Lastupdated2018-01-29 This post is a collaboration with the Bitcoin community to create a one-stop source for Lightning Network information. There are still questions in the FAQ that are unanswered, if you know the answer and can provide a source please do so!
Lightning Network White Paper - The protocol has changed since this original paper, but covers the mid-level mechanics of the Lightning Network with an emphasis on the smart contracts that make it trustless
If you can answer please PM me and include source if possible. Feel free to help keep these answers up to date and as brief but correct as possible
Is Lightning Bitcoin?
Yes. You pick a peer and after some setup, create a bitcoin transaction to fund the lightning channel; it’ll then take another transaction to close it and release your funds. You and your peer always hold a bitcoin transaction to get your funds whenever you want: just broadcast to the blockchain like normal. In other words, you and your peer create a shared account, and then use Lightning to securely negotiate who gets how much from that shared account, without waiting for the bitcoin blockchain.
Is the Lightning Network open source?
Yes, Lightning is open source. Anyone can review the code (in the same way as the bitcoin code)
Who owns and controls the Lightning Network?
Similar to the bitcoin network, no one will ever own or control the Lightning Network. The code is open source and free for anyone to download and review. Anyone can run a node and be part of the network.
I’ve heard that Lightning transactions are happening “off-chain”…Does that mean that my bitcoin will be removed from the blockchain?
No, your bitcoin will never leave the blockchain. Instead your bitcoin will be held in a multi-signature address as long as your channel stays open. When the channel is closed; the final transaction will be added to the blockchain. “Off-chain” is not a perfect term, but it is used due to the fact that the transfer of ownership is no longer reflected on the blockchain until the channel is closed.
Do I need a constant connection to run a lightning node?
Not necessarily, Example: A and B have a channel. 1 BTC each. A sends B 0.5 BTC. B sends back 0.25 BTC. Balance should be A = 0.75, B = 1.25. If A gets disconnected, B can publish the first Tx where the balance was A = 0.5 and B = 1.5. If the node B does in fact attempt to cheat by publishing an old state (such as the A=0.5 and B=1.5 state), this cheat can then be detected on-chain and used to steal the cheaters funds, i.e., A can see the closing transaction, notice it's an old one and grab all funds in the channel (A=2, B=0). The time that A has in order to react to the cheating counterparty is given by the CheckLockTimeVerify (CLTV) in the cheating transaction, which is adjustable. So if A foresees that it'll be able to check in about once every 24 hours it'll require that the CLTV is at least that large, if it's once a week then that's fine too. You definitely do not need to be online and watching the chain 24/7, just make sure to check in once in a while before the CLTV expires. Alternatively you can outsource the watch duties, in order to keep the CLTV timeouts low. This can be achieved both with trusted third parties or untrusted ones (watchtowers). In the case of a unilateral close, e.g., you just go offline and never come back, the other endpoint will have to wait for that timeout to expire to get its funds back. So peers might not accept channels with extremely high CLTV timeouts. -- Source
What Are Lightning’s Advantages?
Tiny payments are possible: since fees are proportional to the payment amount, you can pay a fraction of a cent; accounting is even done in thousandths of a satoshi. Payments are settled instantly: the money is sent in the time it takes to cross the network to your destination and back, typically a fraction of a second.
Does Lightning require Segregated Witness?
Yes, but not in theory. You could make a poorer lightning network without it, which has higher risks when establishing channels (you might have to wait a month if things go wrong!), has limited channel lifetime, longer minimum payment expiry times on each hop, is less efficient and has less robust outsourcing. The entire spec as written today assumes segregated witness, as it solves all these problems.
Can I Send Funds From Lightning to a Normal Bitcoin Address?
No, for now. For the first version of the protocol, if you wanted to send a normal bitcoin transaction using your channel, you have to close it, send the funds, then reopen the channel (3 transactions). In future versions, you and your peer would agree to spend out of your lightning channel funds just like a normal bitcoin payment, allowing you to use your lightning wallet like a normal bitcoin wallet.
Can I Make Money Running a Lightning Node?
Not really. Anyone can set up a node, and so it’s a race to the bottom on fees. In practice, we may see the network use a nominal fee and not change very much, which only provides an incremental incentive to route on a node you’re going to use yourself, and not enough to run one merely for fees. Having clients use criteria other than fees (e.g. randomness, diversity) in route selection will also help this.
What is the release date for Lightning on Mainnet?
Would there be any KYC/AML issues with certain nodes?
Nope, because there is no custody ever involved. It's just like forwarding packets. -- Source
What is the delay time for the recipient of a transaction receiving confirmation?
Furthermore, the Lightning Network scales not with the transaction throughput of the underlying blockchain, but with modern data processing and latency limits - payments can be made nearly as quickly as packets can be sent. -- Source
How does the lightning network prevent centralization?
How would the lightning network work between exchanges?
Each exchange will get to decide and need to implement the software into their system, but some ideas have been outlined here: Google Doc - Lightning Exchanges Note that by virtue of the usual benefits of cost-less, instantaneous transactions, lightning will make arbitrage between exchanges much more efficient and thus lead to consistent pricing across exchange that adopt it. -- Source
How do lightning nodes find other lightning nodes?
Does every user need to store the state of the complete Lightning Network?
According to Rusty's calculations we should be able to store 1 million nodes in about 100 MB, so that should work even for mobile phones. Beyond that we have some proposals ready to lighten the load on endpoints, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. -- Source
Would I need to download the complete state every time I open the App and make a payment?
No you'd remember the information from the last time you started the app and only sync the differences. This is not yet implemented, but it shouldn't be too hard to get a preliminary protocol working if that turns out to be a problem. -- Source
What needs to happen for the Lightning Network to be deployed and what can I do as a user to help?
Lightning is based on participants in the network running lightning node software that enables them to interact with other nodes. This does not require being a full bitcoin node, but you will have to run "lnd", "eclair", or one of the other node softwares listed above. All lightning wallets have node software integrated into them, because that is necessary to create payment channels and conduct payments on the network, but you can also intentionally run lnd or similar for public benefit - e.g. you can hold open payment channels or channels with higher volume, than you need for your own transactions. You would be compensated in modest fees by those who transact across your node with multi-hop payments. -- Source
Is there anyway for someone who isn't a developer to meaningfully contribute?
