Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Bitcoin

2011-08-14T22:43:20Z

Zwierzak: Added Polish Link

[[Bitcoin]] is a decentralized [[Digital currency|cryptocurrency]] invented by programmer [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], who also developed the [[Original Bitcoin client]]. It allows for anonymous and secure ownership and transfers of amounts of bitcoins, without relying on any central server to process the transactions or store the accounts.

Bitcoin is currently accepted in exchange for other currencies, such as dollars and euros, as well as directly for services and tangible goods.

==History==
:Main article: [[History of Bitcoin]]

The first mention of the concept of cryptocurrency is said to have been made in 1998 by Wei Dai on the cypherpunks mailing list, and Bitcoin can trace its origin to the [[B-money Proposal]]. Related to this is the more recent [[Bit Gold proposal]] by Nick Szabo.

The paper [http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System] describes the early concepts behind Bitcoin<ref>[http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg09959.html Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper]</ref> and and precedes the first release of Bitcoin software.

The Bitcoin project was registered on November 9th, 2008. The Bitcoin network started up on January 3rd, 2009 with the [[genesis block]]. The genesis block contains a media reference to the dealings of a central banker in the UK.

On February 9, 2011, and for a few days afterwards, Bitcoin sold for over $1 in most exchanges.

==Security==

:Main article: [[Weaknesses]]

In the history of bitcoin, there have been a few [[incidents]], caused by problematic as well as malicious transactions. In the worst such incident, and the only one of its type, a person was able to pretend that he had a practically infinite supply of bitcoins, for almost 9 hours.

Bitcoin relies, among other things, on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography public key cryptography] and thus may be vulnerable to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_curve_cryptography#Quantum_computing_attacks quantum computing attacks] if and when practical quantum computers can be constructed.

If multiple different software packages, whose usage becomes widespread on the Bitcoin network, disagree on the protocol and the rules for transactions, this could potentially cause a fork in the block chain, with each faction of users being able to accept only their own version of the history of transactions. This could influence the price of bitcoins.

A global, organized campaign against the currency or the software could also influence the demand for bitcoins, and thus the exchange price.

==See Also==
* [[Introduction]]
* [[Getting started]]
* [[Using_Bitcoin|Detailed tutorial]]
* [[How bitcoin works]]
* [[FAQ]]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Digital currencies]]

[[pl:Bitcoin]]

Difficulty

2011-08-14T20:29:27Z

Zwierzak: /* What is the current difficulty? */ Changed estimated next difficulty to use blockexplorer instead of dot-bit.org

''See also: [[target]]''

=== What is "difficulty"? ===

Difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to find a new [[block]] compared to the easiest it can ever be.

=== How often does the difficulty change? ===

Every 2016 [[block|blocks]].

=== What is the formula for difficulty? ===

difficulty = maximum_target / current_target

(target is a 256 bit number)

===How is difficulty stored in blocks?===

Each block stores a packed representation (called "Bits") for its actual hexadecimal [[target]]. The target can be derived from it via a predefined formula. For example, if the packed target in the block is 0x1b0404cb, the hexadecimal target is
0x0404cb * 2**(8*(0x1b - 3)) = 0x00000000000404CB000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Note that the 0x0404cb value is a signed value in this format. The largest legal value for this field is 0x7fffff. To make a larger value you must shift it down one full byte. Also 0x008000 is the smallest positive valid value.

The highest possible target (difficulty 1) is defined as 0x1d00ffff, which gives us a hex target of
0x00ffff * 2**(8*(0x1d - 3)) = 0x00000000FFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

So the difficulty at 0x1b0404cb is therefore:
0x00000000FFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 /
0x00000000000404CB000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
= 16307.420938523983

=== What is the current difficulty? ===
[http://blockexplorer.com/q/getdifficulty Current difficulty], as output by BitCoin's getDifficulty.

[http://blockexplorer.com/q/estimate Estimated next difficulty]

[http://bitcoin.sipa.be Graphs]

=== What is the maximum difficulty? ===
The maximum difficulty is roughly: maximum_target / 1, which is a ridiculously huge number (about 2^224).

The actual maximum difficulty is when current_target=0, but we would not be able to calculate the difficulty if that happened. (fortunately it never will, so we're ok.)

=== Can the difficulty go down? ===
Yes it can. See discussion in [[target]].

=== What is the minimum difficulty? ===
The minimum difficulty, when the target is at the maximum allowed value, is 1.

=== What network hash rate results in a given difficulty? ===
The difficulty is adjusted every 2016 blocks based on the time it took to find the previous 2016 blocks. At the desired rate of one block each 10 minutes, 2016 blocks would take exactly two weeks to find. If the previous 2016 blocks took more than two weeks to find, the difficulty is reduced. If they took less than two weeks, the difficulty is increased. The change in difficulty is in proportion to the amount of time over or under two weeks the previous 2016 blocks took to find.

To find a block, the hash must be less than the target. The hash is effectively a random number between 0 and 2**256-1. The offset for difficulty 1 is
0xffff * 2**208
and for difficulty D is
0xffff * 2**208)/D

The expected number of hashes we need to calculate to find a block with difficulty D is therefore
D * 2**256 / (0xffff * 2**208)
or just
D * 2**48 / 0xffff

The difficulty is set such that the previous 2016 blocks would have been found at the rate of one every 10 minutes, so we were calculating (D * 2**48 / 0xffff) hashes in 600 seconds. That means the hash rate of the network was
D * 2**48 / 0xffff / 600
over the previous 2016 blocks. Can be further simplified to
D * 2**32 / 600
without much loss of accuracy.

At difficulty 1, that is around 7 Mhashes per second.

At the time of writing, the difficulty is 22012.4941572, which means that over the previous set of 2016 blocks found the average network hash rate was
22012.4941572 * 2**32 / 600 = around 157 Ghashes per second.

=== How soon might I expect to generate a block? ===
(The [https://www.bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1682.0 eternal question].)

The average time to find a block can be approximated by calculating:
time = difficulty * 2**32 / hashrate
where difficulty is the current difficulty, hashrate is the number of hashes your miner calculates per second, and time is the average in seconds between the blocks you find.

For example, using Python we calculate the average time to generate a block using a 1Ghash/s mining rig when the difficulty is 20000:
$ python -c "print 20000 * 2**32 / 10**9 / 60 / 60.0"
23.85
and find that it takes just under 24 hours on average.

* Any one grinding of the hash stands the same chance of "winning" as any other. The numbers game is how many attempts your hardware can make per second.
* You need to know the difficulty (above) and your khash/sec rate (reported by the client).
** [[Mining Hardware Comparison]] has some stats that may help you predict what you could get.
* Visit a calculator or perform the maths yourself,
** http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php
* Remember it's just probability! There are no guarantees you will win every N days.

[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Vocabulary]]

[[pl:Trudność]]

Difficulty

2011-08-14T20:27:15Z

Zwierzak: /* How soon might I expect to generate a block? */ link to old forum

''See also: [[target]]''

=== What is "difficulty"? ===

Difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to find a new [[block]] compared to the easiest it can ever be.

=== How often does the difficulty change? ===

Every 2016 [[block|blocks]].

