A simple bitcoin Q/A. Learn new and interesting stuff about bitcoin.

[cryptothief]

These guys distributed Ledger...

[Kim Ji Won]

Whoa! I've answered it correctly I guess? Didn't expect that I will tho. , but hey! TBH I just recently bumped into his thread yesterday and I don't really know that there is this kind of service. I really learned a lot and I added this thread to my watchlist. Hope that this thread continues to function even if pugman and bill gator run out of sMerits to give because as I went to the whole thread, it seems there are a few members with many sMerits that would like to chip in if ever you guys are running out of it.

Anyways, I gave back the merit I received in hope that it could also help others to be awarded. If I may ask, I understand that after being merited for answering the question, I should not participate in the next question but I can participate in the question after that right? Even so, can I still answer your next question even if I am not merited for it? I just want to know if what I learned/understand about it is correct or not, you can just quote my answer if it correct or wrong then.

[pugman]

Whoa! I've answered it correctly I guess? Didn't expect that I will tho. , but hey! TBH I just recently bumped into his thread yesterday and I don't really know that there is this kind of service. I really learned a lot and I added this thread to my watchlist. Hope that this thread continues to function even if pugman and bill gator run out of sMerits to give because as I went to the whole thread, it seems there are a few members with many sMerits that would like to chip in if ever you guys are running out of it.

Anyways, I gave back the merit I received in hope that it could also help others to be awarded. If I may ask, I understand that after being merited for answering the question, I should not participate in the next question but I can participate in the question after that right? Even so, can I still answer your next question even if I am not merited for it? I just want to know if what I learned/understand about it is correct or not, you can just quote my answer if it correct or wrong then.

Your answer was not entirely correct,but you did mention some valid points and most of it made a little sense. This is not a service but rather this is just a thread where you learn things about bitcoin. Thank you for your offer,but don't worry,I have a few merits and it should probably last for a while. If ever we need any assistance with smerits,I am sure other members would step up for it.

Thanks for giving me the merit but I'd rather ask you to give the merit to someone who deserves it more,I cannot rank up any further,so it'd only make sense.

You can answer how many ever questions you want,unless and you until you repeat the same points that others have mentioned. I'll surely correct you but sometimes I get a little busy and things get super clogged up but whenever I get the time,I'll surely let you know.

[shahzadafzal]

what is the correct answer to this question?

Question: Give a short summary on bitcoind.

[pugman]

what is the correct answer to this question?

Question: Give a short summary on bitcoind.

What r1s2g3 had copied from here is what I was looking for but not in exact same text. I was looking for someone to understand it,and then writing it,even if it is wrong,doesn't matter,you'll learn. Someone or the other if not me will correct you with the right info. So,in other words,I haven't found a right answer from this thread even though I merited a couple of them.

[theyoungmillionaire]

Question: What is a distributed ledger?

Hi Pugman, may I know the correct answer for this? Cause I want to add in the topic Cryptocurrency Lingo/Slangto help beginners. Thanks

[pugman]

Hi Pugman, may I know the correct answer for this? Cause I want to add in the topic Cryptocurrency Lingo/Slangto help beginners. Thanks

I believe this one explains it properly :

A distributed ledger is a database in which the data is shared to all participants in the network. All those participants record, share an synchronize the whole data. There is no need for a central authority in a distributed ledger.  I read reports of early distributed ledgers in 80s and 90s, very interesting.

I think the most famous distributed ledger now is R3 Corda, and some banks are testing it for financial services. R3 Corda is based on blockchain. But it's designed for financial services. One interesting difference is that not all participants (nodes) have all data in R3 Corda.

Blockchain is somehow a distributed ledger. But the process of organizing the database throught blocks, and linking these blocks using hashes, the method of consensus based on Proof of Work, is totally different from a common distributed ledger.

[pugman]

Really awesome thread, first post with all thoose good answers really did teach me something so thank you
Already good answers on it so wont try, but interesteing that something i had not heard of was first launched in 2009 and latest update is just 1 month old!
It looks like a complicated daemon to run.