Sure, you can help write up educational material. You can learn and read more about the tech at http://dev.lightning.community/resources. You can test the various desktop and mobile apps out there (Lightning Desktop, Zap, Eclair apps). -- Source
Do I need to be a miner to be a Lightning Network node?
Do I need to run a full Bitcoin node to run a lightning node?
lit doesn't depend on having your own full node -- it automatically connects to full nodes on the network. -- Source LND uses a light client mode, so it doesn't require a full node. The name of the light client it uses is called neutrino
How does the lightning network stop "Cheating" (Someone broadcasting an old transaction)?
Upon opening a channel, the two endpoints first agree on a reserve value, below which the channel balance may not drop. This is to make sure that both endpoints always have some skin in the game as rustyreddit puts it :-) For a cheat to become worth it, the opponent has to be absolutely sure that you cannot retaliate against him during the timeout. So he has to make sure you never ever get network connectivity during that time. Having someone else also watching for channel closures and notifying you, or releasing a canned retaliation, makes this even harder for the attacker. This is because if he misjudged you being truly offline you can retaliate by grabbing all of its funds. Spotty connections, DDoS, and similar will not provide the attacker the necessary guarantees to make cheating worthwhile. Any form of uncertainty about your online status acts as a deterrent to the other endpoint. -- Source
How many times would someone need to open and close their lightning channels?
You typically want to have more than one channel open at any given time for redundancy's sake. And we imagine open and close will probably be automated for the most part. In fact we already have a feature in LND called autopilot that can automatically open channels for a user. Frequency will depend whether the funds are needed on-chain or more useful on LN. -- Source
Will the lightning network reduce BTC Liquidity due to "locking-up" funds in channels?
When setting up a Lightning Network Node are fees set for the entire node, or each channel when opened?
You don't really set up a "node" in the sense that anyone with more than one channel can automatically be a node and route payments. Fees on LN can be set by the node, and can change dynamically on the network. -- Source
Can Lightning routing fees be changed dynamically, without closing channels?
Yes but it has to be implemented in the Lightning software being used. -- Source
How can you make sure that there will be routes with large enough balances to handle transactions?
You won't have to do anything. With autopilot enabled, it'll automatically open and close channels based on the availability of the network. -- Source
How does the Lightning Network stop flooding nodes (DDoS) with micro transactions? Is this even an issue?
You've probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what's the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments. The following videos are a good starting point for understanding how bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:
Limited Supply - There will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion, you can view the inflation schedule here. Once they are all issued Bitcoin will be truly deflationary. The halving countdown can be found here.
Open source - Bitcoin code is fully auditable. You can read the source code yourself here.
Accountable - The public ledger is transparent, all transactions are seen by everyone.
Decentralized - Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes with no single point of failure and as such can't be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works.
Censorship resistant - No one can prevent you from interacting with the bitcoin network and no one can censor, alter or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint.
Push system - There are no chargebacks in bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoins reside has the authority to move them.
Low fee - Transactions fees can vary between a few cents and a few dollars depending on network demand and how much priority you wish to assign to the transaction. Most wallets calculate the fee automatically but you can view current fees here.
Borderless - No country can stop it from going in/out, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking as the ledger is globally distributed.
Trustless - Bitcoin solved the Byzantine's Generals Problem which means nobody needs to trust anybody for it to work.
Portable - Bitcoins are digital so they are easier to move than cash or gold. They can even be transported by simply remembering a string of words for wallet recovery.
Scalable - Each bitcoin is divisible down to 8 decimals allowing it to grow in value while still accommodating micro-transactions.
Some excellent writing on Bitcoin's value proposition and future can be found here. Bitcoin statistics can be found here, here and here. Developer resources can be found here and here. Peer-reviewed research papers can be found here. The number of times Bitcoin was declared dead by the media can be found here. Scaling resources here, and of course the whitepaper that started it all.
Where can I buy bitcoins?
BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com and Howtobuybitcoin.io are helpful sites for beginners. You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular resources are below, also, check out the bitcoinity exchange resources for a larger list of options for purchases.
Here is a listing of local ATMs. If you would like your paycheck automatically converted to bitcoin use Cashila or Bitwage. Note: Bitcoins are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Preev is a useful site that that shows how much various denominations of bitcoin are worth in different currencies. Alternatively you can just Google "1 bitcoin in (your local currency)".
Securing your bitcoins
With bitcoin you can "Be your own bank" and personally secure your bitcoins OR you can use third party companies aka "Bitcoin banks" which will hold the bitcoins for you.
If you prefer to "Be your own bank" and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, there are many software wallet options here. If you want easy and secure storage without having to learn computer security best practices, then a hardware wallet such as the Trezor or Ledger is recommended. A more advanced option is to secure them yourself using paper wallets generated offline. Some popular mobile and desktop options are listed below and most are cross platform.
If you prefer to let third party "Bitcoin banks" manage your coins, try Coinbase or Xapo but be aware you may not be in control of your private keys in which case you would have to ask permission to access your funds and be exposed to third party risk.
Another interesting use case for physical storage/transfer is the Opendime. Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin by physically passing it along so it's anonymous and tangible like cash. Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email! 2FA requires a second confirmation code to access your account, usually from a text message or app, making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.
Gift cards for hundreds of retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.
There are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;
1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.
No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).
Accept business from a global customer base.
Increased privacy.
Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.
If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;
Mining bitcoins can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read more here. Still have mining questions? The crew at /BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out. If you want to contribute to the bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions you can run a full node using this setup guide. Bitseed is an easy option for getting set up. You can view the global node distribution here.
Earning bitcoins
Just like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoins by being paid to do a job.
You can also earn bitcoins by participating as a market maker on JoinMarket by allowing users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoins for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoins)
Bitcoin Projects
The following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the bitcoin space.
