How Bitcoin Works Under the Hood

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Published 2013-07-14

A somewhat technical explanation of how Bitcoin works. Want more? Check out my new in-depth course on the latest in Bitcoin, Blockchain, and a survey of the most exciting projects coming out (Ethereum, etc): app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/bitcoin-decent…
Lots of demos on how to buy, send, store (hardware, paper wallet). how to use javascript to send bitcoin. How to create Ethereum Smart Contract, much more.

If you'd like to support the creation of additional content, here's a bitcoin/lightning donation address: bit.ly/2NldSYA
fiat support: www.patreon.com/CuriousInventor

Shorter 5 min introduction: • The Essence of How Bitcoin Works (Non...

Written version: www.imponderablethings.com/2013/07/how-bitcoin-wor…

Arabic translation by Ahmad Alloush

Spanish caption translation by Borja Rodrigo, [email protected], DFJWgXdBCoQqo4noF4fyVhVp8R6V62XdJx

Russian caption translation by Alexandra Miklyukova

Italian voice over: • Come Funzionano i Bitcoin
Italian captions translated by Simone Falcini, 1H5KdCnBooxfqpXtyQBBAKKRU7MkCZCVCe

All Comments (21)

@cyrusadkisson6864 9 years ago

0:10 overview, 1:38 sending money, 3:45 txns and ledger detail, 6:19 complex txns, 7:40 anonymity, 9:20 txn security, 10:50 ordering of txns, 11:02 blockchain, 12:10 crypto hash, 13:37 end of chain insecurity, 14:05 double spend attacks, 16:00 why double spend is hard to pull off, 17:45 mining, 18:30 txn fees, 19:00 mining pools, 21:11 recap
@mridularul1 7 years ago

you're the first person to have explained such a complex system in such a simple way .. thankyou for this vid !
@Ocenteno70 10 years ago

yeeeeeah......I'm gonna have to watch this again.
@CuriousInventor 10 years ago

hello "free" bitcoin spammers: I am moderating comments, so why don't we save each other some time? Speaking of saving time, here's a 5 min summary version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5JGQXCTe3c
@JanBruunAndersen 10 years ago

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Finally an explanation of how Bitcoin works that makes sense for paranoid programmer like me. No hand-waving, no vague references to wallets and apps and exchanges. Just the facts with enough detail to make sense, and without drowning in mathematical details.
@SebastiaanvanderHeide 9 years ago

Thanks for uploading this, I've been watching quite a bit about Bitcoin and this is the most in depth video I've found yet. Must have taken quite a bit of research to get all of this figured out.
@AppliedScience 11 years ago

Thank you! This is the clearest, most complete overview of how Bitcoin works that I've ever seen. Nice work, indeed!
@patrik5123 7 years ago

Would the successful invention of quantum computing become problematic to bitcoin security?
@EvilSpeculator 8 years ago

That was brilliant and in little over 20 minutes answered a ton of questions I couldn't find an answer for in weeks of reading BC related articles/tutorials. Thanks so much for putting this together!
@Pedro-un3mk 2 years ago

Awesome video-lecture! Even after 8 years, for me, at least, is pure gold still! To be able to brilliantly summarize the complexity of the subject in 20 minutes, certainly required some 20 x 10^3 minutes of dedication and love to the matter. Thank you for sharing this masterpiece! Warmest Regards
@relcluse 10 years ago

Next time: how Bitcoin works IN the Hood
@xGeeFx 8 years ago

Just a small nitpicky note: Addresses in Bitcoin are not exactly the public key. They are hashes of the public key of an address in base58
7 years ago

amazing video. very descriptive. The other several videos i saw , gave me more questions , while all answering same questions . Thank you
@CuriousInventor 10 years ago

thanks! LOTS of editing and rewriting went into whittling it down to be as concise as possible.
@matthew9677 7 years ago

This video is amazing. It answered so many of questions and provides a understandable yet in depth explain of bitcoin. Thank you for this awesome video.
@lucasashbaugh7818 10 years ago

This was an awesome explanation, you did an excellent job taking my understanding from beginner to intermediate. Thanks!
@DoubleBob 10 years ago

One video. Instant subscribed. Awesome. I love the love for detail and the cool examples.
@AllanAquinoVieira 10 years ago

Thank you for the video, great simplified explanation of several very complex complex subjects involved in Bitcoin. It made my life so much easier in explaining the workings of BTC to my non technological inclined friends, and family.
@CuriousInventor 11 years ago

Sure, I'll work on that. Until then, the complete text is on the blog link in the description.
@nicolastaub4593 9 years ago

As Dan Kaminsky once said: "The first time you think you understand it, you don't". I felt exactly the same way, but after following your explanations for a few time, I finally got the principle idea.. :) Thanks for the good explanation! ;)