Could i suggest the next question? "How does a bitcoin wallet work and what is the daemon role?" -Or something in that area

Thank you.
If you want to suggest a question, please go ahead. I am definitely not going to stop something that would encourage more learning.
I am really happy that people are learning something from this thread. There's another thread similar to this started by BTCforJoe, be sure to check it out.

[bitmover]

I found something interesting for this old question. This question really got my attention at the time it was first posted, but i didn't knew anything about it at the time.
I just read about it in the book Mastering Bitcoin (Antonopoulos). As have nobody to talk about it I will post here.

Okay. Here's my question:

Question 9.5: Pretend I own a large business that sells physical items, with all orders being sold online. Tell me about the benefits and drawbacks of accepting Bitcoin for my business. I reside in and pay taxes in Canada.

Now that I'm thinking about it, there are so many more drawbacks of running a large store that accepts Bitcoin... You've got my brain working in overtime now, and all these thoughts keep popping into my head lol. Automation, being one of them. You'd have to hire developers to make an automated payment and fulfillment system, such as the ones that are used by existing fiat payment processors. This comes with a high-cost, as you'd have to have a custom build, or use existing companies like BitPay or Blockonomics. Custom builds will cost thousands of dollars to develop, and you have to put a lot of trust in the dev not to backdoor your code. Using bitcoin payment processors, in turn, means that there are, in fact, fees for your bitcoin payment transactions.

All of this talk can't be for no good reason. DarkStar_, do you run an online retailer that accepts Bitcoin, or are you thinking of starting one? I'm quite interested lol

I was reading about deriving child keys, and then I found about Extended Public Keys (xpub).
This may be pretty basic stuff but I just learned about them now.

Extended Public Keys can be used to create child public keys (only public keys).
This kind of key can generate infinite child public keys and public addresses, but none private key.

In this case they are very useful.
You can install the extended public key on a web server, online, and leave your extended private key in a offline wallet.

If you are going hire developers, you could give them only the xpub, so there would be no way for them to steal your money.

Antonopoulos even talks about Mycelium Gear (I never used it), a program which could generate an unique address for every purchase on the online store.

I think the whole process of accepting bitcoin in a big store may not be so complicated after all.

One additional step for security: Extended public keys can be used to generate private keys if a SINGLE private key is leaked.
There is way to avoid this. There is also something called Hardened derivation. If xpub are generated from a hardened parent, the leak of a private key is not a risk anymore.

I am still learning, just read about it. Tell me if something is wrong.

[BTCforJoe]

These guys distributed Ledger...

Just in case anyone takes your answer serious:

Blockbuster Video did NOT operate a distributed ledger.
They kept a private ledger for the movies that its customers had checked out at any given time. Blockbuster was a centralized organization that operated a centralized ledger.

While I know you were making an attempt at humor with your post, I just don't want anyone to take it serious as a "fun" or "whimsical" answer to explain what a distributed ledger is.

[cryptothief]

While I know you were making an attempt at humor

I get the reasoning behind the post, but that hurt...'an attempt'...

[GeckoTrader]

Thank God after a long search, I found this thread full of intangible information. Thank you @pugman for having the initiative of doing this thread.  I am a newbie when it comes to bitcoin information, I only trade what I can see a good trade in the chart and never  gave importance about learning what is bitcoin really is. With all due respect, may I kindly ask your approval if I can join this question and answer here because as I can see only member and higher position are allowed to answer.

[shahzadafzal]

Thank God after a long search, I found this thread full of intangible information. Thank you @pugman for having the initiative of doing this thread.  I am a newbie when it comes to bitcoin information, I only trade what I can see a good trade in the chart and never  gave importance about learning what is bitcoin really is. With all due respect, may I kindly ask your approval if I can join this question and answer here because as I can see only member and higher position are allowed to answer.

You can add this Topic to your Watchlist and easily access from the shortcut on top of the page
To add to watchlist click  "Watch" on top or bottom of the topic

You can refer this image for help https://i.imgur.com/vFtLEbE.jpg

[dauwaz]

When reading this article I realized a lot about the formation of Bitcoin. Posts are good for newbies like me, thanks all

[r1s2g3]

Hi Pugman
I am eagerly waiting for the next question.

[pugman]

Since the lightning network is becoming more popular now,a lot of people are really confused on what actually it is.  So here's a question about it:

Question: What is lightning network? What's its role and what does it do?