=== What is the formula for difficulty? ===

difficulty = maximum_target / current_target

(target is a 256 bit number)

===How is difficulty stored in blocks?===

Each block stores a packed representation (called "Bits") for its actual hexadecimal [[target]]. The target can be derived from it via a predefined formula. For example, if the packed target in the block is 0x1b0404cb, the hexadecimal target is
0x0404cb * 2**(8*(0x1b - 3)) = 0x00000000000404CB000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Note that the 0x0404cb value is a signed value in this format. The largest legal value for this field is 0x7fffff. To make a larger value you must shift it down one full byte. Also 0x008000 is the smallest positive valid value.

The highest possible target (difficulty 1) is defined as 0x1d00ffff, which gives us a hex target of
0x00ffff * 2**(8*(0x1d - 3)) = 0x00000000FFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

So the difficulty at 0x1b0404cb is therefore:
0x00000000FFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 /
0x00000000000404CB000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
= 16307.420938523983

=== What is the current difficulty? ===
[http://blockexplorer.com/q/getdifficulty Current difficulty], as output by BitCoin's getDifficulty.

[http://dot-bit.org/tools/nextDifficulty.php Estimated next difficulty]

[http://bitcoin.sipa.be Graphs]

=== What is the maximum difficulty? ===
The maximum difficulty is roughly: maximum_target / 1, which is a ridiculously huge number (about 2^224).

The actual maximum difficulty is when current_target=0, but we would not be able to calculate the difficulty if that happened. (fortunately it never will, so we're ok.)

=== Can the difficulty go down? ===
Yes it can. See discussion in [[target]].

=== What is the minimum difficulty? ===
The minimum difficulty, when the target is at the maximum allowed value, is 1.

=== What network hash rate results in a given difficulty? ===
The difficulty is adjusted every 2016 blocks based on the time it took to find the previous 2016 blocks. At the desired rate of one block each 10 minutes, 2016 blocks would take exactly two weeks to find. If the previous 2016 blocks took more than two weeks to find, the difficulty is reduced. If they took less than two weeks, the difficulty is increased. The change in difficulty is in proportion to the amount of time over or under two weeks the previous 2016 blocks took to find.

To find a block, the hash must be less than the target. The hash is effectively a random number between 0 and 2**256-1. The offset for difficulty 1 is
0xffff * 2**208
and for difficulty D is
0xffff * 2**208)/D

The expected number of hashes we need to calculate to find a block with difficulty D is therefore
D * 2**256 / (0xffff * 2**208)
or just
D * 2**48 / 0xffff

The difficulty is set such that the previous 2016 blocks would have been found at the rate of one every 10 minutes, so we were calculating (D * 2**48 / 0xffff) hashes in 600 seconds. That means the hash rate of the network was
D * 2**48 / 0xffff / 600
over the previous 2016 blocks. Can be further simplified to
D * 2**32 / 600
without much loss of accuracy.

At difficulty 1, that is around 7 Mhashes per second.

At the time of writing, the difficulty is 22012.4941572, which means that over the previous set of 2016 blocks found the average network hash rate was
22012.4941572 * 2**32 / 600 = around 157 Ghashes per second.

=== How soon might I expect to generate a block? ===
(The [https://www.bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1682.0 eternal question].)

The average time to find a block can be approximated by calculating:
time = difficulty * 2**32 / hashrate
where difficulty is the current difficulty, hashrate is the number of hashes your miner calculates per second, and time is the average in seconds between the blocks you find.

For example, using Python we calculate the average time to generate a block using a 1Ghash/s mining rig when the difficulty is 20000:
$ python -c "print 20000 * 2**32 / 10**9 / 60 / 60.0"
23.85
and find that it takes just under 24 hours on average.

* Any one grinding of the hash stands the same chance of "winning" as any other. The numbers game is how many attempts your hardware can make per second.
* You need to know the difficulty (above) and your khash/sec rate (reported by the client).
** [[Mining Hardware Comparison]] has some stats that may help you predict what you could get.
* Visit a calculator or perform the maths yourself,
** http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php
* Remember it's just probability! There are no guarantees you will win every N days.

[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Vocabulary]]

[[pl:Trudność]]

Difficulty

2011-08-14T18:16:11Z

Zwierzak: Added Polish link

''See also: [[target]]''

=== What is "difficulty"? ===

Difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to find a new [[block]] compared to the easiest it can ever be.

=== How often does the difficulty change? ===

Every 2016 [[block|blocks]].

=== What is the formula for difficulty? ===

difficulty = maximum_target / current_target

(target is a 256 bit number)

===How is difficulty stored in blocks?===

Each block stores a packed representation (called "Bits") for its actual hexadecimal [[target]]. The target can be derived from it via a predefined formula. For example, if the packed target in the block is 0x1b0404cb, the hexadecimal target is
0x0404cb * 2**(8*(0x1b - 3)) = 0x00000000000404CB000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Note that the 0x0404cb value is a signed value in this format. The largest legal value for this field is 0x7fffff. To make a larger value you must shift it down one full byte. Also 0x008000 is the smallest positive valid value.

The highest possible target (difficulty 1) is defined as 0x1d00ffff, which gives us a hex target of
0x00ffff * 2**(8*(0x1d - 3)) = 0x00000000FFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

So the difficulty at 0x1b0404cb is therefore:
0x00000000FFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 /
0x00000000000404CB000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
= 16307.420938523983

=== What is the current difficulty? ===
[http://blockexplorer.com/q/getdifficulty Current difficulty], as output by BitCoin's getDifficulty.

[http://dot-bit.org/tools/nextDifficulty.php Estimated next difficulty]

[http://bitcoin.sipa.be Graphs]

=== What is the maximum difficulty? ===
The maximum difficulty is roughly: maximum_target / 1, which is a ridiculously huge number (about 2^224).

The actual maximum difficulty is when current_target=0, but we would not be able to calculate the difficulty if that happened. (fortunately it never will, so we're ok.)

=== Can the difficulty go down? ===
Yes it can. See discussion in [[target]].

=== What is the minimum difficulty? ===
The minimum difficulty, when the target is at the maximum allowed value, is 1.

=== What network hash rate results in a given difficulty? ===
The difficulty is adjusted every 2016 blocks based on the time it took to find the previous 2016 blocks. At the desired rate of one block each 10 minutes, 2016 blocks would take exactly two weeks to find. If the previous 2016 blocks took more than two weeks to find, the difficulty is reduced. If they took less than two weeks, the difficulty is increased. The change in difficulty is in proportion to the amount of time over or under two weeks the previous 2016 blocks took to find.

To find a block, the hash must be less than the target. The hash is effectively a random number between 0 and 2**256-1. The offset for difficulty 1 is
0xffff * 2**208
and for difficulty D is
0xffff * 2**208)/D

The expected number of hashes we need to calculate to find a block with difficulty D is therefore
D * 2**256 / (0xffff * 2**208)
or just
D * 2**48 / 0xffff

The difficulty is set such that the previous 2016 blocks would have been found at the rate of one every 10 minutes, so we were calculating (D * 2**48 / 0xffff) hashes in 600 seconds. That means the hash rate of the network was
D * 2**48 / 0xffff / 600
over the previous 2016 blocks. Can be further simplified to
D * 2**32 / 600
without much loss of accuracy.

