bitaddress.org - wallet question

[maeusi]

You just have to import your private key into a wallet, that supports importing private keys. Maybe there is also an easier way to send bitcoins from paper or mind wallets

[karsyla]

What's the most reliable bitcoin client, which do not disclose any information and does not collect any private information, etc. ?

[DannyHamilton]

How do I send my BTC to someone if I do not use any p2p btc client and I generate my addresses on bitaddress?

It is not possible.

Bitcoins exist only as transactions on the shared blockchain.

The only way to "send bitcoins" is to assemble the necessary bytes of data to represent a valid bitcoin transaction and then to share that data with p2p bitcoin clients so that it can be added to a block of data in the blockchain.

You could generate the transaction data without p2p software if you have access to the transaction data that sent you the bitcoins, but at some point you'd have to then get that data to some p2p client somehow.

[DannyHamilton]

What's the most reliable bitcoin client, which do not disclose any information and does not collect any private information, etc. ?

Most clients don't collect any private information.

They all disclose public keys when transmitting transactions.

[karsyla]

Thank you for your answers.

I tried electrum and bitcoin core and bitcoin core looks friendlier to me.
Do I understand correctly that bitcoin core operates in a way in which the client has to download the entire blockchain (which is 122GB as of today) to a computer?

[DannyHamilton]

Thank you for your answers.

I tried electrum and bitcoin core and bitcoin core looks friendlier to me.
Do I understand correctly that bitcoin core operates in a way in which the client has to download the entire blockchain (which is 122GB as of today) to a computer?

Correct.

[karsyla]

Thank you for your answers.

I tried electrum and bitcoin core and bitcoin core looks friendlier to me.
Do I understand correctly that bitcoin core operates in a way in which the client has to download the entire blockchain (which is 122GB as of today) to a computer?

Correct.

nice! is there any way to use bitcoin core without downloading the blockchain to a PC?

One thing I do not quite understand yet is fees. Who sets the btc transaction fee, that the sender pays? is it p2p client-based, is it a fix fee or a floating one?

[DannyHamilton]

is there any way to use bitcoin core without downloading the blockchain to a PC?

Not easily.

Bitcoin Core is intended to be a fully participating node on the bitcoin network.

It validates every transaction and block it receives from peers, enforces the protocol rules, and relays valid transactions and blocks to all connected peers.
It also provides to new peers the historical blocks from the blockchain that they need to synchronize when they connect to the network.

There is a feature called pruning that you can turn on with a configuration file so that it won't store all those blocks, but it still needs to download and verify them all. The feature just reduces the amount of storage space you need to have available.

One thing I do not quite understand yet is fees. Who sets the btc transaction fee, that the sender pays?

The sender sets it.

The fee is voluntary.  The sender chooses how much of a fee they want to pay based on how many transactions are waiting to be confirmed, the size of those transactions (in bytes), the fee that those transactions voluntarily paid, and how quickly the sender would like the transaction to confirm.

Some well written wallet software (such as Bitcoin Core and Electrum) will monitor the bitcoin network while they are running and collect statistics about the current transactions and blocks (quantity, size, fees, speed of confirmation, etc).  The wallet software will then attempt to recommend a fee to the sender that will get their transaction confirmed in a reasonable amount of time.

Some wallet software leaves the fee decision entirely up to the sender.  Other software implements a mandatory fee and doesn't allow the sender to change it. Still other software will recommend a fee, but allow the sender to alter it if they want to.  The decision on how software will handle the fee decision is left entirely up to the developer of the software.

is it p2p client-based,

It is sender based, and wallet software based.

is it a fix fee or a floating one?

That depends on the software, but in Bitcoin Core and Electrum it is constantly adjusted depending on the size of your transaction (in bytes) and the statistics of recent transactions on the network.

[karsyla]

is there any website I can check how much the fee averages for a certain amount of BTC?

I am looking to buy some BTC now, but the seller is asking around 10% which is ridiculous to me.

[DannyHamilton]

is there any website I can check how much the fee averages for a certain amount of BTC?

Are you asking about bitcoin transaction fees? Or are you talking about the profit that a bitcoin seller wants you to pay him when he gives you some of his bitcoins?

Bitcoin transaction fees are "per byte" and NOT "per bitcoin".  You can get a good estimate here:
https://bitcoinfees.21.co/

If you are talking about profit for a seller, then it is up to the two of you to negotiate a price that you both find acceptable. If you cannot agree on a price, then you can look for another seller.

I am looking to buy some BTC now, but the seller is asking around 10% which is ridiculous to me.

How much more than the generally accepted market price you'll have to pay will depend on a lot of factors.

What markets do you have access to?
How fast do you want the bitcoins?
How convenient do you want the transaction to be?
How much privacy do you want in the transaction?
How much security and/or trust is involved in the transaction?

All of these things have value and have an effect on how much you'll have to pay for bitcoins.

[maeusi]

is there any website I can check how much the fee averages for a certain amount of BTC?

I am looking to buy some BTC now, but the seller is asking around 10% which is ridiculous to me.

Coinmarketcap https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/ is a good site to watch the prices. It shows all relevant markets.

is there any website I can check how much the fee averages for a certain amount of BTC?

Are you asking about bitcoin transaction fees? Or are you talking about the profit that a bitcoin seller wants you to pay him when he gives you some of his bitcoins?

Bitcoin transaction fees are "per byte" and NOT "per bitcoin".  You can get a good estimate here:
https://bitcoinfees.21.co/

If you are talking about profit for a seller, then it is up to the two of you to negotiate a price that you both find acceptable. If you cannot agree on a price, then you can look for another seller.

