Public online discussion around Bitcoin has mainly been centralized around three different platforms over the years. In the early days, Bitcointalk.org was really the only option, but at least users were able to interact with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto before they vanished. Eventually, Reddit overtook Bitcointalk and was the main online forum for discussion. Due to the platform’s voting system, it was easier to find the most relevant news regarding Bitcoin on the front page of /r/Bitcoin.
Twitter and Bitcoin
These days, it’s clear that Twitter is the home of online discussions around Bitcoin—at least outside of the private chats that take place in various groups on Telegram, Slack, and other group chat applications. Bitcoin talk is so prevalent on Twitter that the social media giant recently added a special Bitcoin emoji that gets added to a tweet anytime someone uses the #Bitcoin hashtag.
That said, Crypto Twitter can be a scary place. The vast majority of users are only there to pump their own bags, so it can be difficult to figure out which accounts can be trusted sources of information. We’ve put together a list of some of the most notable accounts to follow on Twitter to give you the best Bitcoin Twitter experience.
Best Bitcoin Twitter Accounts
Andreas Antonopoulos
You will get: The best possible education on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Andreas Antonopoulos holds a special place in the hearts and minds of many Bitcoin enthusiasts because it was oftentimes his tweets and YouTube videos that led newcomers deep down the Bitcoin rabbit hole for the first time. If you are new to Bitcoin, there is simply no one better to follow on Twitter. Antonopoulos has a knack for taking the complex nature of cryptocurrency systems and breaking them down into easily-understood content. Additionally, he’s able to get just about anyone excited about the philosophical foundation of this technology.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Andreas Antonopoulos:
The C++ code (in Bitcoin Core client) that will make the "bitcoin halving" happen
Constant values:
nSubsidyHalvingInterval = 210,000
nHeight (at the time) = 630,000
COIN = 100,000,000 (satoshi)Find it in https://t.co/O9oq8CgJg1 pic.twitter.com/DW6V24RKqa
— Andreas (aantonop Team) (@aantonop) May 4, 2020
Adam Back
You will get: Technical insight from someone cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Dr. Adam Back has been working on cryptocurrency-related technology since long before the launch of the Bitcoin network. Satoshi Nakamoto cited Back’s work in the Bitcoin white paper, and his hashcash invention is used as the proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism in the cryptocurrency network. These days, Back is the CEO of Blockstream, which is a blockchain technology company focused on Bitcoin.
Here’s one of our favorite twitter threads from Adam Back:
Cypherpunks were always more interested in censor resistant global payment, than new gold store of value. Latter was just a means of deployment, attractive for being permissionless "no banking interface". /1
— Adam Back (@adam3us) August 24, 2019
Nick Szabo
You will get: Cypherpunk visions from the creator of the term “smart contracts.”
There are many people who assume Nick Szabo to be behind the creation of Bitcoin, pinpointing him as the real-world individual behind the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym. Whether he’s Satoshi or not, Szabo is a longtime cypherpunk who has been researching and writing about digital currencies for decades. He designed a system quite similar to Bitcoin, which was known as Bit gold, all the way back in 1998. Satoshi once referred to Bitcoin as an implementation of Wei Dai’s b-money proposal and Nick Szabo’s Bit gold concept.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Nick Szabo:
The main value cryptocurrency has added to our world stems from recent breakthroughs in computer science & their radical ability to reduce formerly needed financial governance, not from advances in governance itself, which have historically taken centuries to millennia to evolve.
— Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4) November 4, 2018
Jameson Lopp
You will get: Lessons on how to be a cypherpunk.
Jameson Lopp is the CTO and a co-founder at Casa, which is a Bitcoin startup that helps users secure their private keys. Lopp takes his cypherpunk ideology to the extreme, and he even challenged the internet to figure out where he lives after he was the victim of a form of harassment known as swatting and decided to move to a new location. On Twitter, Lopp routinely shares his thoughts on current events related to the worlds of Bitcoin and online privacy.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Jameson Lopp:
Bitcoin is mooning, it just hasn't reached your country yet. pic.twitter.com/6lswjDE5Ua
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) May 6, 2020
Elizabeth Stark
You will get: Knowledge bombs related to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network protocol.
Elizabeth Stark wasn’t very interested in Bitcoin until she read the Lightning Network whitepaper. Now, she’s the CEO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, which works on the development and services built around the secondary-layer Bitcoin payments network. Stark is a key person to follow if you want to track the continued development of Bitcoin on new protocol layers.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Elizabeth Stark:
Phew, @jack takes the Lightning Torch, sends it to me, tweets a bunch about #bitcoin, agrees to do a podcast on the spot with @stephanlivera and me. Pretty sure #LightningTwitter is now officially a thing!⚡️https://t.co/m2XRb5NmvH
— elizabeth stark ⚡ (@starkness) February 6, 2019
Tuur Demeester
You will get: The original Bitcoin economist.