At difficulty 1, that is around 7 Mhashes per second.

At the time of writing, the difficulty is 22012.4941572, which means that over the previous set of 2016 blocks found the average network hash rate was
22012.4941572 * 2**32 / 600 = around 157 Ghashes per second.

=== How soon might I expect to generate a block? ===
(The [https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=1682.0 eternal question].)

The average time to find a block can be approximated by calculating:
time = difficulty * 2**32 / hashrate
where difficulty is the current difficulty, hashrate is the number of hashes your miner calculates per second, and time is the average in seconds between the blocks you find.

For example, using Python we calculate the average time to generate a block using a 1Ghash/s mining rig when the difficulty is 20000:
$ python -c "print 20000 * 2**32 / 10**9 / 60 / 60.0"
23.85
and find that it takes just under 24 hours on average.

* Any one grinding of the hash stands the same chance of "winning" as any other. The numbers game is how many attempts your hardware can make per second.
* You need to know the difficulty (above) and your khash/sec rate (reported by the client).
** [[Mining Hardware Comparison]] has some stats that may help you predict what you could get.
* Visit a calculator or perform the maths yourself,
** http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php
* Remember it's just probability! There are no guarantees you will win every N days.

[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Vocabulary]]

[[pl:Trudność]]

User:Zwierzak

2011-08-14T14:38:46Z

Zwierzak:

Who is zwierzak? It is me!

=== Contact ===

* [http://zwierzak.info/ My Site]
* [http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01h7Skajq3hRTBMrBGxKWh8w==&c=nGdovwb9mtpAz_4AgwYdNpQ0TN35rIE--2s-5yvCyA4= Email]
* [http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01h7Skajq3hRTBMrBGxKWh8w==&c=zd_nS3jYrVJDjishYqN9EXR37zxP3p7qiYPx1TBRqPQ= JID]

==== IRC ====

You can find me on IRC server [http://www.freenode.net Freenode]. I use ''zwierzak'' nick and you can find me on this channels:
* {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin}}
* {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-pl}}

=== Donation ===

Donation address: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>
Contributors Award participant: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>

User:Zwierzak

2011-08-14T14:37:43Z

Zwierzak:

Who is zwierzak? It is me!

=== Contact ===

* [http://zwierzak.info/ My Site]
* [http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01h7Skajq3hRTBMrBGxKWh8w==&c=nGdovwb9mtpAz_4AgwYdNpQ0TN35rIE--2s-5yvCyA4= Email i JID]

==== IRC ====

You can find me on IRC server [http://www.freenode.net Freenode]. I use ''zwierzak'' nick and you can find me on this channels:
* {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin}}
* {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-pl}}

=== Donation ===

Donation address: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>
Contributors Award participant: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>

Block

2011-08-14T13:01:05Z

Zwierzak: Added polish link

Data is permanently recorded in the Bitcoin network through '''blocks'''. Each block contains all recent [[transactions]], a [[nonce]] (random number), and the [[hash]] of the previous block. A block is "solved" (published and considered valid by peers) when the SHA-256 hash of the entire block is numerically below the current [[target]]. This is very unlikely to occur after being hashed only once, so the nonce must be incremented and the block re-hashed millions of times until it does.

Bitcoin transactions are broadcast to the [[network]] by the sender, and all peers generating coins collect them and add them to the block they're working on. If the transaction is much larger than the average transaction size, a small [[transaction fee]] may be charged.

The first transaction in the block is special: it creates new [[Bitcoins]] for the person who generated it. Other peers will only accept the block if this transaction is of the correct amount. The number of [[Bitcoins]] generated per block starts at 50 and is halved every 210,000 blocks (about four years).

The network tries to create 6 blocks per hour. Every 2016 blocks (about two weeks), all Bitcoin clients compare the actual number created with this goal and modify the target by the percentage that it varied. This increases (or decreases) the difficulty of generating blocks.

The client accepts the 'longest' chain of blocks as valid. The 'length' of the entire [[block chain]] refers to the chain with the most combined difficulty, not the one with the most blocks. This prevents someone from forking the chain and creating a large number of low-difficulty blocks, and having it accepted by the network as 'longest'.

== Common Questions about Blocks ==

=== How many blocks are there? ===
[http://blockexplorer.com/q/getblockcount Current block count]

=== What is the maximum number of blocks? ===
There is no maximum number, blocks just keep getting added to the end of the chain at an average rate of one every 10 minutes.

==== Even when all 21 million coins have been generated? ====
Yes. The blocks are for proving that transactions existed at a particular time. Transactions will still occur once all the coins have been generated, so blocks will still be created as long as people are trading Bitcoins.

=== How long will it take me to generate a block? ===
No-one can say exactly. There is a [[Generation Calculator|generation calculator]] that will tell you how long it '''might''' take.

=== What if I'm 1% towards calculating a block and...? ===
There's no such thing as being 1% towards solving a block. You don't make progress towards solving it. After working on it for 24 hours, your chances of solving it are equal to what your chances were at the start or at any moment. Believing otherwise is what's known as the Gambler's fallacy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler's_fallacy].

It's like trying to flip 53 coins at once and have them all come up heads. Each time you try, your chances of success are the same.

=== Where can I find more technical detail? ===
There is more technical detail on the [[block hashing algorithm]] page.

==See Also==

* [http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/File:Total_bitcoins_over_time_graph.png Total Bitcoins Over Time]

[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Vocabulary]]

[[fr:Blocs]][[pl:Bloki]][[zh-cn:Block]]

Network

2011-08-14T13:00:28Z

Zwierzak: Added polish link

Bitcoin uses a simple broadcast network to propagate transactions and blocks. All communications are done over TCP. Bitcoin is fully able to use ports other than 8333 via the -port parameter. IPv6 is currently not supported.

== Messages ==
* ''version'' - Information about program version and block count. Exchanged when first connecting.
* ''verack'' - Sent in response to a version message to acknowledge that we are willing to connect.
* ''addr'' - List of one or more IP addresses and ports.
* ''inv'' - "I have these blocks/transactions: ..." Normally sent only when a ''new'' block or transaction is being relayed. This is only a list, not the actual data.
* ''getdata'' - Request a single block or transaction by hash.
* ''getblocks'' - Request an ''inv'' of all blocks in a range.
* ''getheaders'' - Request a ''headers'' message containing all block headers in a range.
* ''tx'' - Send a transaction. This is only sent in response to a ''getdata'' request.
* ''block'' - Send a block. This is only sent in response to a ''getdata'' request.
* ''headers'' - Send up to 2,000 block headers. Non-generators can download the headers of blocks instead of entire blocks.
* ''getaddr'' - Request an ''addr'' message containing a bunch of known-active peers (for bootstrapping).
* ''submitorder'', ''checkorder'', and ''reply'' - Used when performing an [[IP address|IP transaction]].
* ''alert'' - Send a network alert.
* ''ping'' - Does nothing. Used to check that the connection is still online. A TCP error will occur if the connection has died.

More information and in-depth technical information is in the [[Protocol Specification]].

