Blockchain Torrent - anyone interested?

[mb300sd]

Since we all know it takes forever to download the blockchain, would anyone be interested in a torrent of it, updated about every week?

I don't see any security threat here since a client with an invalid blockchain would just download the correct one.

Well?

[HostFat]

Is this ok?
http://eu1.bitcoincharts.com/blockchain/

[mb300sd]

I guess never mind then, the only other blockchain I found downloaded at less than 1 MB/s.. that ones plenty fast.

[doobadoo]

why not just bundle a copy of the blockchain with the client, that way the client only has to spend an hour or so to update.

I zipped the 600 meg blockchain down to 450.   thats not bad.  Why isn't it included with the download of the client itself?

[koin]

http://eu1.bitcoincharts.com/blockchain/

i'm assuming .sig used to verify the download signature, but how?  otherwise, just accepting the .tar without using ssl for the download URL leaves me vulnerable to a man in the middle attack, right?

[mb300sd]

I don't think theres a danger in having an invalid blockchain, the client would just see that the correct one is longer and download it the normal way.

[Maged]

I don't think theres a danger in having an invalid blockchain, the client would just see that the correct one is longer and download it the normal way.

That is incorrect. The blockchain files themselves are never verified by the client because it is assumed that the blocks were checked as they came in. Since the blocks aren't rechecked when you download them in this way, literally anything could be inserted in there and it could be made to appear like everything is fine until the attacker decides to use the hole they made. For most people, it is just fine if you download these files from a trusted member. If you sell much stuff or are a miner, though, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you get the blockchain using the built-in download and verification system.

[sgravina]

If I download the blockchain on one machine can I just copy it to my other machines?  I'm thinking of having a bitcoin server on each of my 9 miners.  I want to use solo mining as a backup to my pooled mining.  I know I could have a single bitcoin server but I think that a per machine server would be more robust to server failure.

[Maged]

If I download the blockchain on one machine can I just copy it to my other machines?

Yes, as long as you completely trust the source of the blockchain files, it is just fine. Since you are the source, the only concern then is if someone infected that one computer with a trojan to mess with the blockchain files... But that's even more unlikely than someone uploading false blockchain files anyway.

[Exonumia]

Can always just grab the snapshot from sourceforge:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/