Mastering Bitcoin is a book for developers, although the first two chapters cover bitcoin at a level that is also approachable to non-programmers. Anyone with a basic understanding of technology can read the first two chapters to get a great understanding of bitcoin.
Mastering Bitcoin is a technical book that explains what Bitcoin is and how it works.
This repository contains the complete [first edition, second print](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/Edition1Print2), published in December 2014, and the complete [second edition, third print](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/second_edition_print3), published in March 2018, as published by O'Reilly Media in paperback and ebook formats.
This repository contains the complete text of three editions of the book Mastering Bitcoin as published in paperback and ebook formats by O'Reilly Media. Different editions of this book are covered by different open licenses (see [LICENSE](LICENSE)). The three editions are:
# Issues, Errors, Comments, Contributions
* The [first edition, second print](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/Edition1Print2), published in December 2014
* The [second edition, third print](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/second_edition_print3), published in March 2018
* The [third edition, first print](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/third_edition_print1), published in December 2023
To contribute to this book, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md). All contributions must be your original work and contributed under a public domain (CC0), or attribution (CC-BY) license. You must include your own attribution in the pull request, as an edit to the github_contrib.asciidoc file.
# Reading This Book
If you know how to make a pull request to contribute a fix, please write the correction and use a pull request to submit it for consideration against the [develop branch](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/tree/develop). If you are making several changes, please use a separate commit for each to make it easier to cherry-pick or resolve conflicts. Otherwise, please submit an issue, explaining the error or comment. If you would like to contribute extensive changes or new material, please coordinate with the author first; contact information can be found on his website: https://aantonop.com/
To read this book *for free*, see [BOOK.md](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/blob/develop/BOOK.md). Click on each of the chapters to read in your browser.
# Reading this book
_Please note that some of the links in each chapter do not work when reading the book on Github. This is because those links are intended for the print and ebook editions of the book and only work when all the chapters are rendered together. Unfortunatelly, Github does not have the ability to render the complete book at once._
To read this book, see [book.asciidoc](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/blob/develop/book.asciidoc). Click on each of the chapters to read in your browser. Other parties may choose to release PDFs of the book online, for those editions where a PDF derivative is licensed.
## Where is the PDF?
The 2nd edition of "Mastering Bitcoin" is available under a CC-BY-NC-ND license, not a CC-BY-SA license.
**The current edition is not available as a PDF, deliberately**. Why? Because the publisher (O'Reilly Media) is a for-profit publisher who puts considerable resources behind producing, editing and distributing this book. The third edition of "Mastering Bitcoin" is available under a CC-BY-NC-ND license, not a CC-BY-SA license. The book will eventually (within a year of publication) be released under a CC-BY-SA license, at which point PDF copies and translations will be allowed (a PDF is a "derivative" product, which is what the "ND-NoDerivatives" part of the license prohibits).
It is deliberately not available as a PDF. Why? Because a PDF is a "derivative" product, which is what the ND prohibits. That's because the publisher (O'Reilly Media) is a for-profit publisher who puts considerable resources behind distributing the book. The book will eventually (within a year of publication) be released under a CC-BY-SA license, at which point the PDF format and translations will be allowed. Until then, making PDF copies violates the license and interferes with the publisher's (and the author's) ability to make a living. Furthermore, if you make it so the publisher can't recoup their investment, they will delay the release into CC-BY-SA.
Making PDF copies violates the license and interferes with the publisher's and the authors' ability to earn from their work. Furthermore, if you make it so the publisher can't recoup their investment, they may delay the release into CC-BY-SA. A beautifully rendered PDF or epub version of this book is offered for sale by the publisher. Convenient packaging is the for-profit product, whereas the version available here is slightly less convenient but entirely free for personal and non-commercial use. If you want convenience and nice packaging, buy the book!
Please don't create or distribute PDFs until the license is changed to CC-BY-SA. It is rare for a publisher to even agree to a CC-BY-NC-ND license. Don't make it harder for free culture by violating even that, already generous, license.
# Published
# Mastering Bitcoin Third Edition
"Mastering Bitcoin (Second Edition, Third Print): Programming the Open Blockchain" is now available in paperback and ebook formats by many booksellers worldwide:
*"Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain (3rd Edition)"* is now available in paperback and ebook formats by many booksellers worldwide, such as:
* [Barnes and Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mastering-bitcoin-andreas-m-antonopoulos/1126323222?ean=9781098150051)
Mastering Bitcoin is also published in German, Polish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and other languages by publishers in the respective countries.
The tag [third_edition_print_1](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/third_edition_print1) corresponds to the first print of the third edition of Mastering Bitcoin as published in paperback and ebook by O'Reilly Media in December 2023.
