About Me

Greg Walker

My name is Greg Walker, I'm 35, and I'm from Wales (UK).

Photo of me smiling in 2023.

I've been making websites since I was a kid. I thought it was cool how you could create something on your computer and upload it to the Internet for anyone in the world to see.

One of my first websites was a stick figure animation site. I was 14 at the time, so I didn't have much to offer to the world. But what I did have was a copy of JASC PaintShop Pro 5 and a print-out of the HTML 4 specification, so I started making stick death animations and uploading them to my website. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, and it's where I got my first taste of making images and websites.

I started work on my next website when I was 18. I was really interested in online poker at the time, so I thought it would be cool to make a poker strategy website. I spent about 5 or 6 years straight working on it, and learned a lot about writing, building websites, and programming (well, PHP at least). But one day I realized I didn't want to spend the rest of my life playing and writing about poker, so I stopped.

Thankfully, it was around this time that I heard about Bitcoin.

It was 2013, I was 24, and I was looking to buy some goods online. Bitcoin was the preferred payment option, so I bought me some bitcoin and made the purchase. I was completely blown away. Not just by the product I bought, but also by how easy and seamless it was to send money across the Internet using bitcoin. It felt like freedom, and I didn't understand why something like this hadn't existed before.

So that's when I started looking in to how Bitcoin worked.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and I thought it would be cool to make a website explaining how it worked. I thought I was pretty good at explaining stuff after all that time spent writing about poker strategy, and Bitcoin seemed like a fun challenge, so why not give it a go.

So, since 2015, I've been working on this website on-and-off (mostly on). Turns out Bitcoin is a bit of a bigger topic than I expected it to be, and I've had to learn a lot more about computers and programming along the way. It has been hard work at times, and I've spent more time working on this website than I ever expected.

But it's completely worth it though; because I still think it's cool how you can create something on your computer and upload it to the Internet for anyone in the world to see.

Personal

If someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them I make websites. If someone asks me what my hobbies are, I make up a bunch of stuff that isn't related to what I do for a living.

However, for the sake of appearing more interesting, I also enjoy; walking, going to gigs, and drinking beer. Sometimes I like to combine all three.

Here are a few bands/artists that I like:

A few other fun facts:

Interviews

Here are a few interviews/podcasts I've done:

Presentations

Photo of me doing a presentation on a whiteboard in Manchester (UK) in 2017.

I've done a number of live presentations about how Bitcoin works over the years. I also ran a small meetup group called Bitcoin Sheffield between 2019 and 2020, which was great fun (thanks to everyone who came).

Here are a couple videos of me doing presentations:

I don't do as many presentations these days, but here's a list of ones I've done in the past:

Table
Title Event Location Date
Getting Started With Bitcoin Bitcoin Sheffield Sheffield 29 January 2020
Transactions (Script) Bitcoin Sheffield Sheffield 27 November 2019
How does blockchain work? BitBrum 2019 Birmingham 3 November 2019
Private Keys & Addresses Bitcoin Sheffield Sheffield 30 October 2019
How does blockchain work? Bury Crypto Meetup Bury 7 October 2019
How do transactions work? Bitcoin Sheffield Sheffield 25 September 2019
How does blockchain work? Bitcoin Sheffield Sheffield 28 August 2019
An Introduction to Bitcoin Bitcoin Sheffield Sheffield 24 July 2019
An Introduction to Bitcoin SheffieldPHP Sheffield 18 July 2019
An Introduction to Bitcoin North West Bitcoin Meetup Warrington 20 June 2019
Mining Basics Coinfest UK 2019 Manchester 4 April 2019
Script Technical Learn Me A Bitcoin 09 May 2018
Keys & Addresses Technical Learn Me A Bitcoin 09 March 2018
Transactions Technical Learn Me A Bitcoin 15 January 2018
Mining Basics BitBrum 2017 Birmingham 19 November 2017
Mining Technical Learn Me A Bitcoin 12 November 2017
Mining Basics BitBrighton 2017 Brighton 28 October 2017
Segregated Witness Bitcoin Manchester Manchester 02 October 2017
Mining Basics Cryptocurrencies Meetup Lichfield 01 October 2017
Bitcoin Intro Arrkticulate Manchester 20 September 2017
Transactions Basics Bitcoin Manchester Manchester 08 August 2017
Importing the Blockchain in to Neo4j Neo4j Online Meetup 06 July 2017
Mining Basics Bitcoin Manchester Manchester 29 June 2017
Mining Basics Coinfest UK 2017 Manchester 7 April 2017
Using Neo4j to Store the Blockchain Neo4j Meetup London 29 March 2017

