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Merge pull request #94 from bitcoin-dev-project/add-new-explainers
feat: add 6 new explainers
2 parents 745316f + 90b32bf commit 0b889f3

33 files changed

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‎static/explainers/explainers-data.json‎

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"altText": "Future blockchain security research"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "wormhole-attack",
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"title": "Wormhole Attack",
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"description": "How two colluding nodes in the Lightning Network can steal routing fees by bypassing intermediate nodes using the HTLC pre-image",
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"category": "Lightning Network",
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"difficulty": "Intermediate",
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"slideCount": 4,
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"tags": ["lightning", "htlc", "routing", "attack", "security", "ptlc"],
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"lastUpdated": "2026-02-24",
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"slides": [
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{
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"id": "slide-1",
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"title": "Wormhole Attack Introduction",
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"description": "Overview of the wormhole attack: two colluding nodes that steal routing fees in the Lightning Network",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/wormhole-attack/slide-1.png",
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"altText": "Wormhole attack introduction with A to E node diagram"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-2",
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"title": "Normal Payment Routing",
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"description": "How a normal Lightning payment is routed through intermediate nodes using HTLCs",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/wormhole-attack/slide-2.png",
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"altText": "Normal HTLC payment routing from A to E through B, C, D"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-3",
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"title": "The Attack: Pre-image Theft",
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"description": "How malicious nodes B and D bypass C by sharing the pre-image out-of-band, leaving C unpaid",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/wormhole-attack/slide-3.png",
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"altText": "B and D share pre-image bypassing C to steal routing fees"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-4",
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"title": "Mitigation: PTLC",
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"description": "How Point-Time-Locked Contracts (PTLCs) prevent the wormhole attack",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/wormhole-attack/slide-4.png",
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"altText": "PTLC mitigation strategy for wormhole attack"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "coinjoin",
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"title": "CoinJoin",
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"description": "How CoinJoin combines multiple Bitcoin transactions into one to enhance privacy by obscuring the link between inputs and outputs",
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"category": "Privacy",
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"difficulty": "Beginner",
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"slideCount": 4,
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"tags": ["coinjoin", "privacy", "mixing", "transactions", "anonymity"],
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"lastUpdated": "2026-02-24",
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"slides": [
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{
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"id": "slide-1",
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"title": "CoinJoin Introduction",
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"description": "Introduction to CoinJoin and why Bitcoin transaction privacy matters",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-1.png",
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"altText": "CoinJoin introduction slide"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-2",
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"title": "How CoinJoin Works",
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"description": "How multiple participants combine their transactions into a single transaction",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-2.png",
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"altText": "CoinJoin transaction combining diagram"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-3",
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"title": "Privacy Benefits",
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"description": "The privacy benefits of CoinJoin and how it breaks transaction graph analysis",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-3.png",
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"altText": "CoinJoin privacy benefits"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-4",
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"title": "CoinJoin Implementations",
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"description": "Real-world CoinJoin implementations and their trade-offs",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-4.png",
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"altText": "CoinJoin implementations overview"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "full-node",
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"title": "Full Node",
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"description": "What a Bitcoin full node is, why it matters, and how it enforces the rules of the Bitcoin network without trusting anyone",
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"category": "Bitcoin Basics",
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"difficulty": "Beginner",
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"slideCount": 5,
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"tags": ["full-node", "validation", "consensus", "decentralization", "trust"],
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"lastUpdated": "2026-02-24",
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"slides": [
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{
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"id": "slide-1",
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"title": "What is a Full Node?",
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"description": "Introduction to Bitcoin full nodes and their role in the network",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-1.png",
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"altText": "Full node introduction"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-2",
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"title": "What a Full Node Does",
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"description": "How a full node downloads, validates, and stores the entire Bitcoin blockchain",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-2.png",
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"altText": "Full node downloading and validating the blockchain"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-3",
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"title": "Why Run a Full Node?",
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"description": "The benefits of running your own full node: trustless verification and network contribution",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-3.png",
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"altText": "Benefits of running a full node"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-4",
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"title": "Full Node vs SPV",
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"description": "Comparing full nodes to lightweight SPV clients and the trust trade-offs",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-4.png",
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"altText": "Full node vs SPV comparison"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-5",
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"title": "Running a Full Node",
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"description": "Requirements and options for running your own Bitcoin full node",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-5.png",
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"altText": "How to run a Bitcoin full node"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "sha256-message-schedule",
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"title": "SHA256 Message Schedule",
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"description": "A deep dive into the SHA256 message schedule — how the 16 input words are expanded into 64 words used in the compression function",
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"category": "Cryptography",
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"difficulty": "Advanced",
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"slideCount": 9,
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"tags": ["sha256", "hashing", "cryptography", "message-schedule", "bitcoin-mining"],
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"lastUpdated": "2026-02-24",
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"slides": [
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{
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"id": "slide-1",
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"title": "SHA256 Overview",
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"description": "Introduction to SHA256 and its role in Bitcoin",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-1.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 overview"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-2",
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"title": "Input Preparation",
