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Questions tagged [development]

The creation and ongoing work for different existing and future Bitcoin-related projects and source code.

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83 votes
3 answers
36k views

How to redeem a basic Tx?

Given a raw, standard Tx (wiki): 01000000 01 26c07ece0bce7cda0ccd14d99e205f118cde27e83dd75da7b141fe487b5528fb 00000000 8b ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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36 votes
7 answers
21k views

How to generate a valid bitcoin address for destroying bitcoins?

(Following up to this question.) In order to put a bitcoin beyond use, the answer was to select a made up address. As this isn't a formal destruction of bitcoins, there's a risk that the private keys ...
billpg's user avatar
  • 2,030
44 votes
1 answer
10k views

What do the different .dat files contain?

What data do different Bitcoin .dat files contain? How about the other files in the same folder? The wallet.dat file is somewhat documented and there are some ways to convert it to human-readable ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
12 votes
2 answers
4k views

How can I read information from the blockchain?

I don't want to use an existing service, like Blockchain.info or BlockExplorer.com. Is there some library out there that will let me read the blockchain programatically?
Shamoon's user avatar
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12 votes
9 answers
5k views

Is there a reference, authoritative resource or book on Bitcoin programming?

Is there any reference or authoritative resource, or book on Bitcoin programming? Bitcoin is dubbed "programmable money" but there is no obvious resource for how to do that aside from ...
CQM's user avatar
  • 1,590
39 votes
4 answers
68k views

How to fork Bitcoin and build own cryptocurrency [closed]

Is there any step-by-step tutorial about how to build own cryptocurrency based on Bitcoin code?
Michal's user avatar
  • 609
12 votes
3 answers
8k views

How can I generate a large number of Bitcoin addresses?

I would like to generate a large number of public Bitcoin addresses (several hundred thousand) quickly and efficiently into a simple text file. What would be the easiest way to get this done? I'm just ...
Gary's user avatar
  • 7,543
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is there developer documentation for the Bitcoin Core source code?

Is there a documentation somewhere to understand the C++ code of Bitcoin Core (available on Github) "from a to z" and being able to recreate it ?
smoumou's user avatar
  • 305
24 votes
3 answers
13k views

How do I implement a Merkle Tree?

I`m slowly implementing some Bitcoin protocols, and I'm not sure how to properly understand the Merkle Tree from the Bitcoin wiki: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_specification#Merkle_Trees I have ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
23 votes
1 answer
18k views

Get non-wallet transactions using bitcoin rpc (gettransaction)

I am playing around with Bitcoin-qt. I want to iterate all blocks and all their transactions. So far I've been able to get a list of all tx's in the blocks I want to. Now I want to get information ...
Lars Holdgaard's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
4k views

What are the steps in building bitcoind on Mac OS X 10.6?

Following the instructions in build-osx.txt (which seem sadly out of date) leaves me without a file named libboost_system.a. Here is how I built boost: % cd boost_1_42_0 % ./bootstrap.sh % ./bjam ...
sad_mac's user avatar
  • 121
11 votes
3 answers
3k views

How to implement a game like SatoshiDice?

Everyone knows what SatoshiDice is. Their core mechanic is gambling through the use of Bitcoin transactions with the payout being directly linked to the transaction that fuelled the bed to avoid ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
24 votes
6 answers
4k views

Can a bitcoin be destroyed?

Its the hypothetical future and BTC2 is being designed. Everyone loves BTC2 and no-one wants the old BTC1 any more. People who have BTC1 would be annoyed that their assets are suddently worth a lot ...
billpg's user avatar
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21 votes
2 answers
12k 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 ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
17 votes
3 answers
8k views

How to calculate new "bits" value?

Every 2016 blocks one needs to calculate new bits value. What is the formula to calculate it?
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Given a private key, how do you get a public address [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How are public & private keys in an address created? I am scanning in a private key from a QR code in an app I am writting to handle the import of physical bitcoins. ...
RobKohr's user avatar
  • 622
13 votes
3 answers
3k views

What will happen when SHA 256 needs to be replaced?

MD5 used to be the hash algorithm. Everyone loved it, but now, not so much. What will happen to bitcoin if flaws are found in SHA256 in the future?
billpg's user avatar
  • 2,030
7 votes
3 answers
7k views

How to know if a transaction is valid?

