Maand: augustus 2011

How can I view the current size, preferably in bytes, of the blockchain? Is there a CLI command for bitcoind? Or a website that displays the size?

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? I have heard about him and read his paper.

Why is he no-longer publicly involved in Bitcoin?

Where can I find a list of people that can commit directly to the github project?

I’d like to make small payments for business purposes through Bitcoin, so would like to know what the easiest method of getting setup to accept a Bitcoin payment is for a regular person, so that I can recommend it to those I want to pay.

Some options I see are:

• Standard Bitcoin client

• BitcoinJ

• Instawallet

• Flexcoin

These people will only be holding a few Bitcoin at most in their wallet, so security is not as high a priority as in other cases, but I would still like to avoid a Mybitcoin type fiasco where every one I pay loses their money.

Which method has the best combination of convenience in getting setup and security?

I have heard that mining is for people with ready hardware and blah blah blah… But what exactly is it? Does it operate like real mining? I mean, people talk about it like you are physically mining.

When I receive bitcoins I see a certain number of “confirmations” in the client. What do these mean? Why do most sites make me wait for 6 “confirmations” before a purchase will go through?

I have an online store and would like to begin accepting bitcoins. How can I go about doing this?

Will there ever be a need to create a unit of Bitcoin smaller than a Satoshi?

See also: What is a ‘Satoshi’?

You run bitcoin as a service on your local computer. What happens if this computer is compromised? A corrupt/failed hard drive or theft leads to the machine being lost and unrecoverable, and my bitcoin details (addresses etc) are gone. Do my bitcoins disappear into the ether?

i.e. What happens to my bitcoins if my wallet file is compromised/lost?

I am aware that Satoshi Nakamoto is the author of the paper that originated Bitcoin and the creator of the original bitcoin client. However, I often hear the term Satoshi as if it was a monetary unit.

What is a Satoshi?