== Connection ==

To connect to a peer, you send a ''version'' message containing your version number, block count, and current time. The remote peer will send back a ''verack'' message and his own ''version'' message if he is accepting connections from your version. You will respond with your own ''verack'' if you are accepting connections from his version.

The time data from all of your peers is collected, and the median is used by Bitcoin for all network tasks that use the time (except for other version messages).

You then exchange ''getaddr'' and ''addr'' messages, storing all addresses that you don't know about. Normally ''addr'' messages only contain one address, but in this initial exchange it contains many recent peers.

== Standard relaying ==

When someone sends a transaction, they send an ''inv'' message containing it to all of their peers. Their peers will request the full transaction with ''getdata''. If they consider the transaction valid after receiving it, they will also broadcast the transaction to all of their peers with an ''inv'', and so on. Peers only ask for or relay transactions if they don't already have them. A peer will never rebroadcast a transaction that it already knows about, though transactions will eventually be forgotten if they don't get into a block after a while. The sender and receiver of the transaction will rebroadcast, however.

Anyone who is generating will collect valid received transactions and work on including them in a block. When someone does find a block, they send an ''inv'' containing it to all of their peers, as above. It works the same as transactions.

Everyone broadcasts an ''addr'' containing their own IP address every 24 hours. Nodes relay these messages to a couple of their peers and store the address if it's new to them. Through this system, everyone has a reasonably clear picture of which IPs are connected to the network at the moment. After connecting to the network, you get added to everyone's address database almost instantly because of your initial ''addr''.

Network alerts are broadcast with ''alert'' messages. No ''inv''-like system is used; these contain the entire alert. If a received alert is valid (signed by one of the people with the private key), it is relayed to all peers. For as long as an alert is still in effect, it is rebroadcast at the start of every new connection.

== Initial block download ==

At the start of a connection, you send a ''getblocks'' message containing the hash of the latest block you know about. If the peer doesn't think that this is the latest block, it will send an ''inv'' that contains up to 500 blocks ahead of the one you listed. You will then request all of these blocks with ''getdata'', and the peer will send them to you with ''block'' messages. After you have downloaded and processed all of these blocks, you will send another ''getblocks'', etc., until you have all of the blocks.

0.3.18 introduced new ''headers'' and ''getheaders'' messages. These are not currently used, but they will be used by non-generators to download block headers without the corresponding block bodies. Only the headers are necessary for verifying received transactions -- full blocks are only needed by generators. Instead of the ''getblocks/inv/getdata/block'' sequence, non-generators will send a ''getheaders'' message (very like ''getblocks''), and the peer will immediately respond with a ''headers'' message containing up to 2,000 of the next headers. This will make initial block download ''much'' faster.

== Bootstrapping ==

You choose which peers to connect to by sorting your address database by the time since you last saw the address and then adding a bit of randomization.

Bitcoin has three methods of finding peers.

=== Addr ===

The ''addr'' messages described above create an effect similar to the IRC bootstrapping method. You know reasonably quickly whenever a peer joins, though you won't know for a while when they leave.

Bitcoin comes with a list of addresses known as "seed nodes". If you are unable to connect to IRC and you've never connected to the network before, the client will update the address database by connecting to one of the nodes from this list.

The -addnode command line option can be used to manually add a node. The -connect option can force bitcoin to only connect to a specific node.

=== DNS ===

Bitcoin looks up the IP Addresses of several host names and adds those to the list of potential addresses. This is intended to replace the IRC seeding mechanism in future releases.

=== IRC ===

Bitcoin joins a random channel between #bitcoin00 and #bitcoin99 on irc.lfnet.org. Your nick is set to an encoded form of your IP address. By decoding all the nicks of all users on the channel, you get a list of all IP addresses currently connected to Bitcoin.

For hosts that cannot make outbound connections on port 6667, the lfnet servers are also [[FAQ#Do_I_need_to_configure_my_firewall_to_run_bitcoin?|listening on port 7777]].

== Heartbeat ==

If thirty minutes or more has passed since the client has transmitted any messages it will transmit a message to keep the connection to the peer node alive.

If ninety minutes has passed since a peer node has communicated any messages, then the client will assume that connection has closed.

== See Also ==

* [[Protocol Specification]]

[[Category:Technical]]

[[pl:Sieć]]

Transaction

2011-08-14T12:59:08Z

Zwierzak: Added polish link

A transaction is a signed section of data that is broadcast to the [[network]] and collected into [[block|blocks]]. They reference a previous transaction and dedicate a certain number of bitcoins from it to a new public key (Bitcoin address). They are not encrypted (nothing in Bitcoin is encrypted).

A [[block chain browser]] is a site where every transaction included within the block chain can be viewed. This is useful for seeing the technical details of transaction in action, and for payment verification purposes.

=== Example Bitcoin Transaction ===

==== Data ====

<pre>Input:
Previous tx: f5d8ee39a430901c91a5917b9f2dc19d6d1a0e9cea205b009ca73dd04470b9a6
Index: 0
scriptSig: 304502206e21798a42fae0e854281abd38bacd1aeed3ee3738d9e1446618c4571d10
90db022100e2ac980643b0b82c0e88ffdfec6b64e3e6ba35e7ba5fdd7d5d6cc8d25c6b241501

Output:
Value: 5000000000
scriptPubKey: OP_DUP OP_HASH160 404371705fa9bd789a2fcd52d2c580b65d35549d
OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG</pre>

==== Explanation ====

The input in this transaction imports 50 BTC from output #0 in transaction f5d8... Then the output sends 50 BTC to a Bitcoin address (expressed here in hexadecimal 4043... instead of the normal base58). When the recipient wants to spend this money, he will reference output #0 of this transaction in an input of his own transaction.

===== Input =====

An '''input''' is a reference to an output in a different transaction. Multiple inputs are often listed in a transaction. The values of the referenced outputs are added up, and the total is usable in the outputs of this transaction. '''Previous tx''' is a [[hash]] of a previous transaction. '''Index''' is the specific output in the referenced transaction. '''ScriptSig''' is the first half of a [[script]] (discussed in more detail later).

The script contains two components, a signature and a public key. The public key belongs to the redeemer of the output transaction and proves the creator is allowed to redeem the outputs value. The other component is an ECDSA signature over a hash of a simplified version of the transaction. It, combined with the public key, proves the transaction was created by the real owner of the address in question. Various flags define how the transaction is simplified and can be used to create different types of payment.

===== Output =====

An '''output''' contains instructions for sending bitcoins. '''Value''' is the number of Satoshi (1 BTC = 100,000,000 Satoshi) that this output will be worth when claimed. '''ScriptPubKey''' is the second half of a script (discussed later). There can be more than one output, and they share the combined value of the inputs. Because an output can only ever be referenced by a single input, the entire combined input value needs to be sent in an output if you don't want to lose it. If the input is worth 50 BTC but you only want to send 25 BTC, Bitcoin will create two outputs worth 25 BTC: one to the destination, and one back to you (known as "change", though you send it to yourself). Any input bitcoins not redeemed in an output is considered a [[transaction fee]]; whoever generates the block will get it.
[[File:transaction.png|thumb|A sends 100 BTC to C and C generates 50 BTC. C sends 101 BTC to D, and he needs to send himself some change. D sends the 101 BTC to someone else, but they haven't redeemed it yet. Only D's output and C's change are capable of being spent in the current state.]]

