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Does anyone know of an explanation of the bitcoin protocol in plain English? I'm a non-math guy who's trying to write a legal treatise on the use of bitcoin, an

by jstalin 14y ago

Does anyone know of an explanation of the bitcoin protocol in plain English? I'm a non-math guy who's trying to write a legal treatise on the use of bitcoin, and I'd like to give some background on how it works to my readers. Can anyone help?

adventureloop 14y ago
The Security Now episode on bitcoin was quite good. Steve Gibson also provides transcriptions of all of this episodes. http://twit.tv/sn287 http://twit.tv/sn287
- dmiladinov 14y ago
  You can find the transcripts on his site here: http://www.grc.com/sn/past/2011.htm http://www.grc.com/sn/past/2011.htm , scroll down to find episode #287. Direct links to them for your convenience: Html transcript here: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.htm http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.htm Text transcript here: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.txt http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.txt Pdf transcript here: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.pdf http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.pdf [pdf]
eof 14y ago
Have you tried just the original white paper? You can understand without understanding the underlying algos. bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
- jstalin 14y ago
  I have, but it doesn't seem to discuss how mining works, for instance.
  - arpp 14y ago
    but it does, check it again: 4. Proof-of-Work
    - eof 14y ago
      Yes. 4. Proof-of-work combined with 6. Incentive
drcross 14y ago
There's a small bit of irony when a legal student is asking for an explanation of maths in plain language. Sorry if I sound a little jaded.
- jstalin 14y ago
  Thanks. I'm not a legal student, I'm an attorney doing some research on the issue. I was just looking for some help understanding the more difficult math concepts. Sorry that I don't live up to your standards.
  - s0rce 14y ago
    I think the irony was that legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand.
erikpukinskis 14y ago
I wrote a explanation in lay terms on my blog a while ago: http://snowedin.net/blog/2011/04/05/bitcoin/ http://snowedin.net/blog/2011/04/05/bitcoin/

by jstalin 14y ago

adventureloop 14y ago

The Security Now episode on bitcoin was quite good. Steve Gibson also provides transcriptions of all of this episodes. http://twit.tv/sn287 http://twit.tv/sn287

dmiladinov 14y ago
You can find the transcripts on his site here: http://www.grc.com/sn/past/2011.htm http://www.grc.com/sn/past/2011.htm , scroll down to find episode #287. Direct links to them for your convenience: Html transcript here: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.htm http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.htm Text transcript here: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.txt http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.txt Pdf transcript here: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.pdf http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.pdf [pdf]

eof 14y ago

Have you tried just the original white paper? You can understand without understanding the underlying algos. bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

jstalin 14y ago
I have, but it doesn't seem to discuss how mining works, for instance.
- arpp 14y ago
  but it does, check it again: 4. Proof-of-Work
  - eof 14y ago
    Yes. 4. Proof-of-work combined with 6. Incentive

drcross 14y ago

There's a small bit of irony when a legal student is asking for an explanation of maths in plain language. Sorry if I sound a little jaded.

jstalin 14y ago
Thanks. I'm not a legal student, I'm an attorney doing some research on the issue. I was just looking for some help understanding the more difficult math concepts. Sorry that I don't live up to your standards.
- s0rce 14y ago
  I think the irony was that legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand.

erikpukinskis 14y ago

I wrote a explanation in lay terms on my blog a while ago: http://snowedin.net/blog/2011/04/05/bitcoin/ http://snowedin.net/blog/2011/04/05/bitcoin/