Bitcoin Stack Exchange
Bitcoin Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [protocol]

This tag should be used for questions relating to the protocols by which cryptocurrencies are transferred. This includes the network protocol and consensus rules.

The network protocol are the set of rules and messages that all Bitcoin nodes must follow in order to be able to connect to and communicate with each other. Details about how the Peer-to-Peer network protocol works can be found on bitcoin.org

The consensus protocol is the set of rules and procedures that a node must follow in order for it to accept the same blocks and transactions as all other nodes on the network.

416 questions
84
votes
3 answers

How to redeem a basic Tx?

Given a raw, standard Tx…
ThePiachu
  • 42,931
  • 25
  • 138
  • 347
64
votes
4 answers

Explanation of what an OP_RETURN transaction looks like

How is OP_RETURN used and why was it introduced in the first place?
almel
  • 2,376
  • 1
  • 17
  • 17
61
votes
6 answers

What is relation between scriptSig and scriptPubKey?

Scenario: A is sending 1 BTC to B. scriptSig appears in the Input Script. scriptSig = Here, public key is the Public Key of the sender, A. (this is the public key corresponding to his Bitcoin Address which has some unspent…
Neon Flash
  • 1,033
  • 2
  • 10
  • 10
52
votes
3 answers

How does change work in a bitcoin transaction?

It seems that when you send a bitcoin transaction, all the coins in the sending address are spent in that transaction, divided into the amount that you intended to send, and "change", which goes back to you, but at another (newly created) receiving…
Thilo
  • 4,751
  • 5
  • 25
  • 37
50
votes
5 answers

How do you get a Bitcoin Public Key from a Private Key

How do I, in extreme specificity, convert a given private bitcoin key into a public bitcoin key (Talk to me like I'm 5 and I have to do this step by step or the evil witch will cook me alive in her oven). NOT where can I find a program that will do…
Mine
  • 1,416
  • 2
  • 16
  • 27
49
votes
7 answers

Is there any way to track an individual bitcoin (or satoshi)?

For example, if I wanted to "collect" important bitcoins is there any way to track a coin rather than a series of transactions? If I wanted one of the bitcoins from the infamous "Bitcoin pizza" purchase, for example, is there any way to do…
David Perry
  • 14,330
  • 5
  • 62
  • 99
45
votes
3 answers

Why does Bitcoin send the "change" to a different address?

For example I have an address (A) with 20 BTC and send 9 BTC to address (B). Bitcoin will create a "change" portion of the transaction where the remaining 11 BTC goes to address (C). Why not send the change back to A? Instead of: Initial balance:…
DeathAndTaxes
  • 8,747
  • 2
  • 36
  • 65
40
votes
2 answers

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 some other clever mechanism?
ThePiachu
  • 42,931
  • 25
  • 138
  • 347
38
votes
2 answers

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 block).
Andrew Burns
  • 681
  • 1
  • 7
  • 6
36
votes
2 answers

What is TxIn's sequence?

I'm currently trying to generate the genesis block with my code and I've stumbled upon the TxIn sequence field that is not explained in the Protocol Specification wiki page, nor does it seem to appear in the block explorer. What is the way the value…
ThePiachu
  • 42,931
  • 25
  • 138
  • 347
33
votes
3 answers

What is an "unspent output"?

What is the meaning of the term "unspent output" in the Bitcoin protocol?
ripper234
  • 26,452
  • 30
  • 111
  • 246
33
votes
3 answers

What is the block maturation time?

I was reading the wiki article about the blockchain and I didn't understand the part in bold: When a block becomes an orphan block, all of its valid transactions are re-added to the pool of queued transactions and will be included in another…
nmat
  • 11,479
  • 14
  • 50
  • 78
32
votes
9 answers

Why don't the timestamps in the block chain always increase?

The timestamps starting at block 145044 are: 145044: 2011-09-12 15:46:39 145045: 2011-09-12 16:05:07 145046: 2011-09-12 16:00:05 // ~5 minutes before prior block 145047: 2011-09-12 15:53:36 // ~7 & ~12 minutes before 2 prior blocks 145048:…
Mocky
  • 937
  • 1
  • 8
  • 11
31
votes
6 answers

Why doesn't Bitcoin return lost coins back into the block reward?

The idea of putting back lost Bitcoins back onto block rewards seems like a great idea. I acknowledge that there were quite a handful of early adopters who were generating blocks daily, but had no idea what they were doing. Time passes, they forget…
Tom Williams
  • 880
  • 9
  • 12
29
votes
1 answer

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 private key matching the public key (or address) that…
Flavien
  • 1,017
  • 1
  • 9
  • 17
1
2 3
…
27 28