Short question - Short answer [Official Thread]

[lockept93]

These kind of thread are usefull in many other big boards, so why not do it on bct?

The rules are simple - instead of open a new thread for a short and simple question, post here and you will get a fast answer.

This will bring some more organization and overview.

 

[1714963057]

1714963057

[yooper]

  If I am secure with my passphrase is there a need to also secure a copy of wallet.dat?

I'm a noob, just reading up on all this for the past several days.
Created a coinbase account and a bitcoin wallet on my android phone.
Sent coin to the phone.
No clue where to locate wallet.dat.
I read somewhere that your phrase IS your coin.... don't understand why I'd need the .dat file.

[HabBear]

The rules are simple - instead of open a new thread for a short and simple question,

Interesting idea, the only concern I have is getting short answers...you'll notice on this forum that you'll get 20 answers, several repeating what's already been said.

If I am secure with my passphrase is there a need to also secure a copy of wallet.dat?

I'm a noob, just reading up on all this for the past several days.
Created a coinbase account and a bitcoin wallet on my android phone.
Sent coin to the phone.
No clue where to locate wallet.dat.
I read somewhere that your phrase IS your coin.... don't understand why I'd need the .dat file.

If you have a wallet.dat file, YES you need to back it up...in multiple locations with independent security. Anyone taking that file will have taken the bitcoin with in it.

If you're using Coinbase you won't get or need a wallet.dat file. Coinbase doesn't give you your private keys. Coinbase is a bank, you have an account, they have the bitcoin wallet, and they keep record of how much they owe you. There are convenience benefits to Coinbase and theoretical security disadvantages,

[yooper]

If I am secure with my passphrase is there a need to also secure a copy of wallet.dat?

I'm a noob, just reading up on all this for the past several days.
Created a coinbase account and a bitcoin wallet on my android phone.
Sent coin to the phone.
No clue where to locate wallet.dat.
I read somewhere that your phrase IS your coin.... don't understand why I'd need the .dat file.

If you have a wallet.dat file, YES you need to back it up...in multiple locations with independent security. Anyone taking that file will have taken the bitcoin with in it.

If you're using Coinbase you won't get or need a wallet.dat file. Coinbase doesn't give you your private keys. Coinbase is a bank, you have an account, they have the bitcoin wallet, and they keep record of how much they owe you. There are convenience benefits to Coinbase and theoretical security disadvantages,

I understand Coinbase, would not keep coin there.

If I have a wallet.dat file?  more confusion, I can't find one on my phone.  There is a backup option in settings in the bitcoin android app, but no clue where this backup is stored, although I've seen some info suggesting it is on the SD Card in a format not compatible with other wallet.dat files. I am running Android 7.0 and can encrypt the phone ... but don't know if that applies to the SD card. I can remove and copy the sd card but don't know it that would work to insert in a new phone....

There is also an export function in settings, I can set a password and create a text file to email to myself, an email doesn't seem like a good idea...  but the only option I can see at this time.

Regarding the pass phrase... that alone is not sufficient to somehow restore/import coin into a new wallet? My main concern is if the phone is lost or damaged, while I can remotely wipe the phone I'd need to restore the coin somewhere....

What I am starting to understand is why it will likely be a long time before this technology will be understood well enough to gain widespread consumer confidence.

[mlethbridge]

1st question - I'm new to bitcoin.

I initiated a transfer, from bread, b75,000 ($260) but the network fee was b155,463 ($540) = $801.

The fee was essentially the same whether I attempted to pay the vendor directly or transfer to coinbase.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks, in advance

[Randywag]

I understand Coinbase, would not keep coin there.

If I have a wallet.dat file?  more confusion, I can't find one on my phone.  There is a backup option in settings in the bitcoin android app, but no clue where this backup is stored, although I've seen some info suggesting it is on the SD Card in a format not compatible with other wallet.dat files. I am running Android 7.0 and can encrypt the phone ... but don't know if that applies to the SD card. I can remove and copy the sd card but don't know it that would work to insert in a new phone....

There is also an export function in settings, I can set a password and create a text file to email to myself, an email doesn't seem like a good idea...  but the only option I can see at this time.

Regarding the pass phrase... that alone is not sufficient to somehow restore/import coin into a new wallet? My main concern is if the phone is lost or damaged, while I can remotely wipe the phone I'd need to restore the coin somewhere....

What I am starting to understand is why it will likely be a long time before this technology will be understood well enough to gain widespread consumer confidence.