I understand there are a couple things that need to be checked for a transaction to be valid - the previous transaction had to be correct, no OP can invalidate the transaction, etc, but is there a ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
6 votes
2 answers
4k views

How do I generate coins on testnet? CPU, GPU, FPGA? Are there pools?

Is it possible to mine coins on testnet using CPU? GPU? How about FPGAs? Are there any pools running on testnet? The reason I am looking for this is so I can master the new API's relating to ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
6 votes
9 answers
24k views

Displaying price in BTC based on USD exchange rate

This is a pretty classic programming question, but I think it is a very common one for the Bitcoin community, and would be helpful to have the code publicly available. My preference is for a php ...
mardlin's user avatar
  • 406
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

Monitor all transactions on bitcoin network - API

I am searching for a solution to monitor all bitcoin transactions (or for first ties at least for addresses inside my bitcoin client). I found http://blockchain.info/api_websocket is this really ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 153
26 votes
5 answers
10k views

how to monitor +20,000 addresses for new received transactions?

I have around 20000 generated addresses which I want to monitor for new transactions. More addresses should probably come. Customers should use every address only once but I would like to monitor ...
curiosity's user avatar
  • 355
16 votes
3 answers
519 views

What happens if the developers make a controversial change to the "standard" client?

One criticism I commonly hear of Bitcoin is that it merely transfers trust from some sort of central bank or government entity to the developers of the main project. Can anyone provide a clean ...
eMansipater's user avatar
  • 14.4k
14 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there a list of available APIs for Bitcoin exchanges?

So far I have seen some Perl modules; Finance:MtGox and Webservice:MtGox for interacting with Mt.Gox, a Ruby gem for Mt.Gox and a Python based command line client for again, Mt.Gox. I'm wondering if ...
barrymac's user avatar
  • 1,605
13 votes
1 answer
965 views

What are the February 20 changes to the Bitcoin protocol?

From the BitcoinJ mailing list: the Bitcoin protocol bizarrely changes itself on February 20th 2012 in a backwards incompatible manner What are these changes, why are they necessary, when was ...
Thilo's user avatar
  • 4,751
10 votes
3 answers
2k views

What's the best practice for creating and maintaining an address index?

I am working on a Blockchain.info-like block explorer, and I have some questions regarding best practice for data retrieval. Bitcoin Core stores and serves all blocks and, if txindex is set to 1, all ...
user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
654 views

How is a BIP accepted?

Who decides to change the status from Draft to Accepted? BIP 0001 doesn't seem to clearly state this. Is this a vote by the developers? Whose vote exactly do we count? How is it conducted and ...
ripper234's user avatar
  • 26.5k
8 votes
5 answers
3k views

Is there a remote, trustless bitcoin API that doesn't require anything (blockchain/SPV headers) to be stored locally?

This question asks about how to work with bitcoin via an API without requiring a local blockchain. The only answer is about blockchain.info's JSON API, but it appears that unlike the web version of ...
ripper234's user avatar
  • 26.5k
8 votes
2 answers
487 views

Is there a reliable way to measure bitcoin wealth distribution?

Given the difficult of detecting lost coins, or telling between hoarded and lost coins, it seems impossible to actually report on the real wealth distribution of the bitcoin currency.
barrymac's user avatar
  • 1,605
7 votes
5 answers
1k views

What challenges will bitcoin face in space?

What would the challenges of transacting in outerspace be for bitcoin? What improvements need to be implemented to address these challenges? I'm particularly curious about low-earth orbit.
Kinnard Hockenhull's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
3k views

Does BTC-E have an API for alternate currencies?

BTC-E appears to have an API available at https://btc-e.com/api/1/ticker but this only lists the BTC/USD pair data. They also offer pairs of BTC against alternate currencies like Ixcoin and Tenebrix. ...
David Perry's user avatar
  • 14.3k
4 votes
1 answer
543 views

Web API to retrieve difficulty changes

I am looking for a website that allows me to retrieve the time at which each difficulty change happened. The time doesn't need to be accurate so a time stamp from the block will do. I want to fetch ...
nmat's user avatar
  • 11.5k
4 votes
1 answer
541 views

Is there a remote Bitcoin API that doesn't require anything to be stored locally?