One Bitcoin is quite large (hundreds of £/$/€) so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:
Unit
Symbol
Value
Info
millibitcoin
mBTC
1,000 per bitcoin
SI unit for milli i.e. millilitre (mL) or millimetre (mm)
microbitcoin
μBTC
1,000,000 per bitcoin
SI unit for micro i.e microlitre (μL) or micrometre (μm)
bit
bit
1,000,000 per bitcoin
Colloquial "slang" term for microbitcoin
satoshi
sat
100,000,000 per bitcoin
Smallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventor
For example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $500 for one Bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:
0.02 BTC
20 mBTC
20,000 bits
For more information check out the Bitcoin units wiki. Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below or stick around for our weekly Mentor Monday thread. If you decide to post a question in /Bitcoin, please use the search bar to see if it has been answered before, and remember to follow the community rules outlined on the sidebar to receive a better response. The mods are busy helping manage our community so please do not message them unless you notice problems with the functionality of the subreddit. A complete list of bitcoin related subreddits can be found here Note: This is a community created FAQ. If you notice anything missing from the FAQ or that requires clarification you can edit it here and it will be included in the next revision pending approval. Welcome to the Bitcoin community and the new decentralized economy!
I wrote a 30,000 ft. "executive summary" intro document for cryptos. Not for you, for your non-technical parents or friends.
This document was originally written for my dad, an intelligent guy who was utterly baffled about the cryptocurrency world. The aim was to be extremely concise, giving a broad overview of the industry and some popular coins while staying non-technical. For many of you there will be nothing new here, but recognize that you are in the 0.001% of the population heavily into crypto technology. I've reproduced it for Reddit below, or you can find the original post here on my website. Download the PDF there or hit the direct link: .PDF version. Donations happily accepted:
This document is purely informational. At the time of writing there are over 1000 cryptocurrencies (“cryptos”) in a highly volatile, high risk market. Many of the smaller “altcoins” require significant technical knowledge to store and transact safely. I advise you to carefully scrutinize each crypto’s flavor of blockchain, potential utility, team of developers, and guiding philosophy, before making any investment [1] decisions. With that out of the way, what follows are brief, extremely high-level summaries of some cryptos which have my interest, listed in current market cap order. But first, some info: Each crypto is a different implementation of a blockchain network. Originally developed as decentralized digital cash, these technologies have evolved into much broader platforms, powering the future of decentralized applications across every industry in the global economy. Without getting into the weeds, [2] most cryptos work on similar principles: Distributed Ledgers Each node on a blockchain network has a copy of every transaction, which enables a network of trust that eliminates fraud. [3] Decentralized “Miners” comprise the infrastructure of a blockchain network. [4] They are monetarily incentivized to add computing power to the network, simultaneously securing and processing each transaction. [5] Peer-to-peer Cryptos act like digital cash-- they require no third party to transact and are relatively untraceable. Unlike cash, you can back them up. Global Transactions are processed cheaply and instantly, anywhere on Earth. Using cryptos, an African peasant and a San Francisco engineer have the same access to capital, markets, and network services. Secure Blockchains are predicated on the same cryptographic technology that secures your sensitive data and government secrets. They have passed seven years of real-world penetration testing with no failures. [6]
Bitcoin (BTC)
The first cryptocurrency. As with first movers in any technology, there are associated pros and cons. Bitcoin has by far the strongest brand recognition and deepest market penetration, and it is the only crypto which can be used directly as a currency at over 100,000 physical and web stores around the world. In Venezuela and Zimbabwe, where geopolitical events have created hyperinflation in the centralized fiat currency, citizens have moved to Bitcoin as a de facto transaction standard. [7] However, Bitcoin unveiled a number of issues that have been solved by subsequent cryptos. It is experiencing significant scaling issues, resulting in high fees and long confirmation times. The argument over potential solutions created a rift in the Bitcoin developer community, who “forked” the network into two separate blockchains amidst drama and politicking in October 2017. Potential solutions to these issues abound, with some already in place, and others nearing deployment. Bitcoin currently has the highest market cap, and since it is easy to buy with fiat currency, the price of many smaller cryptos (“altcoins”) are loosely pegged to its price. This will change in the coming year(s).
Ethereum (ETH)
Where Bitcoin is a currency, Ethereum is a platform, designed as a foundational protocol on which to develop decentralized applications (“Dapps”). Anyone can write code and deploy their program on the global network for extremely low fees. Just like Twitter wouldn’t exist without the open platform of the internet, the next world-changing Dapp can’t exist without Ethereum. CurrentDapps include a global market for idle computing power and storage, peer-to-peer real estate transactions (no trusted third party for escrow), identity networks for governments and corporations (think digital Social Security card), and monetization strategies for the internet which replace advertising. Think back 10 years to the advent of smartphones, and then to our culture today-- Ethereum could have a similar network effect on humanity. Ethereum is currently the #2 market cap crypto below Bitcoin, and many believe it will surpass it in 2018. It has a large, active group of developers working to solve scaling issues, [8] maintain security, and create entirely new programming conventions. If successful, platforms like Ethereum may well be the foundation of the decentralized internet of the future.
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is significantly more centralized than most crypto networks, designed as a backbone for the global banking and financial technology (“fintech”) industries. It is a network for exchanging between fiat currencies and other asset classes instantly and cheaply, especially when transacting cross-border and between separate institutions. It uses large banks and remittance companies as “anchors” to allow trading between any asset on the network, and big names like Bank of America, American Express, RBC, and UBS are partners. The utility of this network is global and massive in scale. It is extremely important to note that not all cryptos have the same number of tokens. Ripple has 100 Billion tokens compared to Bitcoin’s 21 Million. Do not directly compare price between cryptos. XRP will likely never reach $1k, [9] but the price will rise commensurate with its utility as a financial tool. In some sense, Ripple is anathema to the original philosophical vision of this technology space. And while I agree with the cyberpunk notion of decentralized currencies, separation of money and state, this is the natural progression of the crypto world. The internet was an incredible decentralized wild west of Usenet groups and listservs before Eternal September and the dot-com boom, but its maturation affected every part of global society.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano’s main claim to fame: it is the only crypto developed using academic methodologies by a global collective of engineers and researchers, built on a foundation of industry-leading, peer-reviewed cryptographic research. The network was designed from first-principles to allow scalability, system upgrades, and to balance the privacy of its users with the security needs of regulators. One part of this ecosystem is the Cardano Foundation, a Swiss non-profit founded to work proactively with governments and regulatory bodies to institute legal frameworks around the crypto industry. Detractors of Cardano claim that it doesn’t do anything innovative, but supporters see the academic backing and focus on regulation development as uniquely valuable.
