Now comes the hard part: swimming through the mounds and mounds of information and opinion that stands between you and getting started... and there is a lot of it!

Before diving head-first into unfamiliar websites or downloading something to your computer, there are many important things you should learn about Bitcoin. In this series of articles, I hope to break everything down into smaller, conceptual blocks so that you can learn about the functionalities of Bitcoin, the options you have as a user, the risks associated with those options, and finally, the security precautions needed to mitigate your risks.

The first step in getting started with Bitcoin is procuring a wallet. This article will help you learn what a Bitcoin wallet is, and how it works.