I am looking for a simple answer or basically in layman's terms,so that people can actually understand.

I am eagerly waiting for the next question.

Oh crap,I almost forgot..Don't post just because you have to earn a merit. I am seeing a lot of one/two liners just being rephrased from third party websites. Please understand what you're writing. Or just don't do anything rather.

[max2607]

Since the lightning network is becoming more popular now,a lot of people are really confused on what actually it is.  So here's a question about it:

Question: What is lightning network? What's its role and what does it do?

I am looking for a simple answer or basically in layman's terms,so that people can actually understand.

I am eagerly waiting for the next question.

Oh crap,I almost forgot..Don't post just because you have to earn a merit. I am seeing a lot of one/two liners just being rephrased from third party websites. Please understand what you're writing. Or just don't do anything rather.

Not gonna copy some crap from google but my ans is purely from my point of view

Lightining network from what i have heard was a solution to the slow transaction speed and high fees , though even the speed has increased and fees has gone significantly low you can't really call bitcoin a llightning network. The lightining original was found in ltc roadmap it was going to be implemented but don't know why the delay

Lightining network allows us to transfer coins with faster confirmation like we saw in ripple , xlm and many other coins
It's role is just enhancing user experience while they are transferring funds
Like i said above facts are just told from what i know even if it's wrong i would be happy to learn more about it

Edit: Just saw what darkstar posted on your campaign thread : https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7pwna9/lightning_network_megathread/ all those who don't want to learn but just behind merits refer this

[pugman]

Not gonna copy some crap from google but my ans is purely from my point of view

Lightining network from what i have heard was a solution to the slow transaction speed and high fees , though even the speed has increased and fees has gone significantly low you can't really call bitcoin a lightning network. The lightining original was found in ltc roadmap it was going to be implemented but don't know why the delay

Lightining network allows us to transfer coins with faster confirmation like we saw in ripple , xlm and many other coins
It's role is just enhancing user experience while they are transferring funds
Like i said above facts are just told from what i know even if it's wrong i would be happy to learn more about it

Edit: Just saw what darkstar posted on your campaign thread : https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7pwna9/lightning_network_megathread/ all those who don't want to learn but just behind merits refer this

It was not everything I was looking for,but there was some useful information about it and you put some thought into it. So,I'll give you a merit,even though you may not be a native English speaker.
I am still looking for good answers.

[cryptothief]

Question: What is lightning network? What's its role and what does it do?

Answer: It is touted as being one of the main potential solutions to a common problem in cryptocurrency - scalability. Simply put, it is an additional layer on top of the original blockchain, using whichever native currency it is built on - it does not have it's own currency. It simplifies and speeds up the payment process by creating a multisig wallet - in layman's terms, it could be described as the crypto equivalent of an 'escrow wallet' - on the blockchain. Any subsequent transactions are then conducted (there's your lightning link!) directly between the relevant parties, and only once they decide to close it out is the final balance posted on the blockchain. The process is almost instant as the information is only required to be posted on the blockchain at the beginning and end of the process, all other transactions are done directly between the parties involved. This also nullifies the need for miners to confirm the transactions, meaning that fees are much lower than the current methods - as little as one Satoshi per byte. It should therefore prove to be especially useful for micropayments because of the substantially lower costs for transactions. All this being said, it is still a work in progress - albeit progressing at 'lightning pace' - with doubts in some corners as to whether it will really be the game changer 'experts' think it will be.

[crypto1010]

What is lightning network? the LN is an off chain protocol intended to fix bitcoin scalability  problems without the need to alter the bitcoin protocol .

What's its role? The role of lightning network (LN) in relation to BTC is to reduce transaction confirmation times as TXs will be instant thereby reducing transaction fees. The LN will allow crypto users to make micro payments as fees a much cheaper and the LN will also allow for coin compatiblility(Cross Blockchains)


what does it do? It enables instant transactions thereby reducing number of unconfirmed transactions and increasing the number of transactions that can be processed in a second thereby competeing with the likes of VISA that can process over 2,000 transactions per second on average as compaired to bitcoin which processes less than 7 transactions per second.