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Stellar Lumens and Ripple were founded by the same person. They initially shared the same code, but today the two are distinct in their technical back-end as well as their guiding philosophy and development goals. Ripple is closed-source, for-profit, deflationary, and intended for use by large financial institutions. Stellar is open-source, non-profit, inflationary, and intended to promote international wealth distribution. As such, they are not direct competitors. IBM is a major partner to Stellar. Their network is already processing live transactions in 12 currency corridors across the South Pacific, with plans to process 60% of all cross-border payments in the South Pacific’s retail foreign exchange corridor by Q2 2018. Beyond its utility as a financial tool, the Stellar network may become a competitor to Ethereum as a platform for application development and Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”). The theoretical maximum throughput for the network is higher, and it takes less computational power to run. The Stellar development team is highly active, has written extensive documentation for third-party developers, and has an impressive list of advisors, including Patrick Collison (Stripe), Sam Altman (Y Combinator), and other giants in the software development community.
Iota (IOT)
Iota was developed as the infrastructure backbone for the Internet of Things (IoT), sometimes called the machine economy. As the world of inanimate objects is networked together, their need to communicate grows exponentially. Fridges, thermostats, self-driving cars, printers, planes, and industrial sensors all need a secure protocol with which to transact information. Iota uses a “Tangle” instead of a traditional blockchain, and this is the main innovation driving the crypto’s value. Each device that sends a transaction confirms two other transactions in the Tanlge. This removes the need for miners, and enables unique features like zero fees and infinite scalability. The supply of tokens is fixed forever at 2.8*1015, a staggeringly large number (almost three thousand trillion), and the price you see reported is technically “MIOT”, or the price for a million tokens.
Monero (XMR)
The most successful privacy-focused cryptocurrency. In Bitcoin and most other cryptos, anyone can examine the public ledger and trace specific coins through the network. If your identity can be attached to a public address on that network, an accurate picture of your transaction history can be built-- who, what, and when. Monero builds anonymity into the system using strong cryptographic principles, which makes it functionally impossible to trace coins, [10] attach names to wallets, or extract metadata from transactions. The development team actively publishes in the cryptography research community. Anonymous transactions are not new-- we call it cash. Only in the past two decades has anonymity grown scarce in the first-world with the rise of credit cards and ubiquitous digital records. Personal data is becoming the most valuable resource on Earth, and there are many legitimate reasons for law-abiding citizens to want digital privacy, but it is true that with anonymity comes bad actors-- Monero is the currency of choice for the majority of black market (“darknet”) transactions. Similarly, US Dollars are the main vehicle for the $320B annual drug trade. An investment here should be based on the underlying cryptographic research and technology behind this coin, as well as competitors like Zcash. [11]
RaiBlocks (XRB)
Zero fees and instantaneous transfer make RaiBlocks extremely attractive for exchange of value, in many senses outperforming Bitcoin at its original intended purpose. This crypto has seen an explosion in price and exposure over the past month, and it may become the network of choice for transferring value within and between crypto exchanges. Just in the first week of 2018: the CEO of Ledger (makers of the most popular hardware wallet on the market) waived the $50k code review fee to get RaiBlocks on his product, and XRB got listed on Binance and Kucoin, two of the largest altcoin exchanges globally. This is one to watch for 2018. [12]
VeChain (VEN)
Developed as a single answer to the problem of supply-chain logistics, VeChain is knocking on the door of a fast-growing $8 trillion industry. Every shipping container and packaged product in the world requires constant tracking and verification. A smart economy for logistics built on the blockchain promises greater efficiency and lower cost through the entire process flow. Don’t take my word for it-- VeChain has investment from PwC (5th largest US corporation), Groupe Renault, Kuehne & Nagel (world’s largest freight company), and DIG (China’s largest wine importer). The Chinese government has mandated VeChain to serve as blockchain technology partner to the city of Gui’an, a special economic zone and testbed for China’s smart city of the future. This crypto has some of the strongest commercial partnerships in the industry, and a large active development team.
“Investment” is a misnomer. Cryptos are traded like securities, but grant you no equity (like trading currency).
It is impossible to double-spend or create a fake transaction, as each ledger is confirmed against every other ledger.
Some utility token blockchains use DAG networks or similar non-linear networks which don’t require mining.
In practice, these are giant warehouses full of specialized computers constantly processing transactions. Miners locate to the cheapest electricity source, and the bulk of mining currently occurs in China.
Centralized second-layer exchange websites have been hacked, but the core technology is untouched.
You've probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what's the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments. Some great introductions for new users are My first bitcoin, Bitcoin explained and ELI5 Bitcoin. Also, the following videos are a good starting point for understanding how bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:
Also have to give mention to Lopp.net, the Princeton crypto series and James D'Angelo's Bitcoin 101 Blackboard series. Some excellent writing on Bitcoin's value proposition and future can be found at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. Bitcoin statistics can be found here, here and here. Developer resources can be found here, here and here. Peer-reviewed research papers can be found here. Potential upcoming protocol improvements here. Scaling resources here. The number of times Bitcoin was declared dead by the media can be found here (LOL!), and of course Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper that started it all! :) Key properties of bitcoin
Limited Supply - There will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion, you can view the inflation schedule here. Once they are all issued Bitcoin will be truly deflationary. The halving countdown can be found here.
Open source - Bitcoin code is fully auditable. You can read the source code yourself here.
Accountable - The public ledger is transparent, all transactions are seen by everyone.
Decentralized - Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes with no single point of failure and as such can't be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works.
Censorship resistant - No one can prevent you from interacting with the bitcoin network and no one can censor, alter or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint.
Push system - There are no chargebacks in bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoins reside has the authority to move them.
Low fee scaling - On chain transaction fees depend on network demand and how much priority you wish to assign to the transaction. Most wallets calculate on chain fees automatically but you can view current fees here. On chain fees have risen recently due to network demand however instant micropayments are on the way via the Lightning Network, a second layer scaling solution currently rolling out on the Bitcoin mainnet. You can even run a node on a Raspberry Pi :)
Borderless - No country can stop it from going in/out, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking as the ledger is globally distributed.
