Beginners Help - A Bitcoin (Mini)-Guide – Bitcoin Compendium (V5.0)

[fabrice.btc]

Hello everyone,

A few months ago, I shared here the first public version of **“A Bitcoin (Mini)-Guide”**, a document that originally started as a simple learning aid for a close friend,
and slowly grew into something much more complete thanks to feedback, discussions, and my own continued learning.

Since then, I’ve kept learning from Community, working on it quietly, refining explanations, correcting mistakes, and adding sections that felt increasingly necessary as the guide evolved.

Today, I’m happy to share V5.0 — Final Edition of **“A Bitcoin (Mini)-Guide”** !


### What’s new in V5.0 Final Edition?

This release is not just an incremental update. It significantly strengthens the guide around security, self-custody, and long-term thinking:

* A new macro section to help readers understand Bitcoin within the broader economic context, including macroeconomic indicators and how to read the bigger picture.
* A balanced chapter presenting Bitcoin supporters, critics, and skeptics, to encourage critical thinking rather than blind conviction.

* Major additions around advanced self-custody:
  * A full chapter on SeedSigner as a DIY, open-source, air-gapped signing device,
  * A practical 2-of-3 Multisig example using SeedSigner & Sparrow Wallet,
  * New and reworked User Security Checklist, including Multisig and inheritance planning.
 
* A deeper focus on Wallets as tools, not just black boxes:
  * A dedicated section on Sparrow Wallet as a power tool for Bitcoin self-custody,
  * New sections on Wasabi Wallet (privacy-focused usage) and Nunchuk Wallet (long-term security and timelock-based inheritance).

* Introduction of Bitcoin Miniscript, explaining how security policies can go beyond simple keys, with benefits, risks, and real-world use cases.

* Improvements to backup and recovery practices, including:
  * Enhanced Shamir backup sheets (fingerprint & anti-phishing improvements),
  * A new “Superbacked” software-assisted secret backup concept.

* A strengthened home node chapter, including common beginner mistakes with Umbrel, and how to avoid them.
* Expansion of the Bitcoin glossary, updated examples, refreshed summaries, and cleaned-up links throughout the document.

In short, V5.0 Final Edition places an even stronger emphasis on Bitcoin as long-term savings, personal responsibility, and reducing human and technical risks.


### About A Bitcoin (Mini)-Guide

The compendium is written in English, as it was originally created for my friend cross the see from Europe to North America.
It is based on publicly available information, personal research, and many sections written with the assistance of ChatGPT, which allowed me to structure and iterate on the content more efficiently and quickly.

It is not meant to replace personal research, but to provide a clear, practical starting point, and to help readers avoid common mistakes early on.


### Availability

I’m making V5.0 available to the community via the same channels:

 * Google Drive (folder + ZIP, no Google account required)
 * IPFS (PDF and full archive)

👉 All updated links are on first article of this post.


As before, you’ll find my email address inside the document.
If you notice errors, unclear explanations, or have suggestions for improvement, I’ll be very happy to hear from you.

Thank you to everyone who shared feedback, encouragement, or simply took the time to read earlier versions.
I hope this new release will continue to help newcomers start their own path into Bitcoin, with a bit more clarity and confidence.

Best regards,

Fabrice

[Cricktor]

Thanks for the update and my merit is for your effort on keeping your compendium updated and alive and sharing it with the Bitcoin community.

I'm not the greatest fan of LLM output products, but I appreciate, you honestly disclose it that you used it (this is in my opinion mandatory). LLM output isn't bad per se, used and checked/verified wisely it can be made into something quite good. It alway depends on what an author makes of it and if they have enough background to understand that a LLM doesn't produce garbage or hallucinates.

ATM, I'm not judging or meriting the actual content of your compendium because I didn't have really time to go through it, thoroughly.

[fabrice.btc]

Thanks for the update and my merit is for your effort on keeping your compendium updated and alive and sharing it with the Bitcoin community.

I'm not the greatest fan of LLM output products, but I appreciate, you honestly disclose it that you used it (this is in my opinion mandatory). LLM output isn't bad per se, used and checked/verified wisely it can be made into something quite good. It alway depends on what an author makes of it and if they have enough background to understand that a LLM doesn't produce garbage or hallucinates.

ATM, I'm not judging or meriting the actual content of your compendium because I didn't have really time to go through it, thoroughly.

Thank for the acknowledgements, and the merit you gave,

for sure LLM is a great tool, but you pointed out, it is not possible to just copy and paste. LLM are making today mistakes, assumptions, etc...
During a section creation, ChatGPT proposed mistakes about Sparrow Wallet, and I needed to rework (also interacting with the AI to have a good result).

Anyway, A Bitcoin (Mini)-Guide is designed for beginners or intermediate learners, and can be followed as common thread day by day.

I guess a V6.0 will exists, and maybe over, my learning path and growing experience is permanent, not all my questions are answered in the compendium V5.0!

So, stay tuned here, in next weeks/months, another release will be published. This is also a call to community, if you have a topic that I miss to cover, please just ask,
and I will do the best to add it in the next version.

Thank

Fabrice