Introduction

In this chapter, we will cover three areas where Bitcoin uses ECDSA (secp256k1):

1. Bitcoin Transactions - The application of digital signatures in transactions is an integral part of the bitcoin protocol. Therefore, it is critical to understand bitcoin transactions clearly.

2. Signed Messages - This is not a widely used feature of Bitcoin, but it has an important purpose.

3. Miner Identification on Bitcoin SV network - This is an optional feature and its implemenation is currently left to the discretion of miners.

In the next lesson, we will aim to first understand Bitcoin Transaction at a very high level. This will provide a platform to further understand the application of ECDSA (secp256k1). In the subsequent lessons, we will cover the two remaining topics of Signed Messages and Miner Identification. It is assumed that participants of this course have no or minimal knowledge of Bitcoin.