1. What is fullnode?(I understand it as transaction confirmation points)
A full node is any peer on the bitcoin network that fully validates that the information received from all peers is valid within the constraints of the consensus rules before accepting or forwarding on the information. Additionally a full node is capable of supplying to any peer the necessary information that peer to operate as a full node. Generally this means that it implements all the communication functionality of the reference client known as Bitcoin Core.
Is it same as Blockchain?
No.
There are two completely different things that are commonly called "blockchain".
The first is the proof-of-work chain of all transactions that have been confirmed according to the consensus rules of the bitcoin protocol. This data is stored by all full node peers as well as by many businesses.
The second is a website, blockchain.info. blockchain.info is an independent company that listens to all the transactions that occur on the bitcoin network and supply services (including a block explorer and a web based bitcoin wallet) based on the information that they collect.
2. Is bitcoin as an application decentralized or blockchain?
Bitcoin is a word with many meanings.
- It can be used to describe a piece of peer-to-peer software that is used to receive, store, and send value.
- It can be used to describe the value that is transferred with that software
- It can be used to describe the set of protocol rules that are used by the software to reach consensus in a decentralized way
- It can be used to describe an independent company that provides services to the public based on information they gather from connected peers
3. What happens if there is only one fullnode on Earth?
Then every other peer will rely on that node for the full validation of the blockchain and transactions and for any historical information required.
4. Why is bitcoin always priced based on Dollars?
It isn't. It is also priced in Yen, Euro, Peso, Televisions, Computers, and anything else that you might want to exchange for bitcoins. If you have only seen it priced in dollars, its because that's all you've looked for.
Bitcoin is a currency. Like any other currency it can be used to buy things, or it can be exchanged for other currencies. Your question is a bit like asking why Euro are always priced in dollars.
5. Who is bitcoin community?
Bitcoin community is anybody that is interested in bitcoin in any way. Since you are asking questions about bitcoin, you are now part of the bitcoin community.
What are they doing to keep bitcoin in the limelight for common people?
Bitcoin community
IS common people. They are not under the control of any bitcoin authority. Each individual is welcome to do whatever they like.
6. Why does supply halving done?
The supply is not halving. The amount of new bitcoins that get created every day is halving. When bitcoin was created in 2009 the software was designed to create approximately 7200 new bitcoins every day. The software was also designed to cut the number of new bitcoins created in half approximately every 4 years. Therefore, back in 2012 the number of new bitcoins created every day dropped from approximately 7200 to approximately 3600. Next year it will be about 4 years since the last reduction, so the number of new bitcoins created every day will automatically be reduced again from approximately 3600 to approximately 1800. This will continue approximately every 4 years until somewhere around the year 2140 the number of new bitcoins created every day will be so small that when it is cut in half again it will just be reduced to 0.
This was done as a way to limit the total number of bitcoins that will exist (to avoid supply inflation) and to get bitcoins into circulation for people to use. It solved many problems with getting the entire system up and running and has been quite successful so far.
will it not be a loss for miners?
It will reduce the gross revenue for miners in terms of bitcoins. Depending on the exchange rate to their local currency, it might reduce the revenue for miners in terms of their local spending power. If it does, then they will reduce their costs to compensate so that they can be profitable again. Some miners will be unable to reduce costs enough, so they will simply stop mining.
7. How is data in the blockchain not editable?
Every full node peer on the network validates every transaction and every block. If you edit any information, it will be rejected by every peer on the network that has implemented the bitcoin consensus rules. Getting a peer to accept a block that you have created requires you to perform a proof-of-work (often called "mining"). The deeper down the chain you want to make a change, the more work you'll have to prove in order to get peers to accept your change. This proof-of-work quickly becomes prohibitively expensive as the block gets deeper in the chain as long as most of the hash power on the network that is performing the proof-of-work is not cooperating to make the change. Additionally, any block with an invalid transaction is rejected regardless of how much proof-of-work you supply.
8. What happened in Mt. Gox incident?
There are a lot of opinions about that. There is no definitive proof yet as to exactly what happened. The basics are:
- Lots of people gave their bitcoins to MtGox and trusted MtGox to keep those bitcoins secure
- MtGox failed to keep most of the bitcoins secure (either because of fraud in the company, or incompetence)
was all the bitcoins lost?
No. But almost all the bitcoins were lost. There were still some bitcoins left at MtGox when they announced that they lost lots of bitcoins, but not very much.
9. How do we know how much bitcoins are lost
By looking at the blockchain and knowing what the consensus rules are, we can compute a number of bitcoins that are provably unspendable.
By understanding some mathematics and cryptography, we can make some assumptions about additional bitcoins that we can safely assume are unspendable.
Beyond that there are bitcoins that people have publicly stated they've lost. They may be lying. They may not. We generally can't know for certain.
& how does it affects the economy?
Basic understanding of economic principles leads most people to accept that a reduction in supply will lead to an increase in value for a given demand.
10. Why do we have so many bitcoin startups coming up?
Because there are entrepreneurial individuals that believe that they can supply a product or service that others are willing to pay for.
what do companies other than exchange does?
The same thing that any company ever does. They find or create products or services that others are willing to pay for, and then they exchange those products or services for a profit.
11. Why do we do pool mining?
Pool mining reduces variance in payouts over reasonable timeframes.
Isnt it unfair for other miners who dont use pool?
If they want to use a pool, they can. If they don't want to, they don't have to. Each individual has the freedom to choose whether they want to get small payouts on a regular basis, or a chance for a large payout very rarely.
12. Is there any other application based on blockchain which is as active as bitcoin is?
Bitcoin is the first and most popular blockchain based protocol. There are others that aren't quite as popular, such as litecoin.
Pardon me if you find some questions too much basic..
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
It probably would have been better to post in the "
Beginners & Help" section of the forum. (edit: I see that a moderator has moved it for you).
Thank you,
You're welcome.