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"description": "How the input message is prepared and split into 512-bit blocks",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-2.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 input preparation"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-3",
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"title": "The 16 Initial Words",
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"description": "How the 512-bit block is divided into 16 32-bit words (W0–W15)",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-3.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 initial 16 words"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-4",
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"title": "Word Expansion",
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"description": "The formula for expanding W0–W15 into W16–W63",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-4.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 word expansion formula"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-5",
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"title": "Sigma Functions",
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"description": "The sigma0 and sigma1 bitwise rotation and shift functions used in expansion",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-5.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 sigma functions"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-6",
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"title": "Full 64-Word Schedule",
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"description": "The complete 64-word message schedule ready for the compression rounds",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-6.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 full 64-word message schedule"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-7",
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"title": "Compression Function Link",
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"description": "How the message schedule feeds into the SHA256 compression function",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-7.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 message schedule feeding compression function"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-8",
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"title": "Why Message Expansion Matters",
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"description": "The security rationale behind expanding 16 words to 64",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-8.png",
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"altText": "Why SHA256 message expansion matters for security"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-9",
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"title": "Summary",
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"description": "Summary of the SHA256 message schedule and key takeaways",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-message-schedule/slide-9.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 message schedule summary"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "sha256-padding",
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"title": "SHA256 Padding",
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"description": "How SHA256 pads messages to a multiple of 512 bits before hashing, including the length encoding",
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"category": "Cryptography",
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"difficulty": "Advanced",
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"slideCount": 6,
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"tags": ["sha256", "hashing", "cryptography", "padding", "merkle-damgard"],
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"lastUpdated": "2026-02-24",
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"slides": [
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{
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"id": "slide-1",
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"title": "Why Padding is Needed",
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"description": "Why SHA256 requires messages to be padded to a multiple of 512 bits",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-padding/slide-1.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 padding introduction"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-2",
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"title": "Step 1: Append a 1 Bit",
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"description": "The first step of SHA256 padding: appending a single 1 bit after the message",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-padding/slide-2.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 padding step 1 append 1 bit"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-3",
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"title": "Step 2: Append Zero Bits",
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"description": "Padding with zeros until the message length is 448 mod 512",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-padding/slide-3.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 padding step 2 zero bits"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-4",
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"title": "Step 3: Append Message Length",
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"description": "Appending the original message length as a 64-bit big-endian integer",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-padding/slide-4.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 padding step 3 message length"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-5",
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"title": "Complete Padded Block",
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"description": "The final padded 512-bit block ready for SHA256 processing",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-padding/slide-5.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 complete padded block"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-6",
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"title": "Summary",
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"description": "Summary of the SHA256 padding scheme and why it prevents length extension attacks",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/sha256-padding/slide-6.png",
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"altText": "SHA256 padding summary"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "tx-pinning",
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"title": "Transaction Pinning",
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"description": "How transaction pinning attacks exploit mempool rules to prevent fee bumping, and why this matters for Lightning Network security",
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"category": "Security",
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"difficulty": "Advanced",
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"slideCount": 4,
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"tags": ["tx-pinning", "mempool", "lightning", "rbf", "cpfp", "security", "fees"],
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"lastUpdated": "2026-02-24",
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"slides": [
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{
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"id": "slide-1",
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"title": "Transaction Pinning Introduction",
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"description": "What transaction pinning is and why it's a concern for time-sensitive Bitcoin protocols",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/tx-pinning/slide-1.png",
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"altText": "Transaction pinning introduction"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-2",
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"title": "How Pinning Works",
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"description": "How an attacker exploits mempool policy rules (RBF, CPFP limits) to pin a transaction",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/tx-pinning/slide-2.png",
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"altText": "Transaction pinning attack mechanism"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-3",
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"title": "Impact on Lightning Network",
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"description": "Why transaction pinning is especially dangerous for Lightning channel closures and HTLCs",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/tx-pinning/slide-3.png",
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"altText": "Transaction pinning impact on Lightning Network"
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},
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{
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"id": "slide-4",
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"title": "Mitigations",
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"description": "Proposed and deployed mitigations including package relay and v3 transactions",
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"imageUrl": "/decoding-bitcoin/static/explainers/images/tx-pinning/slide-4.png",
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"altText": "Transaction pinning mitigations"
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}
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]
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}
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]

‎static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-1.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-2.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-3.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/coinjoin/slide-4.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-1.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-2.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-3.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-4.png‎

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‎static/explainers/images/full-node/slide-5.png‎

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