Trustless - Bitcoin solved the Byzantine's Generals Problem which means nobody needs to trust anybody for it to work.
Portable - Bitcoins are digital so they are easier to move than cash or gold. They can even be transported by simply remembering a string of words for wallet recovery.
Scalable - Each bitcoin is divisible down to 8 decimals allowing it to grow in value while still accommodating micro-transactions.
Bitcoin.org, BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com and Howtobuybitcoin.io are helpful sites for beginners. You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular resources are below, also, check out the bitcoinity exchange resources for a larger list of options for purchases.
Here is a listing of local ATMs. If you would like your paycheck automatically converted to bitcoin use Bitwage. Note: Bitcoins are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Preev is a useful site that that shows how much various denominations of bitcoin are worth in different currencies. Alternatively you can just Google "1 bitcoin in (your local currency)".
Securing your bitcoins
With bitcoin you can "Be your own bank" and personally secure your bitcoins OR you can use third party companies aka "Bitcoin banks" which will hold the bitcoins for you.
If you prefer to "Be your own bank" and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, there are many software wallet options here. If you want easy and secure storage without having to learn computer security best practices, then a hardware wallet such as the Trezor or Ledger is recommended. A more advanced option is to secure them yourself using paper wallets generated offline. Some popular mobile and desktop wallet options are listed below and most are cross platform.
Another interesting use case for physical storage/transfer is the Opendime. Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin by physically passing it along so it's anonymous and tangible like cash.
If you prefer to let third party "Bitcoin banks" manage your coins, try Gemini but be aware you may not be in control of your private keys in which case you would have to ask permission to access your funds and be exposed to third party risk.
Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email! 2FA requires a second confirmation code to access your account, usually from a text message or app, making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.
Gift cards for hundreds of retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.
Coinmap and AirBitz are helpful to find local businesses accepting bitcoins. A good resource for UK residents is at wheretospendbitcoins.co.uk. There are also lots of charities which accept bitcoin donations, such as Wikipedia, United Way, ACLU and the EFF. You can find a longer list here.
Merchant Resources
There are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;
1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.
No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).
Accept business from a global customer base.
Increased privacy.
Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.
If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;
Mining bitcoins can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read more here. Still have mining questions? The crew at /BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out. If you want to contribute to the bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions you can run a full node using this setup guide. Bitseed is an easy option for getting set up. You can view the global node distribution here.
Earning bitcoins
Just like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoins by being paid to do a job.
You can also earn bitcoins by participating as a market maker on JoinMarket by allowing users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoins for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoins)
Bitcoin Projects
The following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the bitcoin space.
One Bitcoin is quite large (hundreds of £/$/€) so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:
Unit
Symbol
Value
Info
millibitcoin
mBTC
1,000 per bitcoin
SI unit for milli i.e. millilitre (mL) or millimetre (mm)
microbitcoin
μBTC
1,000,000 per bitcoin
SI unit for micro i.e microlitre (μL) or micrometre (μm)
bit
bit
1,000,000 per bitcoin
Colloquial "slang" term for microbitcoin
satoshi
sat
100,000,000 per bitcoin
Smallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventor
For example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $10000 for one Bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:
0.001 BTC
1 mBTC
1,000 bits
For more information check out the Bitcoin units wiki. Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below or stick around for our weekly Mentor Monday thread. If you decide to post a question in /Bitcoin, please use the search bar to see if it has been answered before, and remember to follow the community rules outlined on the sidebar to receive a better response. The mods are busy helping manage our community so please do not message them unless you notice problems with the functionality of the subreddit. A complete list of bitcoin related subreddits can be found here Note: This is a community created FAQ. If you notice anything missing from the FAQ or that requires clarification you can edit it here and it will be included in the next revision pending approval. Welcome to the Bitcoin community and the new decentralized economy!
PSA: Neutrino (BIP 157 block filtering protocol) VS. Neutrino (Coinbase acquired hacking team company)
There is an open PR to merge the BIP 157 aka Neutrino light client block filter protocol tldr; Neutrino block filtering protocol will allow mobile non-custodial LN wallets to exist because it can shrink the disk space required to fully validate on-chain tx to only 3.8 GB (variable but small number < 1gb) which can sync to the tip of the blockchain in under an hour! This is means even years old mobile phones can easily handle client side verification. This is VERY GOOD. Do not get it confused with the Neutrino Company coinbase recently acquired and the whole hacking team fiasco. The important Neutrino to remember is BIP 157 neutrino. edit: as dr_win pointed out the 3.8gb is actually what is required for bitcoin full nodes to support neutrino clients. Neutrino clients will actually require some variable storage space much less than 3.8gb number. The # of wallets and txs for those wallets on the device running neutrino client will impact the amount of data that needs storing. This made it to the front page so... Bonus Content: Andreas Antonopoulos Discusses Neutrino on LTB https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/lets-talk-bitcoin-389-revisiting-lightning-part-1
Adam B. Levine: Andreas, have you looked into neutrino much? Andreas Antonopoulos: Yeah, I've actually been running neutrino as well for a while. This is a really amazing development. It's a massive improvement over the old model - the model isn't really the SPV that's described in the Bitcoin whitepaper. Basically what it does is it allows you to send a compressed set that describes the transactions that are in a block, send that to a light client, so that it can request to receive any blocks that have transactions of interest to it. It can download the full block or the full transaction set only for those things that it's interested in, while not telling the nodes that it's connected to what it's interested in. That's a massive increase in privacy. This is not just for Lightning, that's important to understand. Neutrino can be used as a light client for on-chain Bitcoin transactions to massively increase the privacy of mobile wallets. Of course, it can be used so that you can have a Lightning wallet that's not necessarily connected to your own lightning node, but also doesn't break your privacy. Adam B. Levine: The entire Bitcoin blockchain can get summarized down to 40 Megs? Andreas Antonopoulos: Yes, that's for the initial sync. After that, it can continue to get updated summaries that are even smaller (in the kilobyte size) in order to maintain synchronization. So it's doing full validation without having a full copy of the block. Of course, all of this depends on having full nodes that are willing to publish Golomb coded sets to feed to neutrino clients. We still need a lot of people to run full nodes, but the bandwidth burden on those nodes to serve neutrino clients obviously drastically reduced. A single full node can serve a lot of neutrino clients very efficiently.
