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Off-Chain Media articles

Reporting and explainers on Bitcoin, its tools and its protocols.

Sovereignty8 min read

bitchat tutorial: how to keep communicating when the internet or social media is censored

bitchat passes messages from phone to phone over Bluetooth, with no internet, no account and no phone number. Installing it, the public chat, encrypted private messages, verifying contacts, the emergency wipe and the app's limits: the full tutorial, on video and step by step.

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Lightning20 min read

What Is the Lightning Network? Bitcoin's Payment Layer Explained

The Lightning Network is Bitcoin's payment layer, enabling instant, low-cost transactions without compromising decentralization. Discover why it exists, how it solves Bitcoin's scaling limits, and whether it is a viable long-term solution or just an intermediate step in Bitcoin's evolving monetary infrastructure.

Bitcoin21 min read

What Is Bitcoin? The Digital Currency Challenging Gold and Central Banks

Bitcoin is often treated as a speculative asset, but its purpose is more structural: to offer a scarce, verifiable digital currency without a central issuer. Here's how it works, what problem it solves, and why it matters beyond ETFs and exchanges.

Layer 25 min read

What is Citrea? The Bitcoin rollup powered by BitVM?

While Bitcoin still concentrates most of the liquidity in the crypto market, its use remains largely limited to value transfer and long-term holding. This contrasts with other ecosystems where on-chain financial applications have expanded significantly. It is within this context that Citrea emerges, aiming to make Bitcoin programmable without modifying its base protocol.

Lightning5 min read

What Is E-Cash? David Chaum’s Confidential Transaction Protocol on Bitcoin

E-Cash is making a comeback in the Bitcoin ecosystem through protocols like Cashu and Fedimint. At its core lies an older idea: enabling digital payments that are as private as physical cash, without exposing every transaction to a public ledger or a centralized intermediary.

Layer 25 min read

What is Rootstock? The Bitcoin sidechain for smart contracts

Bitcoin was designed as a monetary system, not as a programmable platform. Yet over the past few years, several solutions have attempted to extend its capabilities without modifying its core protocol. Rootstock fits into this trend: a sidechain aiming to bring smart contracts to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Layer 2

What Is Liquid Network? How L-BTC Works and Its Limits

Liquid moves L-BTC and issued assets on a blockchain separate from Bitcoin, with hidden amounts and fast confirmations. These features depend on a federation, whose role matters when assessing how much control you retain over your funds.

Layer 25 min read

What are Ordinals, Runes, and other inscriptions on Bitcoin?

Since 2023, a new practice has emerged on Bitcoin: inscriptions. Images, text, tokens, and various files can now be recorded directly on the blockchain. Behind this shift, several protocols, Ordinals, BRC-20, and later Runes, have emerged in succession. Their appearance has expanded Bitcoin's possible use cases while reigniting a long-standing debate about the network's purpose.

Layer 25 min read

What is RGB, the ultra-scalable and highly confidential Bitcoin Layer 2?

Bitcoin was designed as a robust and decentralized monetary system, but its architecture naturally limits the complexity of applications built directly on its blockchain. For several years, different solutions have attempted to extend its capabilities without modifying its core rules. The RGB protocol follows this approach, with a radically different design: moving contract execution off-chain while preserving Bitcoin's security.

Layer 25 min read

What is BitVM? The protocol that enables Layer 2 rollups on Bitcoin

Since its inception, Bitcoin has been designed as a simple, robust monetary system with intentionally limited programmability. Unlike blockchains such as Ethereum, it does not natively support complex smart contracts. Yet, the demand for more advanced applications on Bitcoin continues to grow, pushing developers to explore new approaches. This is where BitVM comes in.