BITCOIN
FIELD NOTES
Each issue goes deeper than the headlines. How Bitcoin actually works under the surface — the protocol mechanics, the security model, the economics that hold it together. Written for people who want to understand, not just hold.
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All Issues
The Block Space Market
Are Bitcoin's new tenants paying enough rent to keep the building standing?
Are Bitcoin's new tenants paying enough rent to keep the building standing? Examining whether inscription and token demand can actually solve the security budget problem.
The New Tenants
How Ordinals, BRC-20, and Runes turned Bitcoin into contested real estate
How Ordinals, BRC-20, and Runes turned Bitcoin's block space into contested real estate, generating unprecedented fee spikes and reigniting the debate over what Bitcoin is for.
The Energy Displacement
What happens when AI outbids Bitcoin for electricity
AI data centers are outbidding Bitcoin miners for electricity, and the displacement is reshaping mining economics in real time.
The Security Budget Cliff
What happens when the revenue that funds Bitcoin's security starts to disappear
The declining block subsidy, the transaction fee market that's supposed to replace it, and the formal academic literature that says the transition may not work.
The Thermostat
Why the difficulty adjustment — not proof-of-work — is Bitcoin's real innovation
Why the difficulty adjustment — not proof-of-work — is Bitcoin's real innovation. A thought experiment about unlimited energy reveals what actually makes Bitcoin scarce.
Privacy Through Economics, Not Cryptography
When tracing Bitcoin becomes too expensive to bother
Sometimes the analysis is technically possible but economically pointless. The cost of performing it exceeds the value of the information it produces.
Change Address Detection
Guessing Which Output Comes Back to You
Change address detection is probably the second most relied-upon technique in Bitcoin forensics. Get it wrong, and your entire trace goes sideways.
Blockchain Transparency and AI Interpretability
Both fields face the same fundamental problem: reverse-engineering emergent behavior in systems that weren't designed to be understood.
Both fields face the same fundamental problem: reverse-engineering emergent behavior in systems that weren't designed to be understood.
Taint Analysis
How Dirty is Your Crypto?
When 2.0 BTC from a hacked exchange mixes with 3.0 BTC of legitimately purchased coins, how tainted is the result? It depends entirely on which model you use—and there's no industry standard.
Peel Chains
The Complete Investigator's Guide to Bitcoin's Most Common Laundering Pattern
The peel chain is deceptively simple. One input becomes two outputs, with most of the value flowing in one direction and a small amount diverted to the other. Repeat this fifty times, and you have a classic fund extraction pattern.
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