===== Verification =====

To verify that inputs are authorized to collect the values of referenced outputs, Bitcoin uses a custom Forth-like [[script|scripting]] system. The input's scriptSig and the ''referenced'' output's scriptPubKey are evaluated (in that order), with scriptPubKey using the values left on the stack by scriptSig. The input is authorized if scriptPubKey returns true. Through the scripting system, the sender can create very complex conditions that people have to meet in order to claim the output's value. For example, it's possible to create an output that can be claimed by anyone without any authorization. It's also possible to require that an input be signed by ten different keys, or be redeemable with a password instead of a key.

=== Types of Transaction ===
Bitcoin currently only creates three different scriptSig/scriptPubKey pairs. These are described below.

It is possible to design more complex types of transactions, and link them together into cryptographically enforced agreements. These are known as [[Contracts]].

==== Transfer to IP address ====

scriptPubKey: <pubKey> OP_CHECKSIG
scriptSig: <sig>
The sender gets the public key when talking to the recipient over IP. When redeeming coins that have been sent to an IP address, the recipient provides only a signature. The signature is checked against the public key in scriptPubKey.

Checking process:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Stack
! Script
! Description
|-
|Empty.
|<sig> <pubKey> OP_CHECKSIG
|scriptSig and scriptPubKey are combined.
|-
|<sig> <pubKey>
| OP_CHECKSIG
|Constants are added to the stack.
|-
|true
|Empty.
|Signature is checked for top two stack items.
|}

==== Transfer to Bitcoin address ====

scriptPubKey: OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
scriptSig: <sig> <pubKey>
A Bitcoin [[address]] is only a hash, so the sender can't provide a full public key in scriptPubKey. When redeeming coins that have been sent to a Bitcoin address, the recipient provides both the signature and the public key. The script verifies that the provided public key does hash to the hash in scriptPubKey, and then it also checks the signature against the public key.

Checking process:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Stack
! Script
! Description
|-
|Empty.
| <sig> <pubKey> OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
| scriptSig and scriptPubKey are combined.
|-
|<sig> <pubKey>
| OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
| Constants are added to the stack.
|-
|<sig> <pubKey> <pubKey>
| OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
| Top stack item is duplicated.
|-
|<sig> <pubKey> <pubHashA>
|<pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
| Top stack item is hashed.
|-
|<sig> <pubKey> <pubHashA> <pubKeyHash>
|OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
| Constant added.
|-
|<sig> <pubKey>
|OP_CHECKSIG
| Equality is checked between the top two stack items.
|-
|true
|Empty.
|Signature is checked for top two stack items.
|}

==== Generation ====

Generations have a single input, and this input has a "coinbase" parameter instead of a scriptSig. The data in "coinbase" can be anything; it isn't used. Bitcoin puts the current compact-format [[target]] and the arbitrary-precision "extraNonce" number there, which increments every time the Nonce field in the [[block_hashing_algorithm|block header]] overflows. Outputs can be anything, but Bitcoin creates one exactly like an IP address transaction.

[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Vocabulary]]
[[de:Transaktion]]
[[pl:Transakcje]]

IRC channels

2011-08-13T23:10:04Z

Zwierzak:

Most of the following Bitcoin-related IRC channels are available on <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.mycaal.com/<span style="color:black;font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none!important; background:none!important; text-decoration:none;">loan modification</span>] [http://www.freenode.net Freenode]:

==Bitcoin Project==
{| class="wikitable"
! Channel !! Description
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin}} || General Bitcoin-related discussion.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-dev}} || Bitcoin software development.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-politics}} || Discuss politics with other Bitcoin users.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-gaming}} || Bitcoin gamers hangout.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bc-news}} || RSS News related to Bitcoin.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-marketing}} || Marketing and promotion of bitcoin
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-gentoo}} || Gentoo community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-watch|text=[[Bitcoin-Watch|#bitcoin-watch]]}} || Streaming Bitcoin transactions, including market data.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-bots}} || Bot and bot-related discussion; trading bots, IRC bots, utility bots.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-police}} || [[Bitcoin Police]] Investigates incidents related to Bitcoin.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-court}} || [[Bitcoin Court]] Settles disputes between parties.
|}

===Local communities===

{| class="wikitable"
! Channel !! Description
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-otc-eu}} || European OTC trading marketplace.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-otc-ru}} || Russian OTC trading marketplace.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-aus}} || Aussie bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-br}} || Brazilian bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-cad}} || Canadian bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-cn}} || Chinese bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-de}} || German bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-dk}} || Danish bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-es}} || Spanish-speaking bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-fr}} || French bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-it}} || Italian bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-nederland}} || Dutch bitcoin community.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-pl}} || Polish bitcoin community.
|}

==Mining Related Communities==

{| class="wikitable"
! Channel !! Description
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-mining}} || Discussion and support related to mining.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|eligius}} || [[Eligius]] mining pool community
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|ozcoin}} || [[Ozco.in]] mining pool community
|-
| <small>[irc://irc.foonetic.net/xkcd-bitcoin IRC] [http://irc.lc/foonetic/xkcd-bitcoin/Miner@@@ Web]</small> #xkcd-bitcoin || [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/XKCD_Pool XKCD Pool]
|-
| <small>[irc://irc.quakenet.org/bitcoins.lc IRC] [http://irc.lc/quakenet/bitcoins.lc/Miner@@@ Web]</small> #bitcoins.lc @ Quakenet || [http://www.bitcoins.lc Bitcoins.lc Pool]
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bithasher}} || Bit Pool Mining
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|p2pool}} || [[P2Pool]] decentralized mining pool
|}

==Communities for Exchanges and Trading==

{| class="wikitable"
! Channel !! Description
|-
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-otc|text=[[bitcoin-otc|#bitcoin-otc]]}} || Over-the-counter trading marketplace and discussion.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-otc-ticker|bitcoin-otc-ticker}} || Streaming market data form the [[#bitcoin-otc]] order book.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-pit}} || Only over-the-counter trading.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-auction}} || Live auctions over IRC.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-market}} || Streaming market data (only), no chat.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|#mtgox-chat}} || [[#MtGox]] chat (Note the pound sign (#) is part of the channel name)
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|mtgox}} || [[MtGox]] support
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|mtgoxlive}} || [[MtGox Live]] real-time view of trading
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|tradehill}} || [[Tradehill]] unofficial chat for Tradehill traders
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoinconsultancy}} || [[Bitcoin Consultancy]] discussion
|}
==Related Communities==

{| class="wikitable"
! Channel !! Description
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|namecoin}} || [[Namecoin]] and the [[Dot-bit]] project.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|witcoin}} || [[Witcoin]] social news and user generated content.
|-
| {{Freenode IRC|bitcoin-onlyonetv}} || [[OnlyOneTV]]
|}

[[pl:Kanały IRC]]

