Today, we wrapped up the week 5 study group session of the Bitcoin CLI live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants took a deeper dive into Bitcoin Script by exploring Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH) transactions and script-based timelocks. The cohort learned how P2SH makes it possible to embed more complex spending conditions into Bitcoin transactions, including multisignature and SegWit scripts. They also explored how timelock opcodes like CheckLockTimeVerify (CLTV) and CheckSequenceVerify (CSV) can be used to control when bitcoin can be spent, enabling more advanced and flexible transaction workflows. Through hands-on technical exercises, partner discussions, and collaborative learning, participants gained practical experience writing and working with these more advanced Bitcoin scripting features.

Today, we wrapped up the week 6 study group session of the Mastering Bitcoin live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants explored the blockchain and mining & consensus. The cohort examined how blocks are linked together to form Bitcoin's immutable ledger, how miners validate transactions and secure the network through proof of work, and how consensus allows thousands of independent nodes to agree on a single version of the blockchain without relying on a central authority. As always, participants met with their study partners ahead of the session to discuss the readings before coming together to share insights, ask questions, and unpack these concepts during the group study.

We've just wrapped up the week 4 study group session of the Bitcoin CLI live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants explored more advanced ways of building Bitcoin transactions by working with timelocks and OP_RETURN, learning how transactions can be scheduled for future execution or used to store small amounts of data on the blockchain. The cohort also took its first deep dive into Bitcoin Script, the scripting language that powers Bitcoin's spending conditions. Participants learned how scripts are used to authorize transactions, explored common script types like P2PKH and P2WPKH, and began writing and testing their own scripts to better understand how Bitcoin transactions are validated. As always, the week combined hands-on technical exercises, partner discussions, and collaborative learning, giving participants the opportunity to apply what they learned and deepen their understanding together.

We've just wrapped up the week 5 study group session of the Mastering Bitcoin live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants explored transaction fees and the Bitcoin network, gaining a deeper understanding of how transactions are prioritized for inclusion in blocks and the factors that influence confirmation times. They also examined how bitcoin nodes communicate, validate, and relay transactions across the network, and the different ways users interact with Bitcoin through full nodes and lightweight clients. As always, participants met with their study partners ahead of the session to discuss the readings before coming together to share insights, ask questions, and learn from one another during the group study.

We've just wrapped up the week 3 study group session of the Bitcoin CLI live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants explored multisignatures (multisigs) and partially signed bitcoin transactions (PSBTs). The cohort learned how multisigs enable multiple parties to jointly control bitcoin, improving security and shared custody. They also explored how PSBTs make it possible for multiple participants to collaborate on creating, funding, and signing bitcoin transactions, including workflows that integrate with hardware wallets. Alongside the technical exercises, participants worked through these concepts with their study partners before coming together to share insights, discuss use cases,and deepen their understanding during the group study session.

Most people think learning about bitcoin is about understanding the technology. For many developers, the biggest shift happens much earlier, it starts with them unlearning what they thought they already knew. Through the self-paced pathways, developers went beyond the headlines and into the protocol itself. They ran nodes, challenged long-held assumptions, and for some, made their first open-source contributions along the way. In this latest post, 13 developers share what surprised them, what humbled them, and how the experience changed the way they see bitcoin entirely. Their reflections are honest, personal, and a reminder that real learning often begins with admitting what you got wrong. Check out their reflections here:

Btrust Blog

In Their Own Words: Reflections from the Q1 2026 Self-Paced Tracks

In Q1 2026, Btrust Builders ran two learning pathways in parallel: Mastering Bitcoin and Learn Bitcoin from the Command Line. Each pathway had two ...

We've just wrapped up the week 4 study group session of the Mastering Bitcoin Live Cohort. 📚⚡ This week, participants explored authorization & authentication and digital signatures, two fundamental concepts that underpin Bitcoin security. The discussions focused on how Bitcoin uses scripts and cryptography to define spending conditions, prove ownership of funds, and authorize transactions without revealing private keys. Participants also learned how digital signatures protect the integrity of transactions and make trustless payments possible. As always, the learning extended beyond the readings. Through partner discussions, breakout sessions, and group conversations, participants unpacked these concepts together, asked thoughtful questions, and connected the theory to real-world bitcoin transactions.

