Bitcoin - A New Year’s Revolution
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We’ve finally arrived in 2026, and everyone’s focus has shifted to the year ahead. Gym memberships are up, sugar is off the menu, and everyone’s New Year’s resolutions have begun in earnest!
Unfortunately, New Year’s resolutions are famous for being easily broken, and not worth the paper they’re written on. In many respects, they’re just like the US dollar.
We might all start with good intentions, but before long we’re back to demolishing cookies faster than Jerome Powell can print money. Like fiat currency, New Year’s resolutions are short lived and tend to evaporate away far too quickly.
They’re just another example of high time preference, performative bullshit.
At The Bitcoin Way, we don’t make New Year’s resolutions. We subscribe to a doctrine of constant self-improvement. We believe that if you need to wait for an arbitrary date to start improving your life, then chances are, you were never that serious in the first place.
We don’t waste time on New Year’s resolutions. We’re here to start a New Year’s Revolution!
To separate money and state, we’re going to need an army of well trained and self-sovereign Bitcoiners by our side. Opting out will only work if we do it en masse.
That’s why this year, instead of making resolutions you know you won’t keep, we want you to make the kind of changes that will upgrade your life permanently. We want you to head further down the rabbit hole and become as sovereign and ungovernable as possible.
We want you to make 2026 the year you leave the banksters, suitcoiners, and politicians behind for good.
So, this week, let’s take a look at some of the things you might consider exploring if you want to become a more knowledgeable and capable Bitcoiner by the end of the year.
(Spoiler. None of them include buying paper Bitcoin products from guys who wear gilets.)
Review Your Bitcoin Self Custody Setup
One of the first things you should do to start the year is review your current Bitcoin self custody setup.
Ask yourself:
- When was the last time you restored everything from seed?
- If your devices were broken or stolen, do you know what to do next?
- Have you consolidated, labeled, and organized your UTXOs?
- Have you updated to the latest firmware on your hardware wallet or wallets?
- Are you running the latest version of your software wallet?
Good housekeeping is essential if you want to keep your Bitcoin safe for the long-term. You can’t just set it and forget it. To remain secure, you need to keep your devices and software up to date and revisit your training to make sure you know what to do in an emergency.
Fortune favors the prepared, so make sure you don’t get caught sleeping at the wheel.
A quick review of your setup will allow you to start the year with peace of mind, and if you do find you’re a little rusty or unsure of anything, then our Bitcoin Bootcamp service will sharpen up your skills again in no time.
Improve Your Bitcoin Self Custody Setup
Once you’ve reviewed your current setup, you’ll be ready to start increasing your knowledge and taking your skills to the next level.
Perhaps you’re already using a hardware wallet but haven’t set up your own node yet. Getting one up and running will improve your privacy and ensure you’re verifying everything for yourself, rather than trusting third parties.
Or maybe you’re already running your own node and broadcasting your own transactions. But have you figured out how to connect to it privately from anywhere in the world via the Tor network?
That would be a great upgrade to help you remain sovereign and private no matter where you go.
Like most people, you probably generated your seed phrase offline using a hardware wallet. But have you ever considered creating your own using seed pills or dice rolls?
It’s not essential, but trying it out will teach you a lot about entropy and how seed phrases are generated. It also means you will no longer have to rely on your hardware wallet to do it for you.
Speaking of hardware wallets, have you ever built your own? This year, you could try building your own SeedSigner with cheap, open source components that are easy to find online.
The best bit? You’ll create a hardware wallet without anyone knowing you have one. Very cool, and a great way to learn!
And why limit yourself to just one hardware wallet? If you’re comfortable using single sig setups and passphrases, perhaps it’s time to start learning multi sig.
With enough training, you could build a multi sig setup that uses hardware wallets from multiple vendors, including one you build yourself, and really take your security and knowledge to the next level.
The point is, the rabbit hole goes deep, and it’s unlikely you’ve reached the bottom. Make sure you don’t stop and get complacent, because there’s always more to learn.
Overhaul Your Opsec
As the fiat system creaks and moans under the weight of its own absurdity, governments will become increasingly hostile and unpredictable, and it’s important to prepare yourself accordingly.
One of the best ways to do that is to improve your operational security, and 2026 is the perfect time to start making some essential upgrades:
- Make sure every device you own is running high quality and up to date antivirus and anti-malware software.
- Learn to use open source VPNs to encrypt your traffic and keep your internet activity private.
- Learn to configure and route your traffic through your own DNS to block unwanted tracking, ads, and harmful content.
- Use AI threat detection to prevent 99 percent of cybersecurity attacks from ever reaching your network or devices.
- Set up a privacy phone with GrapheneOS to free yourself from constant mobile surveillance at the hands of big tech.
