Hard questions. Sourced answers.
Bitcoin generates more confident wrong opinions per square meter of internet than almost anything else. Every answer here is backed by a primary source you can click through and verify yourself.
The Q&A format is for questions that come up repeatedly and deserve a proper answer, not a tweet. "Is my hardware wallet truly air-gapped?" "What happens to my Bitcoin if I die?" "Can Lightning payments be traced?" These are good questions that often get bad answers from people who are guessing.
The format: a big italic question as the headline, a short direct answer at the top (the short answer you can take away even if you don't read the whole piece), then the full explanation with sourced citations, and a list of primary references at the bottom.
Questions are organized by category. If you have a question that isn't here, submit it through the contact form. Good questions become entries.
7 entries published
Verification
4How to verify what you're told — wallets, addresses, firmware, transactions.
-
How do I know this Bitcoin wallet is real?
Verify three things before entering any seed: the publisher (does the install path lead back to the vendor's official domain?), the binary (does its SHA-256 match the vendor's hash?), and the setup behavior (does it match the documented flow?). Fake wallets fail at least one.
Updated May 2026
-
Can the government ban Bitcoin?
Governments can regulate Bitcoin on-ramps and outlaw use in their jurisdiction, but Bitcoin itself runs on 20,000+ nodes across hundreds of countries. Attempts to 'ban Bitcoin' in China (2021), Nigeria (2021), and India (multiple times) have all failed to stop it. The network routes around jurisdictional attacks.
Updated Apr 2026
-
How can I verify Bitcoin's 21M supply cap myself?
Run a Bitcoin node. It independently validates every block since the genesis block, enforces the 21 million supply cap in consensus code, and will reject any block that exceeds it. No trust in any third party required.
Updated Apr 2026
-
Is Bitcoin a scam?
No — Bitcoin is an open-source, decentralized monetary network whose entire ledger is publicly verifiable by anyone. 'Scams' are typically people using the Bitcoin brand to promote something else entirely.
Updated Apr 2026
Self-Custody
2Keys, seeds, hardware wallets, multisig, and the practical side of holding your own Bitcoin.
-
Is my Bitcoin safe on an exchange?
No. When you leave Bitcoin on an exchange you own an IOU, not Bitcoin. History is full of exchanges that failed — Mt. Gox, QuadrigaCX, Celsius, FTX. The solution is self-custody: your keys, your coins.
Updated Apr 2026
-
What happens if I lose my Bitcoin seed phrase?
If you lose your seed phrase AND you no longer have access to the hardware wallet itself, your Bitcoin is permanently unspendable. There is no 'forgot password' for Bitcoin. The solution is redundant backups before you fund the wallet.
Updated Apr 2026
Lightning
1Channels, liquidity, routing, and the Lightning Network protocol.