Two possible solutions to decentralizing mining? Let's discuss
Scope of this post: I am a true believer of Bitcoin. I don't care too much about the price - but I do care, a lot, about the potential it has to change the world for the better. I've got a Bachelor's Degree in Software Development, and a Master's Degree in Cyber Security. I only got into Bitcoin a few months ago, but I'll try utilize my knowledge in this field by trying to contribute as much as I can to the community. The problem I'll describe and my proposed solutions are simply something I'd like to discuss. I am still new to the cryptoworld, and there is a lot I still don't understand or even know about. I have not yet read the Bitcoin whitepaper in full, but I plan on doing so, in addition to the "Mastering Bitcoin" book authored by Andreas M. Antonopoulos. I know that the problem I mention is far from the only problem we yet need to address with Bitcoin - but I'd really like to zoom-in onto this problem, and this alone. I have no problem with discussing related problems though, and won't see it as an attempt of hijacking this thread. If your intentions are good and the posts you make are beneficial to the community (and within this subreddit's rules), I'd be happy with anything you post. If anything I've said is false or inaccurate, or you find my ideas to be bad ones, please refrain from just bashing or flaming, and explain why you believe that is the case. I don't think that my ideas here will lead to any changes to Bitcoin Core (I wish I could make that much of a difference!) - but at least let's allow this to be a learning opportunity to learn more about this technology that is still in its infancy. Let's have a serious and mature conversation on this subject, please. The Problem: To my knowledge, a miner must first download the entire blockchain (140,000 MB (approximately 137 GB) at the time of this writing) and then run the hashing algorithm on each block to verify its integrity. Once this has been done, the miner is then able to receive new transactions on the Network and try to mine the next block. This process requires a minimum of 137 GB of disk space, which will only continue to grow larger as more transactions happen on the blockchain. Large block sizes and the large number of blocks means large quantities of data. Large quantities of data means requiring large disk storage space. Large disk storage space makes it expensive and more difficult for regular users to use regular hardware to mine. This causes the problem where miners are centralized - something we're experiencing at present times. Proposed Solution #1: Rather than downloading the entire blockchain and holding on to it, the idea is to download data and use it for verification instantly, and then dump that data and re-iterate. Once you have verified the hash up to a certain block, the data itself is not required for mining purposes (it would of course be required for other purposes, such as needing to search for some transaction that took place). If this is indeed doable, then you could utilize as many, or little, disk space as you wish. For instance, if you only have 10 GB of disk space which you'd like to utilize for mining, one could download the first 10 GBs of the blockchain data, generate the hash up until that point, dump the 10 GB of data (while retaining the hash, of course), and re-iterate: put the hashing on hold for a minute, download the next 10 GB of blockchain data, calculate the hash until then (equivalent to running the hash up until the first 20 GBs of data), and again, re-iterate indefinitely, until you've reached the currently last block in the blockchain. All you need, and will ever need, is any fixed amount of data (in this example, 10 GBs). The blockchain can grow as big as it wants without miners requiring to have large amounts of disk space sitting on their hardware. This of course does not solve the problem that a lot of bandwidth is required to download the entire blockchain. In all honesty, I do not know where the entire blockchain data is being stored. I admit that I have to do more research on this and learn more about it - but, if someone could give a brief explanation / confirmation of this, it would very much be appreciated. Of course, it cannot be stored somewhere central in order to retain its integrity. My assumption is that the miners on the network distribute this data to other miners, apart from verifying new transactions. If this is the case, then you could potentially split the job that miners do into two - A) sharing of blockchain data, and B) verification of transactions. Of course, any miner can do just either one of those tasks, or both. A miner with a lot of bandwidth and storage space can contribute solely to "A", a miner with a lot of computational power but not much bandwidth and/or disk space can contribute solely to "B", while a huge corporatation with a lot of everything (bandwidth, disk space and computational power) can contribute to both "A" and "B" (as is the only current option to mining to date, I believe). Needless to say, the Bitcoin Protocol would need to modified to be capable of rewarding the miners accordingly. Seperatation of the tasks that miners do ("A" and "B" described previously) helps decentralization. Right now, miners must perform both tasks "A" and "B", and have no option to contribute to the network but performing just one of those two tasks. It's either all or nothing. Seperation of these tasks, however, would allow new miners to join in, and only contribute to "A" or "B" alone if they're unable to participate in both. It opens new opportunities. For instance, for me, electricity in my home country is too expensive to mine Bitcoin, and I don't have ASIC hardware, rendering mining infeasible. I would love to have a small mining rig to be able to participate to the network, but I'd be better off financially by just buying Bitcoins, than mining them. This is a common problem and is true in many countries around the world too. However, if I am able to simply share Blockchain data (uploading it to other miners) at the cost of bandwidth and little electricity (I could leave the client running in the background just when I'm using my PC - no need to have it turned on 24/7), then I would. I would become a miner participating solely in task "A". Right now I cannot do this, as the technology / protocol does not permit me to do so. Yes, I know that the blockchain data would only be downloaded by new miners, so it may be impractible splitting the mining job into two seperate tasks, and running a "Blockchain data sharing client" may be impractible. The 'reward' in BTC can be based on the bandwidth contributed. In the same way that the mining difficulty adjusts automatically depending on the HashPower on the network, maybe it would be needed to adjust the reward depending on available bandwidth for this task. Proposed Solution #2: Downloading and verifying the entire blockchain is required for integrity - to ensure that the entire blockchain has not, in any way, been tampered with. If one validates the blockchain up until 'Block X', then one can trust all of the data until that point. If one stopped mining today and deleted the blockchain data, and then decided to continue mining a year later, to my understanding, in theory that person wouldn't need to redownload the entire blockchain and validate it from the very beginning. Instead, if the hash up until Block X was known (and stored that value somewhere secure that I could trust hasn't been modified), then one could simply continue off from there. What if the Bitcoin Protocol was modified in such a way that at certain block intervals (say, every 100,000 blocks), the miner, in addition to validating the transactions and adding the new 50 BTCs to the ledger, would also post the Hash of the blockchain up until that point. However, at such 'milestones', rather than 6 verifications being required, then maybe say 100 or 200 validations would be required for the confirmation of the blockchain data. New miners could simply find the last 'milestone' that has been validated by A LOT of miners on the network, and continue mining from there - TRUSTING that the Hash up until that milestone is correct, and therefore that all of the transactional information is trustworthy. If the miner does not want to trust the Hash in that milestone, they are always free to download the entire blockchain data and validate the blocks themselves. This is not a replacement of how things are done, but simply an alternative / option. A Word Of Caution - Security vs Usability / Efficiency: The more we add to the software that the Bitcoin Protocol operates on, and the more complexity we add, the greater the chances of vulnerabilities and the more attack vectors we introduce. A trade-off between security and usability always needs to be found. If my proposed solutions introduce serious risks, then I would be against my own ideas. I'd rather have a secure protocol that we can trust, than one that operates quickly but insecurely. I don't think this thinking needs any debate, and I hope that we all agree on this last note. Donations? I would love to someday own one full BTC. If you'd like to help me get there, no matter how small your contribution may be, I would very much appreciate it. Send me a private message for my Bitcoin wallet address. I will keep hodling, trying to educate people, or get them to educate themselves on Bitcoin, and will continue to try contribute to the community in the ways I can.
