For questions relating to the protocols by which crypto-currencies are transferred.
0
votes
0answers
2 views
What else can bitcoin inventory vectors be used for?
As described in the protocol specification bitcoin nodes respond to the inv command, which queries a node's knowledge of one or more objects, with an inventory vector. According to the bitcoin wiki, ...
5
votes
3answers
79 views
What were IP transactions supposed to be useful for?
Besides sending BitCoins using wallet addresses, there used to be another way, through IP transactions as described in the wiki.
The disadvantages were obvious (man-in-middle attacks etc).
However, ...
3
votes
1answer
63 views
What makes the initial download of the blockchain so slow?
If you download a bootstrap copy of the blockchain through torrents, it will be faster than getting that same data through the Bitcoin network.
Ofcourse the BitTorrent protocol is more optimized for ...
3
votes
1answer
177 views
What is replace-by-fee?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=199947.0
Can anyone explain what replace-by-fee means?
1
vote
1answer
37 views
Where is the best information about the contents of bitcoind 0.8.2?
There seem to be a few interesting changes in this version, possibly affecting the protocol itself (de facto).
Where can I find the most relevant, concise yet detailed information about this version?
...
-3
votes
0answers
57 views
Paying 0.01 BTC for knowledge on downloading free stencil deigns [closed]
Im looking for someone who knows how I get can tons of stencil deign artwork downloaded on to my computer. This website shows the designs of what I am looking for in a stencil ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
In Ripple, what is “Total XRP” in the ledger header?
In the spec for the ledger format there's a field called "Total XRP" in the header. Is this the total number of XRPs in circulation? Does this value get decremented with each transaction?
Can this ...
1
vote
1answer
41 views
With Ripple, what is lsfDisallowXRP?
In the spec for the ledger format, there's a flag called "lsfDisallowXRP" in the account root entry. It says: "Indicates that this account does not want to receive XRP." But why wouldn't an account ...
1
vote
1answer
28 views
With Ripple, what is “Close Resolution?”
In the spec for the ledger format, there's something called "Close Resolution" in the header. It is described as "the resolution (in seconds) of the close time." What does it mean, and what is its ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
What are the special Ripple accounts ACCOUNT_ZERO, ACCOUNT_ONE, and root account?
What are the special accounts ACCOUNT_ZERO, ACCOUNT_ONE, and root account? It's not clear from the Ripple wiki what they are meant for. A little explanation would be nice.
What makes these accounts ...
-2
votes
2answers
204 views
What prevents a user from finding all bitcoins and claim them? [duplicate]
I am new to the bitcoin world and I'm fascinated by its principles. I have found a great description of how the mining works in this answer. Now, I see that a great deal of it is based on network-self ...
1
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0answers
66 views
Please explain getwork
Request:
POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: de.btcguild.com:8332
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: deflate, gzip
Content-type: application/json
X-Mining-Extensions: longpoll midstate rollntime submitold
...
-1
votes
1answer
38 views
How easy will it be to process a block once block rewards end? [closed]
When block mining no longer rewards BTC, miners will have to lean on transaction fees to justify mining for profit. When this happens will the bitcoin protocol continue to vary the difficulty of ...
1
vote
2answers
73 views
Alternative uses of a blockchain-mechanism?
Bitcoin's blockchain is basicly just a mechanism to record timestamped entries. Bitcoin uses it as a transaction ledger, but it could be used for many other things.
For example, one could create a ...
3
votes
3answers
319 views
Are Bitcoins “created” by a miner or the Bitcoin Protocol (from a legal perspective)
The recent FinCEN announcement said explicitly that virtual currency isn't a "currency" by the standard sense of the word, and shouldn't be regarded as such.
Should Bitcoin ever be considered a ...
2
votes
1answer
75 views
What are the requirements of a transaction being included in a block?
What are the requirements of a transaction being included in a block? How does a miner verify that a transaction meets such requirements?
3
votes
2answers
129 views
Where is Double hashing performed in Bitcoin?
where in the Bitcoin Protocol is SHA256(SHA256(x)) performed and why?
6
votes
1answer
313 views
Is Bitcoin's Economic Majority those who already own coins or those who will buy or keep coins?
The Economic Majority theory says that the power to control the Bitcoin protocol is held by those who [own] bitcoins.
But the article then goes on to read:
The ability for a protocol change to be ...
0
votes
2answers
64 views
Why hardfork is not preferred?
My idea of hardfork was, anything that requires building blockchain again from genesis block. But now, I understand anything that requires bitcoin-qt client upgrade is hardfork too. Why hardfork is ...
0
votes
1answer
128 views
Accounting for currency destroyed in lost wallets? [duplicate]
Bitcoin will eventually be capped at 21,000,000 Bitcoins, but what happens to all the wallets that are lost? I'm sure thousands of BTC are already as good as destroyed. Even if there weren't millions ...
1
vote
0answers
33 views
Is the generator G of the keypair always the same number for all different tx messages in Bitcoin?
If so, what is that number and why can't you divide the public key by G to obtain the private key?
-1
votes
1answer
115 views
Bitcoin Transaction Scripts
Could someone explain to me how the bitcoin transaction scripts work?How to build custom scripts?
Also please explain the data structure of transactions as specified by the bitcoin protocol? How to ...
-1
votes
1answer
52 views
Can a system of trust be built on top of the current block chain
One way to expedite small transactions would be to have all of the miner shun all further transactions by someone who has attempted a double spend, then if someone only wants to transfer less than 50% ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
Do transactions in Ripple have a TXID of sorts, or not?
Do transactions in Ripple have a transaction ID of sorts just like Bitcoin transactions, or are they identified in some other way?
13
votes
1answer
425 views
How does Ripple solve the double-spend problem?
