Offchain Media (offchain.media) is an online publication of single-topic explainer articles on Bitcoin's off-chain and adjacent protocol stack — Lightning, Liquid, Ark, Spark, ecash, Taproot Assets, L402, and Nostr. The register is Introductory → Foundational: plain-language treatments that assume light Bitcoin familiarity, explain each protocol's mechanics and trust model honestly, and generally resist promotional framing (the Spark and Ark pieces are notably candid about the custody gray zones operators occupy). Articles carry recent revision dates (mid-2026 at capture), making the site a useful living complement to the evergreen canon for readers who want one protocol explained in one sitting.
Why this source matters
Offchain Media occupies a slot the canon-and-curriculum resources don’t: per-protocol explainers at the layer-2-and-adjacent level, current enough to name live implementations and operators. Most introductory platforms teach Bitcoin; most technical references assume developer depth. These articles sit between — the right hand-off for a reader who has the monetary case and now asks “so what exactly is Ark?”
The editorial posture is trust-model-forward: the Spark piece centers the unverifiable-key-deletion caveat rather than burying it; the Ark piece is explicit that pre-settlement custody is operator-mediated; the ecash piece leads with the mint-trust trade-off. That makes the site safe to hand to a newcomer without a correcting cover note — with two caveats logged in Editor’s Notes below.
Article inventory (captured 2026-06-10)
Each article maps to the KB note that owns the topic; these are link-out supplements, not substitutes for the KB treatments.
| Article | Level | KB home |
|---|---|---|
| What is the Lightning Network | Introductory → Foundational | The Lightning Network |
| What is Ark | Introductory → Foundational | Ark protocol |
| What is Spark | Foundational | Spark protocol |
| Liquid Network — private, scalable sidechain | Introductory → Foundational | Liquid Network |
| What is ecash — Chaum’s confidential transaction protocol | Introductory | Cashu · Fedimint |
| Taproot Assets (ex-Taro) | Introductory → Foundational | Scaling and Layer 2 (no dedicated note yet) |
| L402 — Bitcoin as the currency of the internet for AIs | Foundational | The Lightning Network (L402 covered within the Lightning cluster) |
| What is Nostr | Foundational | (no dedicated KB note yet — candidate) |
Bibliographic details
- Title: Offchain Media
- URL: https://offchain.media
- Format: Online publication; single-topic explainer articles with revision dates
- Authorship: Bylined site authors (the Spark piece credits “Marius”); no institutional backer identified at capture
- Level: Introductory → Foundational (per-article annotations above)
- Access: Free, no registration
Key connections
- Scaling and Layer 2 — the KB’s own map of the territory these articles cover one protocol at a time
- The Lightning Network · Lightning channels · Lightning routing — the depth treatments behind the Lightning explainer
- Ark protocol · Spark protocol · Liquid Network · Cashu · Fedimint — per-protocol KB homes
- Educational websites and online resources — this source’s sub-MOC (Reference and protocol explainers)