We've just wrapped up the week 2 study group session of the Bitcoin CLI live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants learned how to create and send bitcoin transactions directly from the command line using bitcoin-cli. They explored different ways of constructing transactions, from simple sends to raw transactions, while gaining a better understanding of transaction fees, SegWit, and the trade-offs involved in different approaches. The cohort also looked at what happens after a transaction is broadcast. Participants explored the mempool and learned how to manage stuck transactions using Replace-by-Fee (RBF) and Child-Pays-for-Parent (CPFP), giving them a practical understanding of how transaction fees and confirmation strategies work in Bitcoin. As always, the week combined hands-on technical exercises, partner discussions, and group conversations, giving participants the opportunity to put theory into practice and learn from one another.

Another cohort in the books! 🦀🎉 Today, we officially wrapped up the first Rust for Bitcoiners cohort of 2026, making it the second pathway cohort to conclude this week. Over the past six weeks, participants have explored Rust through the lens of Bitcoin development, building practical skills while learning core programming concepts, memory safety, ownership, and writing performant code for Bitcoin applications. With the live sessions now behind them, the final stage begins: completing their capstone projects. Once those are submitted, the evaluation process will begin ahead of graduation.

That's a wrap on the first Language Clubs cohort of 2026! 🎉 Over the past six weeks, participants have built their understanding of key concepts, and learned together through discussions, weekly exercises, and collaborative study. With the live sessions now complete, participants will now work on their capstone projects before the final evaluation process begins.

We just wrapped up the week 3 study group session of the Mastering Bitcoin live cohort. ⚡ This week, participants explored wallet recovery and transactions. The cohort examined how modern bitcoin wallets generate and recover keys, the role of recovery seeds and backups, and why proper wallet recovery is critical to securing bitcoin over the long term. They also dove into bitcoin transactions, learning how value moves across the network, how transactions are structured, and the key components that make them valid and secure. Through partner discussions, breakout sessions, and group conversations, participants unpacked these concepts together, shared insights from the readings, and connected the theory to real-world bitcoin usage.

Yesterday, we wrapped up the first study group session of the second Bitcoin CLI live cohort of 2026. 🚀 Over the week, participants explored the foundations of Bitcoin, learned how to set up and run a Bitcoin Core node on a VPS, and gained a practical understanding of the different Bitcoin networks: mainnet, testnet, and regtest. They also got hands-on with bitcoin-cli, learning how to interact directly with their nodes, verify their setups, and use basic wallet commands. Through technical exercises, partner discussions, and group conversations, participants took their first steps toward understanding Bitcoin from the command line up.

Just wrapped up the Week 2 study group session of the Mastering Bitcoin Live Cohort 🎉 Over the past week, participants explored Chapter 3 (Bitcoin Core: The Reference Implementation) and Chapter 4 (Keys and Addresses), building a deeper understanding of the software that powers the Bitcoin network and the cryptographic foundations behind ownership and transactions. Before today's session, participants met with their assigned study partners to work through discussion questions, challenge each other's thinking, and prepare additional questions for the group. During the study session, breakout groups led engaging conversations, shared insights from their readings, and unpacked some of the more technical concepts together. One of the most rewarding parts of the cohort continues to be seeing learners teach, question, and learn from one another.

