What is the current size of blockchain in MB/GB? Looks like my VPS with 30GB disk size isn't enough to run a full node? If I understand correctly I have to download whole blockchain for it to work.

This graph https://blockchain.info/charts/blocks-size shows 74k MB? Does it mean I need at least 74GB hard drive to run bitcoind on VPS these days?

Bitcoin is the gold of 21st century.

Because what I basically want to achieve is to be able to send/receive BTC no matter the API. I mean they can't limit number of requests if I use just a blockchain network right? I won't use any blockchain.info API, I will just access my wallet with a key I own throught the network and nothing else.  How could they limit that? What am I missing here?

Wait, let me get this straight.

I go here https://blockchain.info/wallet/#/login I log into my wallet, I click on Settings->addresses-> there I found my address which is 'blablabla123345blabla', I click on more options and I display public key to that address which is 'publicblablabla56789blabla'.

Now: This is NOT enough then to manage sending/receiving for that address? How do I get private key to that address? Do they hold it? I have another address listed as 'imported address' on blockchain.info and it has private key not public one. But all other addresses I create have just public key. Does this mean I still have to use their god damn API which they declined for me?

Or is the private key just for accessing the wallet as a whole and public keys are for every single addresses so I have one private key for all the addresses but many public keys for each and every one address...?

Alright, have the bitcoind finally up and running! So...

Is it now possible to manipulate (sending btc to other addresses etc.) wallets/addresses anywhere in blockchain as long as I have access the to it? (xpub) For example I have a wallet on blockchain.info and I know addresses and their xpubs - now I should be able to access them right? I mean it doesn't matter they are "at blockchain.info" cuz it's just some node in network and I don't have to use RPC JSON protocol just to access/store things on my server/node, I can now access any address in the network no matter where it is, true?

Because so far I don't feel like storing btc via my own VPS, I hardly know what I am doing when using linux commands via shell, I am definitely not going to store any btc there, but it would be awesome if I could access addresses/wallets which I've for example created using my browser and regular blockchain.info user interface like everyone else. Or do the blockchain.info where I currently have my addresses with my BTC somehow doesn't allow this? Like idk they hold some other keys or something... If I just go to my wallet on blockchain.info, display my address and then display xpub for that address thats all I need to send commands for that address via my newly installed bitcoind? (hope I am not missing something important here)

Alright it's done, I have now

Description:    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Release:        16.04
Codename:       xenial

installed on my VPS.

I am running Debian Jessie on that VPS - yes it's brand new, I can switch to whatever I want (I don't have any data there), altough there was a preinstalled LAMP which I also have no idea how to install so I will have do it manually after I switch to Ubuntu...

Okay then, I've started the re-installation, says it's gonna take up to 1 hour before it's done...

I honestly don't have much of an experience with setting up server, so your help is much appreciated guys. I was actually thinking of putting up a "job offer" to help me set things up, if you would like I can even pay you (in BTC) for some more extensive help with this (PM me if you are interested).

Okay, I'm starting to run into specific problems when trying to install things on my debian VPS - currently I try to install bitcoin-gt, which requires libboost but I keep getting this

 dependency problems prevent configuration of bitcoin-qt:
 bitcoin-qt depends on libboost-chrono1.54.0; however:
  Package libboost-chrono1.54.0 is not installed.
 bitcoin-qt depends on libboost-filesystem1.54.0; however:
  Package libboost-filesystem1.54.0 is not installed.
 bitcoin-qt depends on libboost-program-options1.54.0; however:
  Package libboost-program-options1.54.0 is not installed.
 bitcoin-qt depends on libboost-system1.54.0; however:
  Package libboost-system1.54.0 is not installed.
 bitcoin-qt depends on libboost-thread1.54.0; however:
  Package libboost-thread1.54.0 is not installed.
 bitcoin-qt depends on libdb4.8++; however:
  Package libdb4.8++ is not installed.
 bitcoin-qt depends on libprotobuf8; however:
  Package libprotobuf8 is not installed.

and have no idea how to install those libboost.

(idk if this is a proper section for dealing with these things anymore)

Yeah, these things go without saying, I was just wondering whether there are some less obvious methods of tracking something down in blockchain. Thanks.

What else came to mind when thinking about this:

When accessing blockchain via JSON-RPC or node, is there any way for the outsiders to see some info about who and from where is he doing it? Le'ts say I will set up my own VPS and will run send commands for example - can anybody see the IP address of my VPS server for example? Or is this entirely untrackable? Meaning if I send BTC from one address to another using JSON-RPC which runs on IP address 155.55.11.1 (just an example), can someone find it that the 'order' for sending those BTC somewhere came from this IP address?

I mean if BTC is all about privacy and anonymity, if I pay for my own VPS and run some BTC services there then I guess I wouldn't want to know the world that it's done on that server. Because you know you can have frontend interface/domain for users on one server and manage BTC transactions from entirely different place/server (or at least that's what feels right to do), but I am still curious if it's possible to track who (from what IP) is sending "orders" to the addresses.

Thanks for link and basic examples. What benefits has running my own node? Does it mean I am just closer to BTC network so everything works faster (faster propagation of transactions and all)? Why not just use RPC to access bitcoin network?

Awesome, I knew there has to be something like this. Looks like exactly what I am looking for, thanks!

Still: Is there some public API service or something that just allows you to call few basic commands? What you've posted is great, but may be a little overkill for what I actually need, but I might to learn to use it anyway. Any other suggestions anyone?

Hello everyone!

I am relatively new to bitcoin, but I have general idea of how it works, so I know about wallets, confirmations, bitcoin addresses and all this general informations.

What i am looking for right now is some easy and reliable way of checking/crawling the blockchain automatically. I have a certain skills as a programmer and I am thinking about doing something around bitcoin and related stuff (idk, maybe some new wallet or service or who knows). What I would like to ask IT guys here is what is the most effective (not necessarily the easiest) way of keeping track of what is going on in blockchain.

Let's say I will have a wallet and inside that wallet few addresses and I will want to check every minute what's going on with those addresses. Did someone send BTC to one of those addresses? How many BTC they've send? How many confirmations are there already? At what time it was done? etc.

I realize there are some API services for example on blockchain.info where you can request an API key and then you even get notified by them when something happenes. But I tried to apply there, they declined my request and then I realized "Hey, I must be stupid, why I just don't check the blockchain directly somehow like they do?" - don't get this wrong I don't need anything complex, all I am looking for right now is just a simple way of checking few things like:

- latest incoming transactions into an address
- how many bitcoins are stored on a certain address
- how many confirmations certain transaction gets

That's basically all. Would be great if I could just crawl some public site for all these informations or something. Or if there is some reliable API someone provides (where you won't get declined like on blockchain.info) that would be great. I am probably asking very basic and stupid question and I expect the solution to be quite easy, but I am really new to this.