Most Popular
1500 questions
45
votes
6 answers
What unique business models has Bitcoin enabled?
Are there specific, unique business models that have been made possible by the invention of Bitcoin? And if so, what are they?
Edit:
I seem to be getting a lot of answers about the areas of industry that people hope and or predict Bitcoin will be…
eMansipater
- 14,376
- 10
- 50
- 79
45
votes
2 answers
What is the coin selection algorithm?
When creating a transaction in the standard client, what is the algorithm used to determine which unspent outputs will be used as inputs?
Has this changed since the first version? What different algorithms are used by alternative clients?
Does the…
Andrew Jones
- 883
- 7
- 6
44
votes
1 answer
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 form, but I don't think the same can be said about…
ThePiachu
- 42,931
- 25
- 138
- 347
44
votes
10 answers
How to unstuck a low-fee transaction with blockchain.info?
I've sent a transaction from blockchain.info, but accidentally included too little fee. What can I do to cancel the transaction or speed up the transaction's confirmation?
This is a complementary question to Why is my transaction not getting…
Murch
- 71,155
- 33
- 180
- 600
44
votes
2 answers
How can I export the private key for an address from the satoshi client?
If I want to transfer an address from the satoshi client into a different client, how can I find its private key to do so?
Chris Moore
- 14,745
- 6
- 65
- 87
44
votes
10 answers
How can I keep my wallet secure?
The standard Bitcoin client does not encrypt wallet files, so any malicious user that gains access to this file will be able to transfer all the coins to their own wallet. Furthermore, if I lose the wallet file then I lose access to those coins. …
Michael McGowan
- 3,364
- 3
- 24
- 23
44
votes
3 answers
Why can’t the genesis block coinbase be spent?
According to the bitcoin wiki:
The first 50BTC block reward went to address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa, though this reward can't be spent due to a quirk in the way that the genesis block is expressed in the code (this may have been…
Nick ODell
- 29,184
- 11
- 69
- 129
43
votes
5 answers
How is Bitcoin supposed to serve as currency when it is all but impossible to spend at the moment (12/2017)?
It seems Bitcoin is not standing up to the test of use as currency (that is to say heavy use). I tried to pay someone 0.009BTC (about $150) for some goods which I need in a fairly timely manner. As if I was ordering some supplies from a crafts…
Vladimir Ferdman
- 379
- 3
- 9
43
votes
8 answers
Is CPU mining even worth it?
I would like to start mining, but my GPU isn't the greatest and I don't really want to spend the money on a dedicated rig. Is mining from my CPU (in a Linux environment) still worth it? Or will I not be able to keep up?
n0pe
- 533
- 1
- 5
- 6
43
votes
2 answers
What is a share? Can I find it while mining solo, or only when pool mining?
In mining, what is "a share"?
When mining solo, do I "find shares"?
ripper234
- 26,452
- 30
- 111
- 246
43
votes
4 answers
How is block-solution-withholding a threat to mining pools?
If I understand the technical process (for most mining pools) correctly, a participant in a mining pool is given block data to combine with a nonce to try to solve the block. If they get close (but not close enough to give the actual solution) to…
Highly Irregular
- 10,910
- 6
- 52
- 102
42
votes
6 answers
Why doesn't Bitcoin migrate to proof-of-stake?
After reading a little bit about different consensus algorithms, I am just trying to understand why Bitcoin still uses proof-of-work. This consensus algorithm being exponentially expensive, and resource intensive, doesn't it make more sense for…
Oscar Serna
- 854
- 1
- 7
- 13
42
votes
8 answers
Can bitcoin exist without miners?
In the past year only, the bitcoin mining difficulty has increased fivefold. If in the coming years the difficulty increases so much that mining is no longer profitable (i.e. consumes more power than money is earned), can the bitcoin network exist…
Eduard Avetisyan
- 523
- 1
- 4
- 5
42
votes
4 answers
Where is the data folder for Bitcoin-Qt?
Where can I find the blockchain, wallet.dat, etc. on each of the operating systems Bitcoin-Qt supports?
Chris Moore
- 14,745
- 6
- 65
- 87
42
votes
1 answer
How are transaction hashes calculated?
I'm trying to calculate the hash of transactions in bitcoin blocks, but I'm not getting the right answers.
For example, the genesis block has a single transaction.
Here's how I'm attempting to calculate its hash...
Transactions are encoded as:
a 32…
Chris Moore
- 14,745
- 6
- 65
- 87