Just wrapped up the first study group session of this year's second Mastering Bitcoin live cohort. 🥳 Over the next few weeks, participants will be building strong Bitcoin fundamentals in a focused, community-driven environment as they work through Mastering Bitcoin together. This week, we explored the foundations of Bitcoin, covering the introduction and how Bitcoin works chapters. Participants also connected with their study partners, discussed key concepts, and prepared to lead conversations that deepen their understanding of the material. Looking forward to seeing the discussions and insights that emerge over the coming weeks. 🚀

We just concluded week 6 of the Mastering Bitcoin live cohort. 📚 This week focused on understanding how the Bitcoin blockchain works and how new blocks are created through mining and consensus. Participants explored the structure of the blockchain, including how blocks store transaction data, how blocks are linked together using cryptographic hashes, and how the block header contains the key information used to secure and validate each block. The cohort also examined merkle trees and how they efficiently organize transactions inside a block, allowing nodes to verify transactions without needing to download the entire blockchain. In addition, we studied the mining⛏️ process and Bitcoin’s proof‑of‑work consensus mechanism, learning how miners compete to solve cryptographic puzzles, how difficulty adjustments keep block production consistent, and how block rewards and transaction fees incentivize miners to secure the network. We also discussed how consensus emerges across the distributed network, ensuring that all nodes agree on the valid chain while maintaining Bitcoin’s decentralized and trustless design. Throughout the week, participants reviewed the assigned materials, collaborated with their partners, and worked through discussion questions to deepen their understanding. During the live session, participants shared insights with the group and the faculty led the discussion on key ideas from the readings.

This week we wrapped up week 3 of the live cohort of the Mastering Bitcoin pathway, continuing our deep dive into how Bitcoin works under the hood. Over the past week, participants studied chapters 5 and 6 of Mastering Bitcoin and met with their learning partners to talk through the material before joining the group session with faculty. The week began with a closer look at bitcoin wallets and recovery. Bitcoin wallets don’t actually store bitcoins. Instead, they store the keys that give someone control over the bitcoins recorded on the blockchain. The group discussed how early wallets generated keys independently, which meant users had to back up their wallets frequently to avoid losing access to funds. From there, the conversation moved to how modern wallets solve this problem using deterministic key generation. Participants learned how a single random seed can be used to generate many keys and addresses, making it possible to recover an entire wallet from one backup. The group also explored hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets, which organize keys in a tree structure and allow wallets to create new addresses while keeping private keys secure. The discussions also touched on recovery phrases, often called seed phrases, and why backing them up safely is essential. Participants reflected on how these recovery systems help users protect their funds while still making wallets practical to use. After exploring wallets and recovery, the cohort moved into bitcoin transactions and how value actually moves across the network. Instead of coins being physically transferred, Bitcoin works by updating a shared record that shows which keys control which bitcoins. Participants unpacked how transactions are structured, looking at the roles of inputs and outputs. Inputs reference previously received funds, while outputs define where the bitcoin will go next and the conditions required to spend it. The group also explored several deeper parts of the transaction structure, including scripts, witness data, and Segregated Witness (SegWit). These components help verify that transactions are authorized and make the system more efficient and secure. By the end of the session, participants had a clearer picture of how wallets manage keys and how transactions move value through the network. The discussions helped connect the ideas from earlier chapters about keys and cryptography with the practical mechanics of sending and receiving bitcoin.

In 2025, we took a major step forward in strengthening Africa’s Bitcoin developer pipeline through the Btrust Builders program. 🚀 Over the course of the year, 493 developers across Africa and beyond were supported through Builders pathways, selected from 1,800+ applications, a 180% increase from the previous year. Developers joined from 15+ countries, spanning West, East, Central, and Southern Africa, with additional participation from South America, Europe, and South Asia. We evolved from a single‑cohort program into a continuous, modular learning pipeline, supporting developers at different stages; from first exposure to Bitcoin, through hands-on technical learning, and into real open‑source contributions. In 2025, we delivered: • Foundational learning through Mastering Bitcoin • Hands‑on technical practice via Bitcoin from the Command Line • Protocol‑level development in Rust for Bitcoiners • Programming fundamentals through Language Clubs (Python & C++) • Advanced open‑source onboarding through Start Your Career in BOSS To bridge learning and contribution, we also launched our first Open Source Bootcamp. Over four weeks, 38 developers from 7 countries submitted 103 code contributions, opened 50+ pull requests, and saw 12 PRs merged, including 3 to Bitcoin Core. The impact went well beyond training. Several Builders alumni transitioned into fully funded open‑source work, supported by @Btrust and @npub17xvf...c9as, contributing to projects like Bitcoin Core, LDK Node, BlueWallet, Bitcoin Dev Kit, and Rust‑Payjoin. Others went on to start their own Bitcoin projects, applying what they learned to build new tools and infrastructure in the ecosystem. We also launched the Builders Resource Hub, which has since been widely shared across the Bitcoin developer ecosystem as a go‑to learning library for open‑source contribution, tooling, and deep technical study. Check it out here:

