Learn to hold your own bitcoin by understanding the entire system.
A practical path to long-term self-custody with Bitcoin Core. Private keys are only the beginning; a dependable setup also includes verification, backup, recovery, signing, and a routine you can repeat under stress.
- Bitcoin Core
- Fedora / Linux
- Tails live
- KeePassXC
Your node matters first and foremost to you: it lets you verify the rules, state, and transactions you rely on.
This is a Bitcoin Core-only self-custody curriculum.
Bitcoin Core is the only wallet and signing software used here. Hardware wallets, BIP39, Sparrow, and Electrum appear only where the curriculum explains why they are not part of the production stack. For meaningful long-term savings, the recommended architecture is an online Bitcoin Core full node with a watch-only wallet on normal Linux, plus Bitcoin Core in a trusted Tails live environment on a generic dedicated offline computer. Private keys remain on the offline signer. PSBTs cross the gap on controlled removable media.
- Watch-only savings wallet
- Prepares PSBTs and broadcasts
- No savings-wallet private keys
- Encrypted private-key wallet
- No blockchain and no network
- Reviews and signs PSBTs
Before you begin
- Goal
- Build a complete, repeatable Bitcoin Core self-custody practice, from verification and wallet creation to PSBT signing and recovery.
- Difficulty
- Beginner to advanced
- Estimated time
- Self-paced; approximately 8–12 hours for the published path
- Real bitcoin
- No for the first exercises; Signet is used before any mainnet workflow
- Software version
- Living curriculum v2.2; Bitcoin Core 31.1
- Operating systems
- Fedora or another appropriately secured Linux installation for the online node; Tails live USB for the offline signer
- Recommended OS
- For meaningful savings: an online Core node on normal Linux plus an offline Core signer booted from trusted Tails media
- Prerequisites
- Comfort using files and a terminal; no prior Bitcoin Core experience required
- Expected outcome
- You can explain, back up, restore, verify, and operate a separated online-node and offline-signer workflow.
- Last reviewed
- 08/31/2026
Never enter real private keys, seed words, a passphrase, or an xpriv here. The first hands-on exercises use Signet, so no real money is at risk.
Three stages to your first real setup
First understand the system, then practice the complete recovery cycle without real money, and only then choose and test a mainnet architecture.
- 01Understand
Threat modeling, Bitcoin Core, and independent verification without mythology.
- 02Practice
Create → encrypt → new backup → transact → restore → transact again on Signet.
- 03Apply
Choose between two Bitcoin Core architectures. For meaningful savings, use the separated online-node and offline-signer path, with Tails as the signer's live operating environment, then test the complete recovery routine.
The complete roadmap, when you need it
Statuses show what is currently available, what is under technical review, and what is still planned.
Security is the whole system.
- Do not add complexity before you understand the simpler system.
- A backup is not a backup until recovery has been tested.
- A private key does not need to be online for Bitcoin to be usable.
- Cryptography cannot fix an unclear operating procedure.