Help:Installing Bitcoin Core
Beginning steps
- Download and install Bitcoin.
- On first running Bitcoin, you need need to download all the blocks before being able to use it.
- This time around, Bitcoin took 40 mins to download them. Others have reported longer times.
- Bitcoin Faucet hands out 0.05 BTC to new visitors in order to play with. Fill in the form with your address.
- A new entry should appear in Bitcoin. The network hasn't yet confirmed it, but you know it's being processed.
- The more confirms gathered, the more sure you become of the transfer's validity. After 6 confirms, you can be 100% sure everything was successful. It takes a while to process payments, so be patient.
Points to remember
- You don't need to be online for receiving BTC.
- You can create as many new addresses as you like. Using a different address each time makes you more anonymous.
- You are anonymous. Nobody can connect an address to your identity.
- You cannot send BTC to an invalid address. Typo's are not a worry as the payment will refuse to send.