1/ Happy New Year! I have released a series of video tutorials on our @ministryofnodes YouTube channel demonstrating the running of a full Bitcoin node on Ubuntu. It's a beginner friendly starting point, showcasing some of the best open source software to "be your own bank".
2/ The playlist starts off by getting you familiar with the installation of Ubuntu and introducing you to the Terminal (or command line interface - CLI). I show you some of the Linux basics. youtube.com/watch?v=BIrL1l…
3/ We quickly move on to the installation of Bitcoin Core, our financial backbone, upon which all other software is built on top of. I talk through some of popular commands and my personal favourite command. youtube.com/watch?v=-5PpCg…
4/ We go on to install our very own block explorer, understanding why it's important and 'exploring' what it can be used for. youtube.com/watch?v=Hze7S0…
5/ We take a brief look at a popular Electrum Server (electrs), what it enables and how to install and configure it. youtube.com/watch?v=SMYlRI…
6/ We move on to taking an in-depth look into the mighty Electrum Wallet, my personal favourite. It's got all the cool features - labelling, coin control, hardware wallet and multi-signature support, with more features currently in development. youtube.com/watch?v=Yus6bc…
7/ We take a bit of a detour and move off-chain onto the Lightning Network. We explore one implementation called c-lightning and its wallet - Spark Wallet. We learn to fling sats around. youtube.com/watch?v=Qzahto…
8/ Clearnet is for normies, the real party is over Tor. We take our Bitcoin node's communication channels dark through Tor. 😈 youtube.com/watch?v=n2IUYL…
9/ We do the same for our lightning network node, exposing it over Tor, masking our IP address. 😈 youtube.com/watch?v=tku442…
10/ We take an in-depth look into what is the "most important project in Bitcoin" - BTCPayServer. This is how we lift ourselves out of the default state of poverty, showcase our skills and talents and earn in Bitcoin, peer to peer. No BS in between. youtube.com/watch?v=diBoyg…
11/ We learn to maintain our BTCPayServer and expose it over Tor 😉 youtube.com/watch?v=rEVPwE…
12/ And what do we do with all that bitcoin we've stacked, earned and bought off an exchange? We coinjoin it! We take a look at Samourai Wallet's Whirlpool GUI and CLI and keep the tumbling going 24/7 by becoming a free rider! youtube.com/watch?v=Fj94nI…
13/ Come party with the big boys and their heavy, heavy bags. Try using JoinMarket, where you can coinjoin and earn. I take you through the JoinMarket basics, but be sure to read the docs before you try anything for yourself! youtube.com/watch?v=zTCC86…
14/ This gets you pretty self sovereign, but there's a couple of videos still outstanding. How to access your node from anywhere in the world. How to expose your BTCPayServer through clearnet and integrate with your website to take bitcoin as payment. Keep an eye out for those.
15/ My advice is to just watch first and try to understand. I've written up an article @ministryofnodes. ministryofnodes.com.au/2020/01/03/ubu…
16/ @stephanlivera and I host webinars over at @ministryofnodes focusing on tips to securing your private keys and running your own node. Be sure to check out ministryofnodes.com.au to attend our next one and have a read of our feedback page.