What I imagine is a trusted centralized server (say run by Mt. Gox or some other exchange), that exposes a simple medium/low level API (let's say in JSON): getTransaction(fromAddress) getTxDetails() ...
ripper234's user avatar
  • 26.5k
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

OSX Vanitygen error: pattern.c:32:10: fatal error: 'pcre.h' file not found

I get the error below when I try to make vanitygen according to the instructions listed in "install" Error from make (short version) 27 warnings generated. cc -ggdb -O3 -Wall -c -o pattern.o ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
19k views

How do I call JSON RPC API using C#?

How do I access the JSON RPC API in C# in such a way that I can also read the errors that the interface provides?
makerofthings7's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Developments to prevent 51% hack [duplicate]

How might Bitcoin be made impervious from attack by large monied interests that could atttack with a brute force majority hashrate hack?
yadayada's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
179 views

testnet3 frequent tx malleability

Related How confirm my own doublespend transaction got confirmed This is not about double spends and I believe that the related question is not about double spends ether! On bitcoin's testnet3 I am ...
Ben Muircroft's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Need sample compressed and uncompressed Public / Private key pairs for BigInteger

I am testing a different version of BigInteger that has different endian formats and the native implementation likes to add or remove zeros from the final output. Can anyone provide some sample ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
171 views

Metamask-like web3 inject for bitcoin

Is there a browser extension that works similarly to Ethereum's Metamask? I am wondering that if there isn't one, is it because of some technical limitation, or that just no one has gotten around to ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
1 answer
237 views

How do we prevent the Test network from being misrepresented as production?

I'm concerned that people new to Bitcoin may not be aware that the test network exists, and the new users will end up "paying" for Bitcoins that are essentially worthless. What protections are in ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
31 votes
1 answer
15k views

How do I build Bitcoin source in Windows 7?

I am trying to build the current Bitcoin source in Windows 7x64 - Does anyone know of an idiot-proof tutorial? Some of the steps in the included doc give me errors. When I try to tar openssl with ...
Alex Waters's user avatar
  • 3,171
18 votes
2 answers
3k views

How to start programming your own Bitcoin client?

I want to develop my own Bitcoin client in a language that is not yet supported. Are there any resources that can be referenced to help me, or any other future developer with the task, or is the ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 42.9k
17 votes
5 answers
14k views

How to validate a Bitcoin address is a real one?

Is there a code snippet that validates a bitcoin address? I'm looking for both javascript and java snippets. The code should support both testnet and real addresses.
ripper234's user avatar
  • 26.5k
14 votes
4 answers
624 views

How do I develop mobile applications for Bitcoin?

I would like to develop a mobile Bitcoin application for the Android and iPhone platforms. What libraries and resources can I use?
devrandom's user avatar
  • 143
11 votes
6 answers
5k views

Are there any C# wrappers for the Bitcoin REST API?

Are there any C# wappers that take an OOO approach to the Bitcoin REST API, and encapsulate it in an easy to use format?
makerofthings7's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Turing completeness of Bitcoin Script

For me, scripts are one of the most interesting features of Bitcoin. They provide possibilities which have no equivalent in classical currencies. However, the wiki states It is purposefully not ...
jnnk's user avatar
  • 1,896
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

How many bitcoins have been sent to Base58-invalid addresses?

Some bitcoins have been permanently lost when they are sent the the following addresses. The explanation I've found is that they contain characters that are invalid in Base58 ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
729 views

Why don't developers switch from bitcoin-qt to a cleaner implementation?

The "reference client" bitcoin-qt receives a lot of complaints from developers on the messy way it was coded. It seems to require a big overhead to learn, and a lot of time is being spent on ...
Winslow Strong's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
743 views

How to build Bitcoin from source on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal?

We have this detailed tutorial for Lucid Lynx, but somehow it doesn't work for Natty. We also have a similar question but it is too broad and the solution there isn't complete enough to work. I ...
Jader Dias's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is an explanation of the P2SH voting in layman's terms?

Reading this question and looking in the bitcointalk forums at the related discussion, there seems to be some kind of miner vote being done on whether a change will be implemented in the bitcoin ...
Highly Irregular's user avatar