How does the Ripple system solve the double-spend problem? Does it also use some block-chain-like entity that officially dictates which transactions are confirmed and which are not, or does it use ...
2
votes
1answer
66 views
Which version of the JSON-RPC protocol does Bitcoin use?
I would like to get some clarification on which version of the JSON-RPC protocol does Bitcoin use? 1.0 or 2.0?
4
votes
2answers
185 views
What will happen when the time field wraps around
I was rather surprised when I read about the bitcoin's block header time field is only 32 bit. Even if it is unsigned (it is) it only get us 68 more years than the Y2K38 problem. What will happen ...
4
votes
1answer
161 views
How does the Bitcoin client check for double spend?
When the Bitcoin client looks at the input of a transaction, it know the hash of the previous transaction from which the funds are coming, however then, how does it know that this output has not been ...
5
votes
1answer
105 views
Signing Bitcoin transactions
There is a part of the Bitcoin protocol that I don't quite understand.
When you make a transaction, and spend the output of a previous transaction for say 1 BTC, you provide a signature using the ...
1
vote
1answer
187 views
Optimizing fee payment for speed or zero fees/privacy? (Clients vs. e-wallets)
As far as I understand the more fees you pay, the faster the delivery. What I don't understand is fees are given to kilobytes of data, not amount of money.
Maybe here would come handy a little deeper ...
2
votes
1answer
79 views
How will multisig addresses work?
How will multisig addresses work? Will they consist of multiple traditional addresses, or will they have some different structure? Will one be able to specify whether they will require 2 out of 2, 2 ...
1
vote
0answers
188 views
Is my idea of getwork protocol for bitminer right?
I am trying to understand the idea behind getwork protocol, by sniffing my communication with a bitminter miner pool.
Previously I have read the discussion here, but looking at my packets, I think ...
3
votes
1answer
110 views
How is locktime enforced in the standard client?
I am trying to study the locktime feature of transactions ( https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_specification#tx ). I have created some raw transactions in the testnet with different locktimes, but, ...
4
votes
1answer
55 views
I'm developing on the Test network. Are there any “rules” or communication methods I should adopt?
I'm testing a C# port of the client on the Test network and need to test for a variety of conditions.
Should I communicate to others regarding my actions on the network? If so, what method of ...
5
votes
2answers
266 views
Transactions with a wait time (using nLockTime)
I'd like to know if there are transactions that can only take place at some predefined moment. In principle, it should be possible to use the parameter nLockTime to wait for a particular block number:
...
3
votes
1answer
77 views
Testvectors for dedicated hardware miner
I have written my own hardware implementation for hash computation. I am participating in a pool, that is I get sent the midstate and some data which should then be hashed.
I wonder, whether there ...
2
votes
2answers
87 views
Could many large forks cause a DoS attack on the miner?
Suppose it was possible to influence a miner to create many forks. My understanding is that a miner won't retransmit the fork, but will track it internally.
Where is this information saved in a ...
4
votes
1answer
354 views
What are the internal details of GetWork() .. the foundation of Bitcoin mining?
According to this answer GetWork() sends "a chunk of data containing the block data, including the randomized bits, and the nonce (the bit which the miner changes)."
Can anyone provide details on ...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
What are the specific interactions between a Wallet client/node and a Miner?
I'm researching the interactions between a Wallet and a Miner. Although I'm also interested in the high level sequence of operations, I'm also interested in discovering the protocol and verbs used in ...
3
votes
1answer
156 views
What ways does a miner differ from a wallet?
I'm trying to understand how transactions are broadcast, the time is synchronized, and the chain extended.
I have a wallet on OSX that required me to fully synchronize with the network. Contrasting ...
4
votes
1answer
146 views
Did P2SH (BIP 16) get accepted?
Based on this, it seems like it did http://blockchain.info/p2sh but it seems I can't find a definitive answer.
6
votes
1answer
353 views
What is the coinbase?
I searched the bitcoin wiki and found references to coinbase, but no clear cut explanation of what exactly it is. I know that miners can tag their coinbases (that is how some sites tell who mined a ...
3
votes
3answers
218 views
Why are balances not in the blockchain?
Currently one needs to traverse the full blockchain to determine the balance of a certain address. Wouldn't it be much more efficient to include the new balance along with each transaction? That way ...
5
votes
1answer
301 views
Why does Bitcoin use two rounds of SHA256?
Each blocked is hashed twice. Why isn't one application of SHA256 enough?
4
votes
2answers
322 views
What is an “unspent output”?
What is the meaning of the term "unspent output" in the Bitcoin protocol?
5
votes
2answers
336 views
Can a miner remain anonymous?
Can you differentiate the miners from the normal clients, by doing some frequency analysis on ip-addresses that announce new blocks? Or will the new block propagate so fast around the network by ...
4
votes
1answer
83 views
Why do some generation transactions use pubkey, instead of hash?
At BlockExplorer I can see that (edit: some) generation transactions use a pubkey in the script (<key> OP_CHECKSIG), while ordinary transactions use address/hash (OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <hash> ...
1
vote
2answers
98 views
What is the point of SIGHASH_NONE?
If I understand correctly, SIGHASH_NONE in the output input signature means that spender of this output doesn't sign his outputs. But doesn't that mean that the spending transaction is by design ...
5
votes
2answers
324 views
Can different clients have different transaction fees?
BitCoin Wiki states:
Different bitcoin clients and different versions have different rules for determining which transactions to accept and how large a fee to send..
Is it true that different ...
2
votes
1answer
182 views
Are there proposed hardfork changes that couldn't be made if the market was filled with ASIC miners?
Suppose a year from now most of the hashrate is being produced by ASICs.
Bitcoin is not feature-complete yet. Out of the changes in the hardfork wishlist, would any of these changes be ...