IRC channels

2011-08-13T23:09:25Z

Zwierzak: /* Local communities */ Added polish community

Forums

2011-08-13T22:44:08Z

Zwierzak: Added polish link

== General Bitcoin Discussion ==

* [http://www.bitcointalk.org BitcoinTalk Forum] (formerly located at Bitcoin.org)
* [http://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoin Bitcoin Subreddit]
* [http://www.bitcoinforums.net BitcoinForums.net]
* [http://tweetforum.com/bitcoin Bitcoin TweetForum]
* [http://www.bitcoin-board.com Bitcoin-Board Forum]
* [http://bitforums.net BitForums.net Forum]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/bitcoin-discussion Bitcoin google group]
* [https://bitcoin.org.uk/forums/ Bitcoin.org.uk Forum]

== Language Specific ==

* [http://www.bitcoinitalia.com/forum Bitcoin Italian forum]
* [http://bitcoin.pl/forum/ Polish Bitcoin community forum]
* [http://rubitcoin.com Russian bitcoin community forum]

== Other ==

* [http://forum.mtgoxlive.com/ MtGox Live Traders Forum]
* [http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin-crypto-currency Bitcoin & Crypto-Currency StackExchange site (still in proposal stage)]
* [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=bitcoin-development Developer mailing list]

[[pl:Fora dyskusyjne]]

Comparison of mining pools

2011-08-13T22:35:06Z

Zwierzak: PolMine shares transaction fees

Reward types & explanation:
* '''PPS''' - Pay Per Share. Each submitted share is worth certain amount of BTC. Since finding a block requires <current difficulty> shares ''on average'', a PPS method with 0% fee would be 50 BTC divided by <current difficulty>. It is risky for pool operators, hence the fee is highest.
* '''SMPPS''' - Shared Maximum Pay Per Share. Like Pay Per Share, but never pays more than the pool earns. [http://eligius.st/wiki/index.php/Shared_Maximum_PPS]
* '''ESMPPS''' - Equalized Shared Maximum Pay Per Share. Like SMPPS, but equalizes payments fairly among all those who are owed. [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=12181.msg378851#msg378851]
* '''CPPSRB''' - Capped Pay Per Share with Recent Backpay.
* '''Prop.''' - Proportional. When block is found, the reward is distributed among all workers proportionally to how much shares each of them has found.
* '''PPLNS''' - Pay Per Last N Shares. Similar to proportional, but instead of looking at the number of shares in the round, instead looks at the last N shares, regardless of round boundaries.
* '''Score''' - Score based system: a proportional reward, but weighed by time submitted. Each submitted share is worth more in the function of time ''t'' since start of current round. For each share score is updated by: score += exp(t/C). This makes later shares worth much more than earlier shares, thus the miner's score quickly diminishes when they stop mining on the pool. Rewards are calculated proportionally to scores (and not to shares). (at slush's pool C=300 seconds, and every hour scores are normalized)
[http://eligius.st/~luke-jr/samples/800MH-3/ Visual examples of the various payout methods]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name !! Location !! Hashrate (GHash/sec)<ref name="hashrate">Hashrate is given in gigahash/second.</ref><ref name="hashrate2">Note that pool hashrate is largely irrelevant but can be seen as a popularity measurement. Note however that it is a theoretical security issue if one pool gains above 50% of the total computational power of the network, thus consider joining a pool based on other metrics.</ref> !! Reward Type !! Transaction fees !! Fee PPS !! Fee Prop / Score !! Audits<ref name="auditing">Auditing can be accomplished by third-parties if the pool publishes proofs-of-work for every share.</ref> !! Protocol !! Launched !! Shut down !!Forum Thread !! Homepage
|-
| [[21bitcoin|21bitcoin]] || CN, HK || 2 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-20 || || [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=33586.0] || [http://21bitcoin.com/pool/ Link]
|-
| [[ABCPool.co|ABCPool.co]] || USA || 60 || PPS<ref name="stales">ABCPool also rewards stale shares</ref> || kept by pool || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-08-02 || || [http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=33586.0 Link] || [http://www.ABCPool.co/ Link]
|-
| [[ArsBitcoin|ArsBitcoin]] || USA || 464 || SMPPS || kept by pool || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-15 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=18567.0 Link] || [https://arsbitcoin.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Betcoin.co_Pool|Betcoin.co Pool]] || USA || 10 || PPLNS || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-07-07 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26439.0 Link] || [http://pool.betcoin.co/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitarama|Bitarama.com]] || USA || 0.08 || Prop || kept by pool || || || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-08-02 || || || [http://www.bitarama.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitclockers|BitClockers]] || USA, EU || 80 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 2% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-05-27 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=10127.0 Link] || [http://bitclockers.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoin_Pool|Bitcoin Mining Pool]] || USA || 272 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || ? || RPC+LP || Unknown || || [http://bitcoinpool.com/forum/ Link] || [http://www.bitcoinpool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoin_Pooled_Mining|Bitcoin Pooled Mining (Slush)]] || London || 1491 || Score || kept by pool || || 2% || ? || RPC || 2010-11-27 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=1976.0 Link] || [http://mining.bitcoin.cz/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoinitalia]] || Italy|| 4.5 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-07-12 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26634.0 Link] || [http://www.btcfarm.us/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoins.lc]] || EU || 624 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-05-27 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=10121.0 Link] || [http://www.bitcoins.lc/ Link]
|-
| [[BitLotto Pool]] || Los Angeles || 1 || Prop || kept by pool || || || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-08 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13794.0 Link] || [http://www.bitlottopool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[BitMinter]] || USA || 15 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || Yes<ref name="auditnote2">Access to proofs-of-work is available on request.</ref> || RPC+LP || 2011-06-18 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=27062.0 Link] || [https://bitminter.com Link]
|-
| [[Bitp.it]] || USA || 100 || ESMPPS || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-08 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=12181.0 Link] || [https://pool.bitp.it Link]
|-
| [[BitPenny]] || || || CPPSRB || || 3% || || || Proprietary
|-
| [[BTC Guild]] || USA, EU || 1944 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="donationsf">Donations are possible to unlock features</ref>|| ? || RPC+LP || 2011-05-09 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7760.0 Link] || [http://www.btcguild.com/ Link]
|-
| [[BTCMine]] || UK || 480 || Score || kept by pool || || 2% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-03-11 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=4251.0 Link] || [http://www.btcmine.com/ Link]
|-
| [[btcmp.com]] || Germany || 27 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-28 || || || [http://www.btcmp.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Btcserv.net|BTCSERV.net]] || Germany || 3 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-07-09 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=27101.0 Link] || [http://btcserv.net/ Link]
|-
| [[Btcworld.de]] || Germany || 28 || Prop || kept by pool || || ? || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-18 || || || [http://btcworld.de/ Link]
|-
| [http://chwpool.kr105.com/ CHWpool] || Chile || 10 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-30 || || || [http://chwpool.kr105.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Coinotron|Coinotron (BTC,NMC,IXC)]] || Poland || 20 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-07-06 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26727.0 Link] || [http://www.coinotron.com Link]
|-
| [[Continuum]] || Canada || 16 || Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-05-17 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8660.0 Link] || [http://www.continuumpool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[DeepBit]] || Germany || 4180 || PPS / Prop. || kept by pool || 10% || 3% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-02-26 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=3889.0 Link] || [http://deepbit.net/ Link]
|-
| [[Eclipse Mining Consortium]] || USA / Europe / AU / Asia || 90 || Score (Meni) || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-14 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=16385.0 Link] || [https://eclipsemc.com Link]
|-
| [[Eligius]] || Germany || 570 || SMPPS || kept by pool || 0.000001%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || || Yes<ref name="auditnote">Access to Eligius proofs-of-work is available on request.</ref> || RPC+LP, Binary || 2011-04-27 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=6667.0 Link] || [http://eligius.st Link]
|-
| [[Mineco.in]] || UK || 170 || PPLNS || Shared || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-15 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=17310.0 Link] || [https://mineco.in/ Link]
|-
| [[Mining Team Reddit (MtRed)]] || USA, EU || 212 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-05-25 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=15929.0 1] [http://reddit.com/r/mtred/ 2] || [http://www.mtred.com/ Link]
|-
| [[NoFeeMining]] || USA || 48 || Prop || Shared || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-17 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=18301.0 Link] || [http://www.nofeemining.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Ozco.in]] || AUS || 85 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-08 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=14085.0/ Link] || [http://www.ozco.in Link]
|-
| [[P2Pool]] || Earth (P2P) || 8 || PPLNS || shared || || 0.5% || Yes || RPC+LP<ref name="p2pool">Against a local p2pool node</ref> || 2011-06-17 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=18313.0 Link] || [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/P2Pool Link]
|-
| [[PolMine]] || Poland|| 143 || Prop. || shared || || 0% || ? || RPC || 2011-06-13 || || [http://forum.polmine.pl/ Link] || [https://polmine.pl/ Link]
|-
| [[PoolMunity]] || France|| 8 || Score || kept by pool || || 1.5% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-07-24 || 2011-09-01 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=22036.0 Link] || [https://poolmunity.com/ Link]
|-
| [[rfcpool]] || UK || 0 || Prop & PPS || kept by pool || 7% || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-07-05 || 2011-08-13 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26164.0/ Link] || [https://www.rfcpool.com Link]
|-
| [[Simplecoin]] || Unknown || 1.4 || Prop|| kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="simplecoin">While in testing.</ref> || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-02 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=11186.0 Link] || [http://simplecoin.us/ Link]
|-
| [[Swepool]] || Sweden || 13 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-05-14 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8288.0 Link] || [http://swepool.net/ Link]
|-
| [[Triplemining]] || Europe || 45 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || Yes<ref name="auditnote2">Access to proofs-of-work is available on request.</ref> || RPC+LP || 2011-06-28 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=23664.0 Link] || [http://tinyurl.com/triplemining Link]
|-
| [[UnitedMiners]] || US || 30 || PPLNS || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-28 || || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=23664.0 Link] || [http://tinyurl.com/triplemining Link]
|-
| [[x8s]] || Germany || 0 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-08 || 2011-07-24 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13275 Link] || [http://btc.x8s.de/ Link]
|-
| [[ZA Bitcoin]] || South Africa|| 0 || Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC+LP || 2011-06-14 || 2011-07-18 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=17830.0 Link] || [http://www.zabitcoin.co.za/ Link]
|}