I am looking to buy some BTC now, but the seller is asking around 10% which is ridiculous to me.

How much more than the generally accepted market price you'll have to pay will depend on a lot of factors.

What markets do you have access to?
How fast do you want the bitcoins?
How convenient do you want the transaction to be?
How much privacy do you want in the transaction?
How much security and/or trust is involved in the transaction?

All of these things have value and have an effect on how much you'll have to pay for bitcoins.

Yes, that is the point, why you have to pay more than the bitcoin price.



Now back to the topic:
I tried to make a brain wallet on bitaddress, but don't know which words I may put into the seed. Is there a database for seeds?

[karsyla]

you can put whatever you want, it just has to be at least certain amount of characters

[maeusi]

you can put whatever you want, it just has to be at least certain amount of characters

I got an answer here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2091971
An own password, like you suggested would be much better but didn"t work.

[karsyla]

What wallet would you recommend for altcoins?

I have heard exodus and jaxx are good ones, any opinions?

[hello_good_sir]

What wallet would you recommend for altcoins?

I have heard exodus and jaxx are good ones, any opinions?

I would choose exodus over jaxx anyday because of the fact that Jaxx has significant security flaws that essentially allows anyone that has physical access to your phone to access your altcoins without any sort of warning. And they seem to be fine with it. Exodus is much slicker in its design, and it has a very nice team of professional bitcoiners, as well as a responsive support. You also have control over your own private keys.

Bitaddress is a good service, albeit not a very convenient one. I would recommend using it but i would use electrum for anything less than 0.05 BTC. Bitaddress is usually used for offline storage, so each time you want to generate a new address you'd have to run the site in offline conditions and type in random characters and all that. As i said, it's a hassle to manage all your addresses if you are going to use them quite often.

[karsyla]

What wallet would you recommend for altcoins?

I have heard exodus and jaxx are good ones, any opinions?

I would choose exodus over jaxx anyday because of the fact that Jaxx has significant security flaws that essentially allows anyone that has physical access to your phone to access your altcoins without any sort of warning. And they seem to be fine with it. Exodus is much slicker in its design, and it has a very nice team of professional bitcoiners, as well as a responsive support. You also have control over your own private keys.

Bitaddress is a good service, albeit not a very convenient one. I would recommend using it but i would use electrum for anything less than 0.05 BTC. Bitaddress is usually used for offline storage, so each time you want to generate a new address you'd have to run the site in offline conditions and type in random characters and all that. As i said, it's a hassle to manage all your addresses if you are going to use them quite often.

Well, you can use their 'bulk wallet' feature and generate as many addresses as you need in a single click

[Zocadas]

When I generate a paper wallet there, then I also can send their funds. It needn't be online, right?

[karsyla]

Okay, so it is possible to generate wallets in an offline mode without ANY connectivity using bitaddress

But how does the system (the blockchain) knows then that this address exists and you can send BTC to that address?

[DannyHamilton]

Okay, so it is possible to generate wallets in an offline mode without ANY connectivity using bitaddress

Correct.

But how does the system (the blockchain) knows then that this address exists and you can send BTC to that address?

The blockchain is just data.  It does not know anything.  It does not need to know anything.

You are now asking questions that require an understanding of the technical details of how bitcoin works.  "Addresses" don't actually exist at the technical level.  Neither does anything that could be called a "bitcoin".  Those are just abstract concepts that we humans use to make it easier to talk about transferring control over value.

Imagine for a moment that I write a note that says that I want to transfer control of my pencil to someone named "John Smith" who lives at the address of "123 Main St." with an ID number of "1S3FH45692".

How does the paper know that this person exists and that I can transfer my pencil to him?

The paper doesn't care.

Now imagine that somehow this note on paper could be made into a binding agreement that I could not change. If the person actually exists, then they could claim the pencil.  If they do not exist, then the pencil would be stuck unclaimed by anybody forever (or at least until that person eventually exists).

Bitcoin operates in a similar manner.

When I send a bitcoin transaction, the transaction has a section of data called the "output".  The output is assigned a value, and then is encumbered with a requirement that someone must meet if they want to be able to spend that output.  The blockchain doesn't care if that requirement can be met or not.  It simply records the fact that the requirement exists.

Then wallet software converts that requirement into a string of letters and numbers that we humans call an "address".

In the case of the typical P2PKH address that you commonly see with bitcoin (the addresses that always start with a 1), the requirement that the output is encumbered with is that the future spender MUST supply a digital signature that can be validated with a specific public key.  The instructions that explain this requirement are called a "script".  That script is then encoded into the address that you use.

When you tell someone your address, and they type it into their wallet software, the software has been programmed to use that type of address to create the appropriate output script that you will be able to satisfy since you control the private key and will be able to generate the necessary digital signature when you later want to spend that output.

If someone uses an "address" that wasn't properly generated from a private key, then the sending wallet software will create a requirement that nobody will be able to satisfy (since nobody will have the private key and therefore nobody will be able to create the necessary signature).

[Zocadas]

Okay, so it is possible to generate wallets in an offline mode without ANY connectivity using bitaddress

But how does the system (the blockchain) knows then that this address exists and you can send BTC to that address?

.
The address is generated randomly with a very low chance to hit an existing address. You can recieve payments offline, but you must go online to send Bitcoin. Therefore you can import your private key into a wallet, that supports that. (Simplified answer of a nontechy, Hope it is right)