Yes, do not keep coins anywhere online. It is always possible to become the next mt gox attack. If you back up your wallet on your phone, it is a big possibility that it is stored either on your google drive or sd card. I stored mine on my google drive. This way it is always accessible on new phones or anywhere else I get a wallet. Thats just me though, I am somewhat new to this and really only cloud mine. I only have a little coin.

[Gleb Gamow]

What's the maximum lenght allowed for short questions on this thread? Same question for the answers.

[lockept93]

What's the maximum lenght allowed for short questions on this thread? Same question for the answers.

I wouldnt give any limit. If its a half book its better to open an own thread for that.

[yooper]

I've only seen 12 word pass phrases  mentioned in what I've read so far, but as a noob I am less than a week into this .... new hobby I guess.
Today I installed the coinami wallet app on an andriod phone, it created an 18 word phrase ....  how significant is that? I assume if makes the crypto even stronger but maybe beyond necessity?  Also since most other wallets only use 12 words wouldn't there be a compatibility issue if you wanted to change wallets?

[Eric Cartman]

I've only seen 12 word pass phrases  mentioned in what I've read so far, but as a noob I am less than a week into this .... new hobby I guess.
Today I installed the coinami wallet app on an andriod phone, it created an 18 word phrase ....  how significant is that? I assume if makes the crypto even stronger but maybe beyond necessity?  Also since most other wallets only use 12 words wouldn't there be a compatibility issue if you wanted to change wallets?

of course each wallet has its own ways of recovery words, since recovery words aren't implemented with the blockchain technology

[Muhammed Zakir]

I've only seen 12 word pass phrases  mentioned in what I've read so far, but as a noob I am less than a week into this .... new hobby I guess.

12,13,18 and 24 are used frequently, though there is no rule. It comes to implementation as to length of a passphrase. For example, Monero uses 25-word passphrase.

Today I installed the coinami wallet app on an andriod phone, it created an 18 word phrase ....  how significant is that? I assume if makes the crypto even stronger but maybe beyond necessity?

Technically, I can't answer to that.

Simply put, when we recover our wallet, we have to enter seed. Some(most?) wallets ask words in random order. If you have, say 24-word passphrase, over 12, then even if your words are tracked by keyloggers, they will have harder time in deriving your wallet.

Also since most other wallets only use 12 words wouldn't there be a compatibility issue if you wanted to change wallets?

For compatibility, different wallets implement different seed formats. For example, Electrum uses their own seed format, Mycelium uses BIP39 and Coinomi uses BIP44. Thus, when you try to swap between clients, you need to first check seed format. You can import your whole "wallet" to another client by importing all your private keys, but it is going to be a pain in the neck.

HD wallets compatibility matrix: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1000544.0

P.S. Do note that when you import private keys to a client, it *won't* be related to your seed unless you send your bitcoins to any of the addresses generated by your seed.

[yooper]

HD wallets compatibility matrix: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1000544.0

P.S. Do note that when you import private keys to a client, it *won't* be related to your seed unless you send your bitcoins to any of the addresses generated by your seed.

Ok, thanks!  I just need to settle on what wallet I want to stay with and forget the rest. I have 3 at the moment but all are empty now, converted to fiat on coinbase. The fiat wallet on coinbase is FDIC insured same as a bank account.   I'm looking for an android wallet that has multiple coin wallets and allows buy/sell from the app.

[Muhammed Zakir]

{...} I'm looking for an android wallet that has multiple coin wallets and allows buy/sell from the app.

There isn't any afaik.

[yooper]

{...} I'm looking for an android wallet that has multiple coin wallets and allows buy/sell from the app.

There isn't any afaik.

I do believe you are correct.
I am curious why, surely time will expose the reason.

[simik]

1st question - I'm new to bitcoin.

I initiated a transfer, from bread, b75,000 ($260) but the network fee was b155,463 ($540) = $801.

The fee was essentially the same whether I attempted to pay the vendor directly or transfer to coinbase.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks, in advance

You probably received a lot of very small amounts of bitcoin to your wallet. As a result transaction fee which are determined by the size of the transaction (which in your case tries to send a ton of those small inputs), is also high. Although $540 seems unusually excessive, unless your transaction has like a thousand inputs.

[Real_Person]

Best current online micro-wallet for small BTC transactions without high fees? 

[pooya87]

Best current online micro-wallet for small BTC transactions without high fees? 

if you are the receiver, nothing really. you should ask the person paying you to let it accumulate to a bigger amount then do the payment. the only other option i can think of (not good option though) is using an exchange wallet if you are a trader. there are some of them that have not yet increased their fees. and if you are a trader that is two birds with one stone.

if you are the sender then pay all in batches. like paying 20 people in one transaction. that way the total fee is going to be smaller than paying 20 people in 20 transactions.