<references/>

== See also ==
*[[Pooled mining]]
*[http://bcx.me/ Bitcoin Mining Pool Tracker]

[[Category:Mining]]

Forums

2011-08-13T22:14:29Z

Zwierzak: /* Language Specific */

Forums

2011-08-13T22:14:06Z

Zwierzak: /* Language Specific */ Added Polish forum

== General Bitcoin Discussion ==

* [http://www.bitcointalk.org BitcoinTalk Forum] (formerly located at Bitcoin.org)
* [http://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoin Bitcoin Subreddit]
* [http://www.bitcoinforums.net BitcoinForums.net]
* [http://tweetforum.com/bitcoin Bitcoin TweetForum]
* [http://www.bitcoin-board.com Bitcoin-Board Forum]
* [http://bitforums.net BitForums.net Forum]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/bitcoin-discussion Bitcoin google group]
* [https://bitcoin.org.uk/forums/ Bitcoin.org.uk Forum]

== Language Specific ==

* [http://www.bitcoinitalia.com/forum Bitcoin Italian forum]
* [http://bitcoin.pl Polish Bitcoin community forum]
* [http://rubitcoin.com Russian bitcoin community forum]

== Other ==

* [http://forum.mtgoxlive.com/ MtGox Live Traders Forum]
* [http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin-crypto-currency Bitcoin & Crypto-Currency StackExchange site (still in proposal stage)]
* [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=bitcoin-development Developer mailing list]

User:Zwierzak

2011-08-13T22:05:32Z

Zwierzak:

Who is zwierzak? It is me!

=== Contact ===

My Site: http://zwierzak.info/ <br/>
My email: me@zwierzak.info

=== Donation ===
Donation address: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>
Contributors Award participant: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>

User:Zwierzak

2011-08-13T22:04:51Z

Zwierzak:

Who is zwierzak? It is me!

-- Contact --
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Talk:Myths

2011-08-13T22:03:47Z

Zwierzak: /* Categories and subcategories */ new section

= Terrorism =
From the linked Wikipedia page:
:The USA PATRIOT Act defines terrorism activities as "activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the U.S. or of any state, that (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S."

This definition is broad enough that it could probably be applied to the Bitcoin system. IANAL but I imagine lawyers could pretty easily demonstrate that Bitcoin is 'dangerous to human life' because the Four Horsemen can use it for evil [drug-dealers, money-launderers, terrorists, and pedophiles.] It can 'influence the policy of a government by coercion' by removing options such as Federal Reserve dollars. (C) might be tricky to prove.
[[User:PLATO|PLATO]] 22:34, 23 March 2011 (GMT)

: besides the one attorney general that made a snide remark about terrorism in the LibertyDollar case, i don't think that this is in any way a 'common misconception', so i'd question whether we need to have the 'terrorism' section at all.--[[User:Nanotube|Nanotube]] 04:02, 24 March 2011 (GMT)

I agree. All yes for removing terrorist stuff? [[User:EvanR|EvanR]] 00:10, 30 March 2011 (GMT)

== Bitcoin mining is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==

IMHO this chapter is superficial. Compare Bitcoin to electronic fiat currencies. --[[User:Shrewdwatson|Shrewdwatson]] 17:57, 23 April 2011 (GMT)

How about this:

''The electricity spent in hashing is not wasted. It creates a product of value to the Bitcoin economy. The product is a supersignature on the complete list of transactions to date (the [[Block chain]]). This supersignature attesting to the chain's completeness is Bitcoin's defense against double spending.''

''Many sources of energy vary in their availability in ways that do not match the variations in demand. The law of supply and demand will require Bitcoin to soak up a lot of energy that is currently "wasted" without making a big dent in the otherwise usable energy supply. [Perhaps cite estimates of the break-even point for mining profitability that imply near zero-cost electricity.]''