Development

I always find it interesting to read about other people's development environments, so here are some of the software I use most regularly:

Operating System: Xubuntu
I've done my time distro-hopping, but ultimately I just came back to one that "just worked" and has a good availability of programs ready to install. I've gone for the Xubuntu flavour because I really like the simplicity of the XFCE desktop environment.
Screenshot of my desktop.
This is what my desktop looks like. Check out my SHA256 animation video to see it in action.
Code Editor: VS Code
I spent a very long time trying to create the perfect Emacs configuration, and I feel like I got pretty close, but when it comes to website development I don't think you can beat the benefits of a graphical editor like VS Code. I think Emacs is amazing, and I still use Vim for editing configuration files, but the bulk of my development work takes place in VS Code. Screenshot of me editing this page in VS Code.
Text Editor: Mousepad
I do all of my writing in a basic text editor called Mousepad. It's just really lightweight, basic, and gets the job done. I'm writing this in Mousepad right now. Screenshot of me writing this article in the Mousepad text editor.

Another interesting fact about me is that I use the Colemak keyboard layout.

I used to use two fingers to type, but in 2015 my Internet friend mentioned the alternative Dvorak/Colemak keyboard layouts, so I selected Colemak and used it as an excuse to learn how to touch type properly. It took a painful couple of weeks to get the hang of, but it's one of the best investments of my time I've made.

Tools

Here are some specific tools that I've used to make this website:

Thanks.

Testimonials

I think this website is pretty awesome, but don't just take my word for it!

kind of ok, lacks actual technical details
xmr_pony, reddit.com
that has to be the ugliest blockchain explorer ive ever seen
anonymous
learnmeabitcoin.com needs to not look like it was built in 1995
anonymous

Thanks

Even though I made this website by myself, I didn't make it all by myself.

Firstly, it would be inappropriate to not thank Satoshi Nakamoto. I think Bitcoin is really cool, and the world is a better place because of his/her creation. I'd also like to add that whilst everyone knows the name, not a lot gets talked about the person behind it. If you read their words you'll find that they're a clear and precise writer. They claimed to be better at code than words, but I've found them to be equally exceptional at both.

Secondly, the following people have been massively helpful in my understanding of how Bitcoin works:

Other people who have helped me that I would like to mention include: theymos, Ava Chow, Nick O'Dell, Nate Eldredge, Antoine Poinsot, and Wladimir J. van der Laan. That's not everyone, but it's everyone I can think of off the top of my head

Some other bitcoin people who I think are cool and worth following include: 0xB10C, mononaut, Cobra, Craig Raw, TheGreatMuffin.

Thirdly, outside of Bitcoin:

Lastly, thanks to everyone for who has contacted me over the years. I can't thank you enough for all the corrections, suggestions, donations, reports of downtime, and all the kind words.

Your feedback means a lot, and it makes everything worthwhile.

Contact

The best way to contact me is via email:

gregabc@learnme­abitxyzcoin.com

Alternatively, I go by the username in3rsha (or inersha) on most platforms:

My username in3rsha is a phonetic spelling of the word "inertia" (with a 3 thrown in for good measure). It's the topic I was studying in Physics lessons at the time, and I thought it sounded like a cool word for a username.