[uslfd]

Hello! Absolutely new to the game.

Wondering where is cheapest to buy a Trezor or something like that?

Thanks!

[minerpeak]

I am really curious about what are the differences between a currency and asset?

[Muhammed Zakir]

Hello! Absolutely new to the game.

Wondering where is cheapest to buy a Trezor or something like that?

Thanks!

Buy official Trezor with cheapest price @ https://shop.trezor.io.

Edit:

I am really curious about what are the differences between a currency and asset?

https://medium.com/money-games/asset-vs-currency-5d13ed2819ef
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-a-currency-and-a-commodity
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-an-asset-and-a-commodity

You can see many other articles of "currency vs assets" by searching in Google(or other provider).

[EXtremeAEX]

Question about 'sweeping' (import)

After you sweep the private keys of lets say a paper wallet to a desktop wallet like Bitcoin Core or Electrum, what happens? I have read that the balance on the paper wallet gets deducted to zero with fee and transferred to the desktop wallet, so does the private keys of the new desktop wallet gets changed?

Thanks!

[Muhammed Zakir]

Question about 'sweeping' (import)

After you sweep the private keys of lets say a paper wallet to a desktop wallet like Bitcoin Core or Electrum, what happens? I have read that the balance on the paper wallet gets deducted to zero with fee and transferred to the desktop wallet,

Different between import and sweep is, former imports your private key to your wallet and it will be there until/unless you remove it. "Sweep" sends all bitcoins in the address associated to given private key to one of the addresses in your existing wallet. It does *not* store your private keys in your wallet and that means, if you want to send funds from it again, if any, you will have to import it which will store your private key in your wallet forever or sweep it if you want to move funds to your wallet.

Normally, if you want to send Bitcoin from an address which is not in your wallet, you have to import private key to your wallet, create transaction, sign it and then send/broadcast it. With "sweeping", Bitcoin in given address is send to one of the addresses in your wallet. You can select which address you want to receive it or it will send to your current "receiving" address.

Import  =  Store your private key
Sweep  =  Does *not* store your private key

If you want to send Bitcoin from a paper wallet to an address NOT in your wallet, "sweeping" is NOT the option to choose.

so does the private keys of the new desktop wallet gets changed?

Thanks!

Sweep  =  No
Import  =  No

When importing, your private key is stored *along* with your existing wallet. No changes will be made to your existing wallet.

*Edited

[lockept93]

Good work @Muhammed Zakir 

[uslfd]

Thank you Muhammed for your help!! Really appreciate it.

Quick question:
What does mining group like http://www.l8nit3-miners.com/ does?

Thanks.

[Muhammed Zakir]

Thank you Muhammed for your help!! Really appreciate it.

Quick question:
What does mining group like http://www.l8nit3-miners.com/ does?

Thanks.

https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/22100

If you are going for pool mining, choose your pool carefully! See https://www.bitcoinmining.com/bitcoin-mining-pools/ and https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC/pools.

[irsada]

Hello!!!
I want to ask how to mine bitcoin for newbie like me ??

[toolucky98]

hey, how to track the site where my wallet's adresses are located?

Dogecoin address : D78mKz8CzCy9AycmTSZrxXayqv2AzPe8bm
Orb address : oPZd7mS7UgqPRUSbn433GwsRGWdy4zoAKf
Orangecoin address : oJwAknQEZjQoqDwrqF6xSUX28gUAWwBCNa
Pink Coin address : PDLYtBNXP2vNM4DQkUPFGUJ4sc4WB7fGXr
Energy coin address : e9KswDwoPiEzFSqpPQCsBd3j6ey5CYpPtx
CoolCoin Address : CPZ1rodhVFoKdTAK5r6E8wAw2XspwdDueR

i created these adress in 2014, but now i dont know how to check them.

[Heyyyrenz]

Hello!!!
I want to ask how to mine bitcoin for newbie like me ??

Mining is not an easy job you need to wait for a couple of days i guess before earning a little big money. There are two ways or method in order for you to mine.

1. Mining using your computer - You can mine using your computer however you really need a good computer in order to mine fast or i should say a good specs in order to mine fast.

ADVANTAGES: You don't need to pay in order to mine.
DISADAVNTAGES: You'll be using your computer for a long time it's either going to over heat if it doesn't have a ventelation cooler plus you need to pay for the electricity.