[http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=6459.msg98999#msg98999 More] --[[User:JohnTobey253|JohnTobey253]] 04:49, 29 April 2011 (GMT)

== Categories and subcategories ==

Now we have everything in one place, but it should be divided into smaller subcategories to make it easier to find interesting topic

--[[User:Zwierzak|Zwierzak]] 22:03, 13 August 2011 (GMT)

Talk:Software

2011-08-13T21:52:08Z

Zwierzak: /* Where to place Bitcoin-Qt? */ new section

I'm a little confused. When I see software, I'm assuming this is something I can install and run. MyBitcoin is not something I can install and run. - [[User:Sgornick|Sgornick]] 19:30, 18 July 2011 (GMT)

== Where to place Bitcoin-Qt? ==

I found out that there is problem where Bitcoin-qt should be placed. Frontends isn't good category, because Bitcoin-Qt don't need bitcoind core to work (it have core build in). It should be rather in Clients category, with addition that it is future Bitcoin GUI, so all should looks like that:

Bitcoin clients:
*[[Original Bitcoin client|Bitcoin client]] - standard Bitcoin client, recommended for installation
*[[Bitcoin-qt]] - Future Bitcoin GUI based on C++ and Qt, tabbed UI, full-featured, Linux/MacOSX/Windows, but still experimental (if you don't know, don't use it)
*[[bitcoind]] - GUI-less version of the standard Bitcoin client, providing [[API reference (JSON-RPC)|JSON-RPC]] interface (see also -server option of the standard client)

Main Page

2011-08-13T21:44:04Z

Zwierzak: Order lang sites

{| id="mp-topbanner" style="width:100%; background:#f6f6f6; margin-top:1.2em; border:1px solid #ddd;"
| style="width:61%; color:#000;" |

{| style="width:100%; border:none; background:none;"
| style="text-align:center; white-space:nowrap; color:#000;" |
<div style="font-size:162%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#000;">Welcome to the [[Bitcoin]] wiki,</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:95%;">For all your bitcoin information needs.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-size:85%;">[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}]] articles.</div>
'''Improve [[:Category:Stubs|this wiki]] and [[Bitcoin:Contributors Award|earn bitcoins]].'''
|}

| style="width:13%; font-size:120%;" |
* <span class="plainlinks">[http://bitcoin.org Frontpage]</span>
| style="width:13%; font-size:120%;" |
* <span class="plainlinks">[[Forums]]</span>
| style="width:13%; font-size:120%; padding-right: 40px;" |
* <span class="plainlinks">[[IRC channels|Chatrooms]]</span>
|}


{| id="mp-upper" style="width: 100%; margin:6px 0 0 0; background:none; border-spacing: 0px;"
| class="MainPageBG" style="width:55%; border:1px solid #cef2e0; background:#f6e5f1; vertical-align:top; color:#000;" |
{| id="mp-left" style="vertical-align:top; background:#f6e5f1;"
! style="padding:2px;" | <h2 id="mp-tfa-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#e9caef; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3bfb1; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Bitcoin</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;" | <div id="mp-tfa" style="padding:2px 5px">{{MainPage_Intro}}</div>
|-
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|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-dyk">{{MainPage_Reasons}}</div>
|}
| style="border:1px solid transparent;" |

| class="MainPageBG" style="width:45%; border:1px solid #cedff2; background:#f6e5f1; vertical-align:top;"|
{| id="mp-right" style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#f6e5f1;"
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#efc1e2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Topic central</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">{{MainPage_Topics}}</div>
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#efc1e2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">FAQ</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">{{MainPage_FAQ}}</div>
|}
|}

== Other pages ==

* '''[[mw:Help:Formatting|Help]]''' - Documentation on wiki editing.
* '''[[Bitcoin.it Wiki|About]]''' - Information on this site.

[[de:Hauptseite]]
[[es:Página Principal]]
[[fr:Accueil]]
[[it:Pagina principale]]
[[pl:Strona główna]]
[[ru:Заглавная страница]]
[[zh-cn:首页]]

__NOTOC____NOEDITSECTION__

User:Zwierzak

2011-08-13T21:25:35Z

Zwierzak:

Who is zwierzak? It is me!

My Site: http://zwierzak.info/ <br/>
Donation adress: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>
Contributors Award participant: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 <br/>

User:Zwierzak

2011-08-13T21:25:07Z

Zwierzak: Created page with "Who is zwierzak? It is me! My Site: http://zwierzak.info/ Donation adress: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7 Contributors Award participant: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7"

Who is zwierzak? It is me!

My Site: http://zwierzak.info/
Donation adress: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7
Contributors Award participant: 1JT1NcWirEyF7K9VkrG4wVnvvZ45phZfd7

Main Page

2011-08-13T18:21:36Z

Zwierzak:

{| id="mp-topbanner" style="width:100%; background:#f6f6f6; margin-top:1.2em; border:1px solid #ddd;"
| style="width:61%; color:#000;" |

{| style="width:100%; border:none; background:none;"
| style="text-align:center; white-space:nowrap; color:#000;" |
<div style="font-size:162%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#000;">Welcome to the [[Bitcoin]] wiki,</div>
<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:95%;">For all your bitcoin information needs.</div>
<div id="articlecount" style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-size:85%;">[[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}]] articles.</div>
'''Improve [[:Category:Stubs|this wiki]] and [[Bitcoin:Contributors Award|earn bitcoins]].'''
|}

| style="width:13%; font-size:120%;" |
* <span class="plainlinks">[http://bitcoin.org Frontpage]</span>
| style="width:13%; font-size:120%;" |
* <span class="plainlinks">[[Forums]]</span>
| style="width:13%; font-size:120%; padding-right: 40px;" |
* <span class="plainlinks">[[IRC channels|Chatrooms]]</span>
|}


{| id="mp-upper" style="width: 100%; margin:6px 0 0 0; background:none; border-spacing: 0px;"
| class="MainPageBG" style="width:55%; border:1px solid #cef2e0; background:#f6e5f1; vertical-align:top; color:#000;" |
{| id="mp-left" style="vertical-align:top; background:#f6e5f1;"
! style="padding:2px;" | <h2 id="mp-tfa-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#e9caef; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3bfb1; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Bitcoin</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;" | <div id="mp-tfa" style="padding:2px 5px">{{MainPage_Intro}}</div>
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-dyk-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#e9caef; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3bfb1; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Why</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-dyk">{{MainPage_Reasons}}</div>
|}
| style="border:1px solid transparent;" |

| class="MainPageBG" style="width:45%; border:1px solid #cedff2; background:#f6e5f1; vertical-align:top;"|
{| id="mp-right" style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#f6e5f1;"
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#efc1e2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Topic central</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">{{MainPage_Topics}}</div>
|-
! style="padding:2px" | <h2 id="mp-otd-h2" style="margin:3px; background:#efc1e2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">FAQ</h2>
|-
| style="color:#000;padding:2px 5px 5px" | <div id="mp-otd">{{MainPage_FAQ}}</div>
|}
|}

== Other pages ==

* '''[[mw:Help:Formatting|Help]]''' - Documentation on wiki editing.
* '''[[Bitcoin.it Wiki|About]]''' - Information on this site.

[[fr:Accueil]]
[[zh-cn:首页]]
[[es:Página Principal]]
[[it:Pagina principale]]
[[ru:Заглавная страница]]
[[de:Hauptseite]]
[[pl:Strona główna]]

__NOTOC____NOEDITSECTION__