Bitcoin Forum

Hello, I have downloaded bitcoin core to make my wallet more secure. Now It needs to download all blockchain and It says: synchronizing with network: 2  years 45 weeks behind.

Why It is so slow? I will really need to wait over 2 years?

Its not the time you have to wait. Its the time between the last block you have (from 2 years, 45 weeks ago) to the current one.

You can use the bootstrap torrent (google / search the board for it).
And also use this (was posted in the german subboard a few days ago and is the most recent downloadable copy I know of)


disclaimer: I dont know the person cagrund (aka "Carsten") nor did I download this blockchain - use with caution.

Both will speed up the process. Make sure you shut down the client before you copy the data in the respective directory.

Alright, thanks for explanation, so how do I download all blockchain? I downloaded bitcoin core -qt and where do I get all the blockchain so my balance would be up to date as It shows 0 btc now.

The complete blockchain will be only available via bitcoin core (at least I dont know any other way), because it changes roughly every 10 minutes (when a new block is found). The bootstrap.dat allows you to get plenty of the old blocks. Same with the .rar files I linked you. After you got them you start the client and it will be only a few days behind, which will be downloaded in a few minutes/hours depending on your network connection.

I have a wallet at blockchain.info and I would like to transfer It to bitcoin core qt so my funds would apear on my bitcoin core qt, how do I do that?

First i would download the blockchain. You can get it from a trusted source, as above, or just wait and let bitcoin-QT download the whole thing. It may take days, but you don't need to do anything except wait for synchronization.
Once you are caught up you can go to "receiving" in QT and create a new receiving address. That address is what you want. If you send bitcoin from blockchain.info to that address it will show up in your QT wallet. If you send it before you are synchronized it will still work, but you wont see the balance in qt until your synced. 

P.S. once you have transferred funds to QT you should make a backup copy of your wallet.dat file.
That's all.

Thanks for this explanation, I will probably download blockchain because I see It will take week or even more to synchronize everything and I went to receiving addresses and there is already address added but I didn't add anything, so It ok to use that address? And each time I create new label new random address adds up but I can't choose myself the address.

Yes. By default it creates your first receiving address. It is also worth the time to label the address. Maybe something like "transfer from blockchain.info". There is no hard rule about addresses, but you may want to consider creating a new one for each transfer of bitcoin.

Alright, so when I have up to date blockchain , I just transfer from my blockchain.info address to the address that Is created at my receiving addresses?

EDIT: Also why should I create new receiving address each time? Why I can't use the same addres to receive bitcoins each time just like on blockchain.info?

That's it! And as mentioned. You could send now and when the block your transaction is in gets downloaded the balance will appear. I'm not to familiar with blockchain.info, but if you can send a fee you should. The current rate is like 0.0001
Without a fee it will very likely go through, but the fee expedites things.

Could you please answer to my "EDIT" question and also If I receive my bitcoins from blockchain.info to 5 different addresses my balance on bitcoin qt will show total sum of all bitcoins I have on all the addresses? And If I want to send funds to other person he would receive the funds equally spread from all my 5 addresses?

You can use the same address. It improves your privacy and security slightly if you make a new address for every new input.


Yes, you can use this address. But you can only spend the coins if you wait untill bitcoin-core has fully downloaded the blockchain. You can however see the transaction on any other blockexplorere (like blockchain.info etc.)


The wallet has 100 addresses generated for you and is showing them one after another. "choosing" an address is not easy. See vanitygen for that. It will use your CPU power to try to make a very specific address. Which can take ages depending on what you want, just stick with random ;)



Yes, the wallet total will show the sum of all addresses. Or to be more precice of all unspend inputs.


No the wallet will pick smart which address to use or you can enable "coin control" (see: settings -> options -> display -> [] display coin control features (experts only))

Coin control allows you choose which inputs ("receiving address") to use as an output when you send coins.

Thanks for your detailed explanation. So It can generate 100 addresses maximum? So when you have done 100 transaction you have to use the same addresses over again for the second, third time ect..?

You could create an address and use it a bunch, it will work. However it starts to get hard to keep track of all the money when they keep going through the same address. There is also a privacy issue. Suppose I pay you with that address. Like anyone, I can check the balance of that "addy" at blockexplorer.com or elsewhere. If you use a new addy each time then no one will know your balance because it will be spread across a bunch of seemingly unrelated addresses. A business might value this more than you. And some businesses go with one addy per customer, for example. For an individual it may not matter much, but it does help with book keeping. Does that help?
 

Sorry if that was confusing. No it just has allready made you 100 addresses. It can make as much as you want.

Ok, got It, thanks.



Thank you, understood :)