2. Cloud Mining - There are a lot of sites out there offering this kind of service so what is cloud mining? It is a service where you can mine without using your own computer or mine even offline.

So how does it work? First in order to use their service you need to pay them or rent their computer they have diff list for example 5x faster mining = 50$ for 1 year you can mine but it depends on what kind of contract youre going to chose.

ADVANTAGES: You can earn even when you're sleeping, your computer will not be tortured and you don't need to pay high because of the electricity bill.
DISADVANTAGES: You need to pay for a contract (It depends on what you've chosesn. The faster the mining the higher the rent is) and it's a bit expensive

[Muhammed Zakir]

hey, how to track the site where my wallet's adresses are located?

Dogecoin address : D78mKz8CzCy9AycmTSZrxXayqv2AzPe8bm
Orb address : oPZd7mS7UgqPRUSbn433GwsRGWdy4zoAKf
Orangecoin address : oJwAknQEZjQoqDwrqF6xSUX28gUAWwBCNa
Pink Coin address : PDLYtBNXP2vNM4DQkUPFGUJ4sc4WB7fGXr
Energy coin address : e9KswDwoPiEzFSqpPQCsBd3j6ey5CYpPtx
CoolCoin Address : CPZ1rodhVFoKdTAK5r6E8wAw2XspwdDueR

i created these adress in 2014, but now i dont know how to check them.

As far as I know, you can't.

Hello!!!
I want to ask how to mine bitcoin for newbie like me ??

Mining is not an easy job you need to wait for a couple of days i guess before earning a little big money. There are two ways or method in order for you to mine.

1. Mining using your computer - You can mine using your computer however you really need a good computer in order to mine fast or i should say a good specs in order to mine fast.

ADVANTAGES: You don't need to pay in order to mine.
DISADAVNTAGES: You'll be using your computer for a long time it's either going to over heat if it doesn't have a ventelation cooler plus you need to pay for the electricity.

CPU/GPU mining is over. You have to buy ASICs now and even with that, your ROI will be pretty bad. You could get some if you mine altcoins, but be careful when choosing. There are many worthless coins and pump-and-dump coins.

2. Cloud Mining - There are a lot of sites out there offering this kind of service so what is cloud mining? It is a service where you can mine without using your own computer or mine even offline.

So how does it work? First in order to use their service you need to pay them or rent their computer they have diff list for example 5x faster mining = 50$ for 1 year you can mine but it depends on what kind of contract youre going to chose.

ADVANTAGES: You can earn even when you're sleeping, your computer will not be tortured and you don't need to pay high because of the electricity bill.
DISADVANTAGES: You need to pay for a contract (It depends on what you've chosesn. The faster the mining the higher the rent is) and it's a bit expensive

Many sites which offer cloud mining are ponzis and scams. You should check *every* details before investing. Checking their total hashrate against total hashrate they sell can to some extent see if they are legit or not.

[hideto98]

Why does my antivirus recognizes Bitcoin Core as a threat? Should i turn it off?

[EXtremeAEX]

Why does my antivirus recognizes Bitcoin Core as a threat? Should i turn it off?

What antivirus software are you using? Bitcoin Core should not have any issues in it and it is also one of the most widely used software.

Check your download source of the Bitcoin Core client and make sure it is from the official website:
https://bitcoin.org/en/download

Your antivirus may not be accurate but do not switch it off, just make sure the one causing trouble is not your antivirus or the 'Bitcoin Core' you are downloading.

[simik]

Why does my antivirus recognizes Bitcoin Core as a threat? Should i turn it off?

Several people have placed parts of known computer viruses in the Bitcoin block chain. This block chain data can’t infect your computer, but some anti-virus programs quarantine the data anyway, making it more difficult to run Bitcoin Core. This problem mostly affects computers running Windows.

[pooya87]

Why does my antivirus recognizes Bitcoin Core as a threat? Should i turn it off?

Several people have placed parts of known computer viruses in the Bitcoin block chain. This block chain data can’t infect your computer, but some anti-virus programs quarantine the data anyway, making it more difficult to run Bitcoin Core. This problem mostly affects computers running Windows.

this doesn't make any sense! do you have any reference or more information about this.
as far as i can tell, the only thing you can "place" in the bitcoin blockchain is a short hex string using the OP_Return. how can a string be recognized as a virus?!

[simik]

this doesn't make any sense! do you have any reference or more information about this.
as far as i can tell, the only thing you can "place" in the bitcoin blockchain is a short hex string using the OP_Return. how can a string be recognized as a virus?!

Just google what a virus signature is.