Tuur Demeester was perhaps the first economist to get involved in Bitcoin, and he recommended others to buy the cryptocurrency when it was trading at just $5. While you’ll get plenty of information regarding Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from an economic point of view on Demeester’s Twitter feed, he’s also branched out into other, related topics such as philosophy, history, and psychology over the years.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Turr Demeester:
1/ People often ask me why I’m so “against” Ethereum. Why do I go out of my way to point out flaws or make analogies that put it in a bad light?
— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) December 28, 2018
Peter Todd
You will get: Reasons why your blockchain project is stupid.
It may not be correct to refer to Peter Todd as a Bitcoin skeptic, but he has a reputation for telling people why their ideas related to Bitcoin, altcoins, and other blockchain technology projects don’t make any sense. At one point, Todd was one of the most noteworthy contributors to Bitcoin Core, and he was behind the OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY improvement, which was a soft-forking improvement for the Bitcoin protocol.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Peter Todd:
It's utterly laughable to think that DeFi will replace the core thing genuine banks do: lending.
Decentralized smart contracts can't hold people accountable for debt. For that you need guns.
Expect a ton of DeFi lending fraud… https://t.co/IiFGpqcWyh
— Peter Todd/mempoolfullrbf=1 (@peterktodd) February 7, 2020
Charlie Lee
You will get: Satoshi Lite.
Charlie Lee’s Twitter handle is a reference to the fact that he was the creator of Litecoin, which was the first altcoin to gain any kind of real success. Although Lee is the creator of Litecoin, he is also heavily involved in the Bitcoin space. Notably, his push for the activation of SegWit on Litecoin is thought to have helped the activation of that protocol improvement on Bitcoin as well. It’s also worth noting that Lee is one-fourth of the Magical Crypto Friends.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Charlie Lee:
The origins of the word Litecoin were derived not just from it being a "lite" version of Bitcoin.
I was looking at "Lime Tea Company Incorporated" and the light-bulb moment came where the letters were calling me to pick the name.
The letters were:
LIme TEa COmpany INcorporated https://t.co/mebMLZcoE8
— Charlie Lee Ⓜ️🕸️ (@SatoshiLite) August 18, 2019
Ryan Selkis
You will get: Unfiltered Bitcoin research and analysis.
Originally writing under the TwoBitIdiot pseudonym, Ryan Selkis is one of the most highly respected sources of research, analysis, and acts of journalism in the Bitcoin space. Currently, Selkis is the CEO of Messari, which is a sort of Bloomberg for crypto. Back in 2014, Selkis infamously broke the news that no-defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox was insolvent via Twitter.
Laura Shin
You will get: The top journalist in the cryptocurrency space.
According to hive.one, there is no journalist as influential as Laura Shin on Crypto Twitter. After a stint as the editor-in-chief for Forbes’s blockchain and crypto section, Shin turned her focus to her two crypto podcasts: Unconfirmed and Unchained. In addition to her podcast interviews, Shin is also working on a book about cryptocurrency.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Laura Shin:
Omg, I’m in an Uber in Berlin and my driver is on speakerphone talking in a foreign language, and the only word they keep saying that I understand is “Bitcoin.”
— Laura Shin (@laurashin) August 22, 2019
Neeraj K. Agrawal
You will get: Bitcoin memes.
Neeraj Agrawal is the communications director at Coin Center, which is an organization focused on promoting practical regulation for the Bitcoin industry. Agrawal undeniably has the most entertaining Twitter feed in Bitcoin, and his ability to combine Bitcoin knowledge with internet culture references has undoubtedly helped bring in more donations to the crypto policy think tank.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Neeraj K. Agrawal:
My friend’s entire company is locked out of their WeWork office because an umbrella fell, jamming the door.
No one can figure it out. It’s been like this for 2 days. pic.twitter.com/ggaUkgYRFR
— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) September 17, 2019
Marco Santori
You will get: In-depth analysis of Bitcoin legal issues.
When people think Bitcoin lawyers, they think Marco Santori. He has been working in the space since he joined the Blockchain team back in 2013, and he currently operates as the Chief Legal Officer at Kraken. Wait for a point by point breakdown from Santori on Twitter before trying to understand how to interpret any new regulations or court cases related to Bitcoin.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Marco Santori:
"Senator thinks crypto market will hit $20 Trillion by 2020"
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Let that headline sink in.
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Now think back to 2012. How would your 2012 self have reacted to this?— Marco Santori (@msantoriESQ) February 7, 2018
Aaron van Wirdum
You will get: Easily understandable explanations of technical Bitcoin topics.
Over the years, a number of improvements have been made to the Bitcoin protocol. And for every improvement, there’s an Aaron van Wirdum article at Bitcoin Magazine that explains how the technical change works and what it means for Bitcoin. He is now the Technical Editor at Bitcoin Magazine, and he’s been running a podcast where Bitcoiners provide updates on their daily lives during the Coronavirus shutdown.
Here’s one of our favorite tweets from Aaron van Wirdum:
The New York Times: Bitcoin has lost steam.
Bitcoin: pic.twitter.com/9CfSS2pq4q
— Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) February 9, 2020
