Digital transformation of money is the best technology of our time. It is the evolution of money itself.

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WHAT IS BITCOIN?

Bitcoin is property. Pure, Private and Digital. If you can memorize your seed phrase which represents your private key for Bitcoin you can be striped naked and dropped in any city. Put some clothes on, find a way to create a wallet and put in your seed phrase and you would have access to all of your Bitcoin. $10.00 or 10 Billion Dollars.

In this first of the series of The Bitcoin-Doctor newsletter, I will do a little science and engineering and then I will stop that shit and not ever do it again, well maybe a little when needed.

Ok, so you have your private key, with all your Bitcoin controlled by that private key. How secure is it? It’s just a number, can’t someone guess it ? Yes.

A Bitcoin private key is a randomly generated number that allows someone to control a specific Bitcoin address and control the Bitcoin associated with it. That numbers uniqueness and the size of the keyspace are critical to question’s about Bitcoin's security.

Uniqueness of a Bitcoin Private Key

Random Generation: A Bitcoin private key is a 256-bit number, typically generated using a cryptographically secure random number generator. The randomness ensures that the probability of generating the same key twice is astronomically low.

Collision Resistance: The uniqueness comes from the sheer size of the keyspace. For a private key to be non-unique, two users would have to independently generate the exact same 256-bit number, which is practically impossible due to the vast number of possible keys.

Security Implication: The uniqueness ensures that only the holder of the private key can access the funds in the corresponding Bitcoin address, assuming no key is reused or compromised.

Size of the Private Key Space

Bit Length: A Bitcoin private key is 256 bits long. The number of possible Bitcoin private keys is 2 to the 256th power, which is approximately about 10 to the 77th power.

This is a massive number, with 79 digits in base-10 notation.

For perspective, last of the science. There is no test.

The estimated number of atoms in the observable universe is roughly 10 to the 80th power. Comparing these, 10 to the 77th power (Bitcoin private keys) is slightly smaller than 10 to the 80th power (atoms in the universe), but both are incomprehensibly large.

If every person on Earth (say, 8 billion people) generated a billion private keys per second for a billion years, the total keys generated would still be a tiny fraction of 10 to the 77th power.

The probability of guessing a specific private key is so low that it’s effectively zero, making Bitcoin’s keyspace secure against brute-force attacks. The probability is very, very, very low, but not zero.

The smallest Bitcoin private key is 1.

The largest Bitcoin private key is …

115792089237316195423570985008687907852837564279074904382605163141518161494336

It’s 79 digits long and there is no name for this impossible number.

It is the largest valid Bitcoin private key or The order of the secp256k1 curve minus one.

Now we know what Bitcoin is, but what does it represent.

I will not get into the history of Bitcoin but it represents the following.

Decentralization and Freedom

Bitcoin represents a shift away from centralized financial systems. It allows individuals to transact directly without intermediaries like banks, giving users greater control over their money. It embodies the idea of financial sovereignty, where people can store, send, and receive value without needing permission from authorities.

Trust in Code Over Institutions

Bitcoin’s design relies on mathematical rules and cryptographic security rather than trust in governments or corporations. Its fixed supply (capped at 21 million coins) and transparent rules contrast with fiat currencies, which can be inflated by central banks. It represents a belief in technology as a neutral arbiter, free from human bias or corruption.

A New Form of Money

Bitcoin is often called “digital gold” because it’s scarce, divisible, portable, and verifiable. It represents a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account, though its volatility has made it more of an investment asset than a daily currency for many. It challenges traditional notions of money by existing entirely in the digital realm, accessible globally via the internet.

I won’t get into the question of what is money. But, as you read this in 2025 or 2140 or 2559 Bitcoin exists. It cannot die and it cannot be killed. Unless someone finds a way to kill the Internet on a planetary level or Elon Musk’s fondest wish to make Humankind a multiplanetary species fails and the human race is annihilated by a comet.

So, rest easy. Everything you learn about Bitcoin will not be wasted and your grandchildren will thank you.

Our mission and purpose is to help Small Business all over the world use Bitcoin to secure their treasury against theft from their neighbor, marauding bandits, taxes or the government.

Keep reading in these pages and we promise to do our best, until the Sun dies in this planetary system.

These are the areas we will cover … until we get better ideas from you.

Until next time,

Live Long, Satoshi’s Way
Joe Terry, The Bitcoin Doctor