11 Books about Ethereum/Solidity/Blockchain/Trading.
Greets, everyone.. So I made a list of the best books out there about Ethereum/Solidity/Trading and a few about Blockchain in general to the people that want to get involved deeper and perhaps develop any Dapp or get better at Day trading. Hope you like it. Ethereum: Blockchains, Digital Assets, Smart Contracts, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations • by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Amazon Link Book Picture The book aims to help you get your head around blockchains in general and around Ethereum specifically. Since Ethereum is currently the pre-imminent blockchain, it makes sense as reference point. The essential stuff is the same for any blockchain. This text was written for people with a fast grasp, who are not programmers. Reading this should give you the basics to cut through the hype and to identify blockchain opportunities in your professional domain. There are tiny bits of code, which can be admired and skipped. Introducing Ethereum and Solidity: Foundations of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Programming for Beginners • by Apress Amazon Link Book Picture Learn how to use Solidity and the Ethereum project – second only to Bitcoin in market capitalization. Blockchain protocols are taking the world by storm, and the Ethereum project, with its Turing-complete scripting language Solidity, has rapidly become a front-runner. This book presents the blockchain phenomenon in context; then situates Ethereum in a world pioneered by Bitcoin. Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and Dapps 1st Edition (Pre Order) • by Andreas M. Antonopoulos (Author), Gavin Wood (Author) Amazon Link Book Picture With this practical guide, you’ll learn how to create markets, store registries of debts or promises, move funds in accordance with instructions given long in the past (like a will or a futures contract), and many other things that have not been invented yet, all without a middle man or counterparty risk. Ethereum Programming – August 4, 2017 • by Alex Leverington (Author) Amazon Link Book Picture This book shows you how to build decentralized, resilient, unstoppable apps with Ethereum. We'll start with the basics, what ether is and how to acquire and use it, what DApps are and how they're relevant for developers and businesses of all sizes. Then we dive straight into examples that explore the concepts. Moving on, we'll design and build powerful, unstoppable applications that use Ethereum for their state storage. Finally, you'll see how to test and launch your app to provide resilient, unstoppable, reliable services to your users. Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World • by Don Tapscott , Alex Tapscott ( No1 Best Seller Money & Monetary Policy & Digital Currencies) Amazon Link Book Picture Blockchain is the ingeniously simple, revolutionary protocol that allows transactions to be simultaneously anonymous and secure by maintaining a tamperproof public ledger of value. Though it’s the technology that drives bitcoin and other digital currencies, the underlying framework has the potential to go far beyond these and record virtually everything of value to humankind, from birth and death certificates to insurance claims and even votes. The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology • by William Mougayar (Author), Vitalik Buterin (Foreword) Amazon Link Book Picture The Business Blockchain charts new territory in advancing our understanding of the blockchain by unpacking its elements like no other before. William Mougayar anticipates a future that consists of thousands, if not millions of blockchains that will enable not only frictionless value exchange, but also a new flow of value, redefining roles, relationships, power and governance. In this book, Mougayar makes two other strategic assertions. Blockchain: Blockchain, Smart Contracts, Investing in Ethereum, FinTech • by Jeff Reed Amazon Link Book Picture Learn About the Emerging World of Financial Technology, and What They Won't Teach You In School.. Jeff Reed has packaged four of his best-selling book so you can learn everything you need to know about financial technology in the 21st Century. By purchasing this book you're getting Blockchain, Smart Contracts, Investing in Ethereum, and Smart Contracts...a sweet 4-in-1 bundle deal (which Jeff considers a steal)! Investing in Ethereum: The Ultimate Guide to Learning--and Profiting from--Cryptocurrencies • by Oscar Flyn Amazon Link Book Picture Ethereum is now one of the hottest platforms to trade cryptocurrency on today. It’s growing by leaps and bounds every day, and it offers a different range of services that Bitcoin just doesn’t deliver. It’s also fairly simple to understand and is a low to no cost system to start on. Now, in this book, you’ll get the inside look at this new and virtually untapped network--. You’ll learn all about Ethereum, it’s amazing benefits, its relationship to bitcoin, its decentralized nature, and the potential pitfalls to watch out for. The Internet of Money • by Andreas M. Antonopoulos Amazon Link Book Picture Andreas goes beyond exploring the technical functioning of the bitcoin network by illuminating bitcoin’s philosophical, social, and historical implications. As the internet has essentially transformed how people around the world interact and has permanently impacted our lives in ways we never could have imagined, bitcoin -- the internet of money -- is fundamentally changing our approach to solving social, political, and economic problems through decentralized technology. Ethereum: A look into the world of Ethereum and how to trade and invest this cryptocurrency! • by Ben Abner Amazon Link Book Picture You’re about to discover how to... I want to thank you for downloading the book, Ethereum Trade and Investment. This book contains all the information that you need to know about Ethereum in a compact and to the point format. The book is targeted toward people who love to learn about investing, trade and new money making opportunities. Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies 1st Edition • by Andreas M. Antonopoulos Amazon Link Book Picture Mastering Bitcoin is essential reading for everyone interested in learning about bitcoin basics, the technical operation of bitcoin, or if you're building the next great bitcoin killer app or business. From using a bitcoin wallet to buy a cup of coffee, to running a bitcoin marketplace with hundreds of thousands of transactions, or collaboratively building new financial innovations that will transform our understanding of currency and credit, this book will help you engineer money. You're about to unlock the API to a new economy. This book is your key. Edit: 1 Book added Suggested by: scarpoochi Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money • by Nathaniel Popper Amazon Link Book Picture Bitcoin, the landmark digital money and financial technology, has spawned a global social movement with utopian ambitions. The notion of a new currency, maintained by the computers of users around the world, has been the butt of many jokes, but that has not stopped it from growing into a technology worth billions of dollars, supported by the hordes of followers who have come to view it as the most important new idea since the creation of the Internet. Msg me if you want me to add another book (affiliate links)
Should Bitcoin be with "Free Software" or "The Meme Hustler" (I mean O'Reilly)?