Mastering Bitcoin (Open Second Edition), based on the Seond Edition, is also available in English and Spanish at https://aantonop.com
<pxmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><spanproperty="dct:title">Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain (Third Edition)</span> by <spanproperty="cc:attributionName">Andreas M. Antonopoulos, David A. Harding</span> is licensed under <ahref="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"target="_blank"rel="license noopener noreferrer"style="display:inline-block;">Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International<imgstyle="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;"src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/cc.svg"><imgstyle="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;"src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/by.svg"><imgstyle="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;"src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/nc.svg"><imgstyle="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;"src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/nd.svg"></a></p>
# Source
The book's source code, found in this repository, is kept synchronized with the print and ebook editions.
# Other Editions and Languages
## Mastering Bitcoin - First Edition
The tags [Edition1Print1](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/Edition1Print1), [Edition1Print2](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/Edition1Print2) correspond to the two existing prints of Mastering Bitcoin (First Edition) as published by O'Reilly Media.
<arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"><imgalt="Creative Commons License"style="border-width:0"src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png"/></a><br/><spanxmlns:dct="https://purl.org/dc/terms/"href="https://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"property="dct:title"rel="dct:type">Mastering Bitcoin - First Edition</span> by <axmlns:cc="https://creativecommons.org/ns#"href="https://antonopoulos.com/"property="cc:attributionName"rel="cc:attributionURL">Andreas M. Antonopoulos LLC</a> is licensed under a <arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.
This "Free Culture" compliant license was approved by my publisher O'Reilly Media (https://oreilly.com), who understands the value of open source. O'Reilly Media is not just the world's best publisher of technical books, but is also a strong supporter of this open culture and the sharing of knowledge.
Thank you O'Reilly Media!
<arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"><imgalt="Creative Commons License"style="border-width:0"src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png"/></a><br/><spanxmlns:dct="https://purl.org/dc/terms/"href="https://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"property="dct:title"rel="dct:type">Mastering Bitcoin - First Edition</span> by <axmlns:cc="https://creativecommons.org/ns#"href="https://aantonop.com/books"property="cc:attributionName"rel="cc:attributionURL">aantonop Books LLC</a> is licensed under a <arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.
## Mastering Bitcoin - Second Edition
The tags, [second_edition_print_1](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/second_edition_print_1) [second_edition_print2](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/second_edition_print2), [second_edition_print3](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/releases/tag/second_edition_print3), correspond to the first (June 8th, 2017), second (July 20th, 2017) and third (March 23rd, 2018) print of Mastering Bitcoin (Second Edition), as published by O'Reilly Media.
<arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"><imgalt="Creative Commons License"style="border-width:0"src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br/><spanxmlns:dct="https://purl.org/dc/terms/" property="dct:title">Mastering Bitcoin - Second Edition</span> by <axmlns:cc="https://creativecommons.org/ns#"href="https://antonopoulos.com/" property="cc:attributionName"rel="cc:attributionURL">Andreas M. Antonopoulos LLC</a> is licensed under a <arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.
<arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"><imgalt="Creative Commons License"style="border-width:0"src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br/><spanxmlns:dct="https://purl.org/dc/terms/"href="https://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"property="dct:title"rel="dct:type">Mastering Bitcoin - Second Edition</span> by <axmlns:cc="https://creativecommons.org/ns#"href="https://aantonop.com/books" property="cc:attributionName"rel="cc:attributionURL">aantonop Books LLC</a> is licensed under a <arel="license"href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.
It is expected that the second edition will be released under a CC-BY-SA license within a year of publication.
Mastering Bitcoin (Open Second Edition), based on the Seond Edition, is also available in English and Spanish at https://aantonop.com. Mastering Bitcoin 2nd Edition is also published in German, Polish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and other languages by publishers in the respective countries.
# Issues, Errors, Comments, Contributions
To contribute to this book, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md). All contributions must be your original work and contributed under a public domain (CC0), or attribution (CC-BY) license. You must include your own attribution in the pull request, as an edit to the github_contrib.asciidoc file.
If you know how to make a pull request to contribute a fix, please write the correction and use a pull request to submit it for consideration against the [develop branch](https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook/tree/develop). If you are making several changes, please use a separate commit for each to make it easier to cherry-pick or resolve conflicts. Otherwise, please submit an issue, explaining the error or comment. If you would like to contribute extensive changes or new material, please coordinate with the author first; contact information can be found on his website: https://aantonop.com/
Andreas M. Antonopoulos
3 months ago