-stealing bugs and malware, new ways to protect nodes against evildoers on the internet, how to deal with the ever-growing blockchain, and more!

The book links to more than two hundred articles, videos, podcasts, and even the source code. And thanks to a tiny QR code next to every link, you'll never have to type long URLs.

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## Contents

### The basics

    1. Bitcoin Addresses
    2. DNS Bootstrap and Tor V3
    3. SegWit
    4. libsecp256k1

### Resource usage
    5. Sync Time and AssumeUTXO
    6. Utreexo

### Attacking Bitcoin
    7. Eclipse Attacks
    8. Fake Nodes
    9. Guix

### Better Wallets
    10. Script, P2SH, and Miniscript

### Taproot
    11. Taproot and Schnorr
    12. Activation Options

### Appendix
    A. More Episodes
    B. A crime on Testnet
    C. Bitcoin White Paper


![cover](/images/readings/2024-08-02/sjors-and-chema.jpg)

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**Related links**

- Book source code: [GitHub/Sjors](https://github.com/Sjors/nado-book/)
- Book website: [www.btcwip.com](https://www.btcwip.com/)