In a world where hackers want to compromise your devices, and tyrannical governments are censoring and even jailing people for what they say online, there has never been a better time to start taking your opsec far more seriously.
In 2026, make sure you’re not an easy target.
Start Building a Non KYC Stack
Every self-respecting Bitcoiner should have already started building a non KYC Bitcoin stack. Doing so means that if a bad actor or hostile government does try to appropriate your Bitcoin through the application of force, they won’t be able to target your entire stack, because they won’t know about all of it.
You should assume that any KYC Bitcoin you have may attract unwanted attention at some point in the future. A non KYC stack is essential if you want to keep some of your wealth private.
There are plenty of tools available to buy non KYC Bitcoin. You just need to learn how to use them. Check out the article below to start learning about the different ways you can improve your Bitcoin privacy.
https://www.thebitcoinway.com/articles/kyc-is-the-illicit-activity-bitcoin-privacy-is-important
Start Mining Bitcoin at Home
If non KYC Bitcoin is something you’re interested in, then you should definitely spend some time learning about home mining. By setting up and running your own home miners, you can start converting electricity directly into freshly minted, non KYC sats.
We’re not going to tell you that mining Bitcoin at home will be cheaper than simply buying it, but it’s a fantastic way to increase your non KYC stack, learn more about how Bitcoin works, and make your home office look a hell of a lot cooler.
You can help decentralize the network, and you might even get lucky enough to solo mine a block and earn a juicy 3.125 BTC block reward. It’s extremely unlikely, but it happens more often than you’d think!
You can start learning more about home mining in this article:
Have You Joined the Home Bitcoin Mining Revolution?
Ride the Lightning
If you’ve mastered the art of using Bitcoin on chain, you should endeavor to learn more about using the Lightning Network. You can use it to send small, near instant Bitcoin transactions at practically zero cost, and it can also be a great tool for enhancing your privacy!
You can try out Lightning very easily using custodial wallets, and when you feel ready, can advance to running your own Lightning node and managing your own channels for maximum privacy and sovereignty.
Getting to grips with Lightning will allow you to start using your Bitcoin for day to day transactions and will enhance your experience to no end at Bitcoin events and meetups.
When you’re ready to ride the Lightning, you can start learning more here:
What is the Bitcoin Lightning Network and how does it work?
Inheritance Planning
A mistake we still see a lot of Bitcoiners making is failing to make proper inheritance plans. All too often, we come across people holding significant wealth in Bitcoin but are the only people in their family who know how to use it or access it.
This presents extreme risk. If getting hit by a bus means your Bitcoin is lost forever, then all your patience, diligence, and sacrifice will have all been for nothing. You don’t have generational wealth if you haven’t built protocols for passing it on to the next generation.
It’s only a matter of time before stories about loved ones not being able to access their Bitcoin inheritance become commonplace.
Get your house in order in 2026 to make sure you don’t leave your family in the lurch when it comes time to meet your maker.
To start learning more about Bitcoin estate planning, check out this article here:
Explore a Plan B Residency
Bitcoin will protect your wealth, but it can’t protect you physically.
The jurisdiction you’re currently living in could start suffering from civil unrest, or your government might start curtailing your freedoms and taxing you too aggressively. In a worst case scenario, you could even find yourself being dragged into an unwinnable war.
Bitcoin would prove extremely useful in these scenarios, but your best bet is to head to safer shores. Bitcoin will make your wealth borderless, so the next obvious progression is to make yourself borderless too.
In 2026, there are still ways to achieve second residency in Bitcoin friendly jurisdictions without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, but these opportunities won’t last forever as demand increases and these countries start increasing the cost of entry.
If you’ve been contemplating securing the ultimate insurance policy for your family, then 2026 is the year to take action. If you leave it too long, you might find it becomes out of reach.
If you want to start learning more about securing Plan B residency, check out this article:
The Ultimate Insurance Policy – Securing a Plan B Residency
Become Ungovernable in 2026. The Bitcoin Way
Bitcoin filters out the people who truly want freedom from those who just talk about it.
Too many people buy Bitcoin in a misguided attempt to make more dollars. They leave it in the hands of third parties and have very little understanding of how to use it properly. Instead of pursuing freedom and knowledge, these people seek comfort and familiarity.
The sad truth is that many people will never control their own UTXOs and will spend the rest of their lives seeking permission.
In 2026, commit to being different. Separate yourself from the mob and pursue true freedom. Become the type of person to whom New Year’s resolutions have become a meaningless fiat minded relic.
Book a free 30-minute call with one of our experts today, and let’s schedule your first training sessions. A better, more capable version of you exists just the other side of your comfort zone.