Resource Hub | btrust builders pathways

Curated resources divided into sections for easy digest

In recognition of this work, the @African Bitcoiners team named Btrust Builders the 2025 African Bitcoin Project of the Year at the 2025 @Africa Bitcoin Conference. All this was made possible by the dedication of faculty and chaperones, many of whom are alumni themselves; mentors who gave their time, experience, and patience; and the core Builders team, including Stephanie Titcombe, the program lead, and Kelvin Isievwore, the engineering lead, who carried the vision from design through delivery. Just as importantly, the wider Builders community, learners, alumni, contributors, and supporters, shaped the culture that made collaboration, accountability, and growth possible.🧡 We’ve shared what worked, what we learned, and how Builders has grown into a long‑term contributor pipeline helping decentralize Bitcoin development. ➡️ Read the full blog for more:

Btrust Blog

Strengthening Africa’s Bitcoin Developer Pipeline: Reflections from 2025

In 2025, hundreds of developers across Africa took their first steps into Bitcoin’s open‑source ecosystem, learning how it works, how to contri...

A week after the @Africa Bitcoin Conference, we’re still feeling the excitement. 🙌🎉 This year was especially meaningful as we were recognized as the African Bitcoin Project of the Year, a huge honor we're grateful to the @African Bitcoiners team for. Some of our community members also hosted workshops, we connected with builders from across the world, and the sessions throughout the conference were incredibly insightful. The conversations opened up fresh perspectives and sparked exciting ideas. We’re grateful to @Btrust for the chance to be part of it, and we’re already looking forward to the next one. Till then, we keep building 🚀 #ABC25 #ABC2025

We're super excited to announce the graduates of our first-ever Rust for Bitcoiners and Language Clubs cohorts. 🥳🎉 These talented developers from over 15 countries dedicated themselves to acquiring the core skills needed for open-source Bitcoin projects. We've captured all the highlights, insights from the cohorts, and what's next in our full recap, which you can read here:

Btrust Blog

Q2 2025 Btrust Builders Pathways Graduation

We are excited to announce the successful completion of the 2025 Btrust Builders’ Q2 Pathways. This was an initiative designed to equip developer...

If you're interested in joining upcoming cohorts, keep an eye out on our Discord and application page for details:

Btrust Builders Apply

Kickstart Your Bitcoin Developer Career

Do you get frustrated with how today’s digital payments seem to demand a tradeoff; forcing you to give up your privacy, pay high fees, or worry about data breaches every time you accept a transaction? Many merchants and shoppers feel boxed in by systems that leave a trail of personal information behind with every tap or scan, making privacy feel like a thing of the past. But what if you didn’t have to choose between fast, modern payments and the anonymity of cash? In our latest blog, Tobechi, a @Btrust grantee, introduces Cashu, a digital cash protocol that lets merchants enjoy the best of both worlds. With Cashu, you can accept Bitcoin-backed payments instantly and privately, without exposing customer data or risking chargebacks. The blog breaks down exactly how Cashu works, explaining the roles of tokens, wallets, and mints in this ecosystem. He explores ways businesses can benefit from Cashu. You’ll also find a simple guide on how to start accepting Cashu payments using BTCPay Server so you can quickly bring digital cash into your store. Curious how Cashu can transform your business and give your customers true payment privacy? Check out the full blog post here:

Btrust Blog

E-Cash for Commerce: How Cashu Empowers Merchants via Bitcoin

E-Cash for Commerce: How Cashu empowers merchants via Bitcoin