Bitcoin Academy

Bitcoin Academy

What Is the Coinbase Transaction in a Bitcoin Block?

A coinbase transaction is the special first transaction in every Bitcoin block, created by the mining winner to…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is a Bitcoin Checkpoint?

A checkpoint was a hard-coded block hash in early Bitcoin software marking history as permanently settled, added as…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is Stratum? The Mining Pool Protocol Explained

Stratum is the lightweight protocol connecting mining hardware to pool servers, distributing work templates and collecting submitted shares…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is Bitcoin Mining Profitability? How It’s Calculated

Mining profitability weighs Bitcoin earned (block reward plus fees, dependent on hash rate and price) against costs (mainly…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is a Bitcoin Public and Private Key Pair?

Every Bitcoin address is derived from a public key, which is derived from a secret private key using…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is Bitcoin’s Digital Signature Scheme (ECDSA)?

ECDSA is the cryptographic scheme Bitcoin uses to let someone prove they control a private key and authorize…

Bitcoin Academy

How Does Bitcoin Achieve Decentralized Time-Stamping?

Decentralized timestamping is how Bitcoin establishes a verifiable order of transactions without a central clock -- each block's…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is the Lightning Network’s Payment Channel?

A payment channel is the Lightning Network's core building block: two parties lock funds in one on-chain transaction,…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is a Bitcoin Sidechain?

A sidechain is a separate blockchain pegged two-way to Bitcoin's main chain, letting developers experiment with different features…

Bitcoin Academy

What Is the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) Process?

A BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) is a formal document describing a proposed protocol change, discussed publicly and adopted…