What exactly are bitcoins bound to?

[Maximus-CZ]

Hello, I have a little misunderstanding.

When I download Bitcoin-qt, I launch it, sync it, and I have a wallet.
I can generate multiple addresses to which people might send money to.

So, I have a wallet A, and generate 3 addresses. Address Aa Ab and Ac.
3 persons, send me 1 BTC each (each person to assigned address).
If I got it right, those addresses are not connected in any way (except they all lead to my wallet), so those people cant reveal my current balance of 3 BTC. (right?)
I have 1 BTC on adress Aa, 1 BTC on Ab and 1 BTC on Ac.
I have 3 BTC in total.

But now comes the catch. When I decide to send 2 BTC to new guy (number 4), where will those BTCs come from? My wallet says I have 3 BTC, so I can definitely send 2 BTC.
But I dont have 2 BTC on single adress, so how can I send 2 BTC in a single transaction to another adress?

If BTC are bound to receiving addresses, I should not be able to send 2 BTC, only 1 BTC two times, each time from one of those addresses.
If they are bound to wallet, how do those people cant see that my current balance is 3 BTC?

I am confused, sorry if this seems stupid. Any explanation helps

[Matthew N. Wright]

Re: What exactly are bitcoins bound to?

Answer: Libertarianism. 

[Maximus-CZ]

funny, but could you actually read my post and try to answer this time?
thanks

[barbarousrelic]

Hello, I have a little misunderstanding.

When I download Bitcoin-qt, I launch it, sync it, and I have a wallet.
I can generate multiple addresses to which people might send money to.

So, I have a wallet A, and generate 3 addresses. Address Aa Ab and Ac.
3 persons, send me 1 BTC each (each person to assigned address).
If I got it right, those addresses are not connected in any way (except they all lead to my wallet), so those people cant reveal my current balance of 3 BTC. (right?)
I have 1 BTC on adress Aa, 1 BTC on Ab and 1 BTC on Ac.
I have 3 BTC in total.

But now comes the catch. When I decide to send 2 BTC to new guy (number 4), where will those BTCs come from? My wallet says I have 3 BTC, so I can definitely send 2 BTC.
But I dont have 2 BTC on single adress, so how can I send 2 BTC in a single transaction to another adress?

If BTC are bound to receiving addresses, I should not be able to send 2 BTC, only 1 BTC two times, each time from one of those addresses.
If they are bound to wallet, how do those people cant see that my current balance is 3 BTC?

I am confused, sorry if this seems stupid. Any explanation helps

If you have three Bitcoins on three different addresses in your wallet, no, the 3 people who sent you 1 bitcoin each will not know about each others' transactions.

If you try to send 2 Bitcoins to a fourth person, he will see that his two Bitcoins came from two different addresses. I do not know how the Bitcoin client determines which of the two addresses it will use.

[Birdy]

They are bound to the blockchain, that's the transaction history of all transactions ever made. It states on what adresses all the Bitcoins are.

You adresses are just keys to access some of them.

[Explodicle]

You can send from multiple input addresses in a single transaction. IIRC the official Bitcoin client does this automatically when all sending addresses are in the same wallet.

[Maximus-CZ]

You can send from multiple input addresses in a single transaction. IIRC the official Bitcoin client does this automatically when all sending addresses are in the same wallet.

I see, so those money will really be sent from 2 addresses. I thought there always have to be 1 "from" address. Thanks

Your wallet will take two inputs for the transaction, and they go to one output (for your example).

If you were to send 1.5 BTC it would take 2 inputs and have 2 outputs, as one would be 0.5 BTC as change back to you.

That make sense?

It does, thank you!

[tysat]

Your wallet will take two inputs for the transaction, and they go to one output (for your example).

If you were to send 1.5 BTC it would take 2 inputs and have 2 outputs, as one would be 0.5 BTC as change back to you.

That make sense?

[dude581]

love ppl who register and ask basic question before doing little research. Lazyness is brain killer.

[Birdy]

love ppl who register and ask basic question before doing little research. Lazyness is brain killer.

Love people who register to complain about people registering to ask for help.

[Maximus-CZ]

love ppl who register and ask basic question before doing little research. Lazyness is brain killer.

You know, I researched a lot, but I was just confused by this (as I described above) and just didnt know. Try to form my question into phrase that google could find.. I couldnt think any, so I asked

[Explodicle]

love ppl who register and ask basic question before doing little research. Lazyness is brain killer.

You know, I researched a lot, but I was just confused by this (as I described above) and just didnt know. Try to form my question into phrase that google could find.. I couldnt think any, so I asked

Don't let it stress you out, every open source project has people like that. Completely reasonable question.

[dude581]

love ppl who register and ask basic question before doing little research. Lazyness is brain killer.

Love people who register to complain about people registering to ask for help.

I've registered for different reason
OK, my approach was quite nasty Maybe I just love searching for answers rather then asking questions.