Edit3: Let's lobby Andreas to ditch O'Reilly. He should publish it on his website for download and invite bitcoin donation instead of this association with O'Reilly! Edit2:
Andreas Antonopoulos who is loved in the Bitcoin community has published a bitcoin book with O'Reilly.
Bitcoin as such is a free software.
O'Reilly is known to be against free software.
Hence kind of opposing Andreas Antonopoulos, in favour of Richard Stallman and Satoshi Nakamoto.
I'm donating 5057 BTC to charitable causes! Introducing The Pineapple Fund (20020 points, 2927 comments)
Farewell from the Pineapple Fund (10944 points, 610 comments)
🍍 $4mil will fund MDMA trials for PTSD; marked 'Breakthrough Therapy' by FDA. Pineapple Fund is matching MAPS donations 1:1. Reddit, let's make history by crowdfunding an incredible treatment for PTSD, in bitcoin! (10650 points, 558 comments)
Just a few months ago Bitcoin going to $10,000 was a huge celebration Now Bitcoin is at $10,000 and its like the end of the world. What an irony!! (2479 points, 1016 comments)
Day 2: I will repost this guide daily until available solutions like Segwit & order batching are adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and transaction fees are low. You can help. Take action today (5145 points, 766 comments)
Day 9: I will post this guide regularly until available solutions like SegWit, order batching, and Lightning payment channels are mass adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and tx fees are low. Have you done your part? (2070 points, 190 comments)
Day 5: I will post this guide regularly until available solutions like SegWit & order batching are mass adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and transaction fees are low. User demand from this community can help lead to some big changes. Have you joined the /Bitcoin SegWit effort? (2017 points, 268 comments)
Day 7: I will post this guide regularly until available solutions like SegWit & order batching are mass adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and tx fees are low. Do you want low tx fees, because this is how you get low tx fees (1959 points, 166 comments)
Day 3: I will repost this guide daily until available solutions like SegWit & order batching are mass adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and transaction fees are low. ARE YOU PART OF THE SOLUTION? News: Unconfirmed TX's @ 274K, more exchanges adding SegWit, Core prioritizes SegWit GUI (1758 points, 220 comments)
Day 8: I will post this guide regularly until available solutions like SegWit, order batching, and Lightning payment channels are mass adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and tx fees are low. BTC Core SegWit GUI coming May 1, Coinbase incompetence exposed, more exchanges deploy SegWit (1454 points, 177 comments)
Day 6: I will post this guide regularly until available solutions like SegWit & order batching are mass adopted, the mempool is empty once again, and tx fees are low. Refer a friend to SegWit today. There's no $10 referral offer, but you'll both get lower fees and help strengthen the BTC protocol (1193 points, 99 comments)
Sixty free lectures from Princeton on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Total time 13hr 20min. Links in post. (12259 points, 206 comments)
Don't panic, just learn. Sixty free lectures from Princeton on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Total time 13hr 20min. Links in post. (1034 points, 97 comments)
“Mastering Bitcoin is the best technical reference available on bitcoin today. And bitcoin is likely to be seen in retrospect as the most important technology of this decade. As such, this book is an absolute must-have for any developer, especially those interested in building applications with the bitcoin protocol. Highly recommended.” Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a freely-available book on Bitcoin published in 2015 by O'Reilly Media.. Mastering Bitcoin is a digital currency best seller and has been translated by volunteers into more than 10 languages.The second edition added 30% more content covering topics such as SegWit, SIGHASH types and the Lightning Network (Chapters 6 and 7). Download Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain 2nd Edition by Andreas M. Antonopoulos free epub PDF ** Ardbark is currently replacing all links on the site with direct downloads. Andreas M. Antonopoulos The bitcoin and open blockchain expert. About. Videos. Audio. Unscrypted. Let’s Talk Bitcoin. Books. Events. ... Will the Drop in Oil Prices Impact Bitcoin Mining? 07:25. 38. Bitcoin Q&A: Why Can't Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Adjust a Little Quicker? ... Why I'm writing 'Mastering Ethereum' 08:35. 21. Ethereum Q&A: Gas ... Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain (2nd ed.) by Andreas M. Antonopoulos. ... To download and read this eBook on a PC or Mac: Adobe Digital Editions (This is a free app specially developed for eBooks. It's not the same as Adobe Reader, which you probably already have on your computer.)
Andreas Antonopoulos: Bitcoin 2020 Halving, Crisis and #1 DeFi Project
Andreas is the author of three books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin, “Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and ... Andreas M Antonopoulos - What Makes Bitcoin So Unstoppable Today I am joined by the legendary Andreas M Antonopoulos. We discuss everything you need to know about Bitcoin, Ethereum, open ... Andreas Antonopoulos, one of the leading and most inspiring figures in the space. ... Mastering Bitcoin and Mastering Ethereum, he also published a series of books called: The Internet of Money ... In this interview, I talk to Andreas M. Antonopoulos to find out. Andreas is a speaker and the best selling author of Mastering Bitcoin and The Internet of Money and is unrivalled in evangelising ... Andreas is the author of three books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin, “Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and ...
