Bitcoin: Difference between revisions
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Any time a transaction is made, it immediately starts out showing ''unconfirmed''. The confirmation status is reflective of the likelihood that the transaction could be successfully reversed in the event of a deliberate attempt to do so. Any transaction broadcasted to other nodes does not become ''confirmed'' until acknowledged in a collectively maintained timestamped-list of all known transactions, the ''block chain''. | Any time a transaction is made, it immediately starts out showing ''unconfirmed''. The confirmation status is reflective of the likelihood that the transaction could be successfully reversed in the event of a deliberate attempt to do so. Any transaction broadcasted to other nodes does not become ''confirmed'' until acknowledged in a collectively maintained timestamped-list of all known transactions, the ''block chain''. | ||
In particular, each ''generating'' node collects all unacknowledged transactions it knows of in a file known as a ''block'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=block_hashing_algorithm |title=Bitcoin Wiki: Block Hashing Algorithm }}</ref> which references all recent transactions as well as the previous valid block known to that node. It then tries to produce a cryptographic hash of that block with certain characteristics, an effort that requires on average a predictable amount of repetitious trial and error. When a node finds such a solution, it announces it to the rest of the network. Peers receiving the new solved block validate it before accepting it, adding it to the chain. | In particular, each ''generating'' node collects all unacknowledged transactions it knows of in a file known as a ''block'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=block_hashing_algorithm |title=Bitcoin Wiki: Block Hashing Algorithm |archivedate=dd mm yyyy}}</ref> which references all recent transactions as well as the previous valid block known to that node. It then tries to produce a cryptographic hash of that block with certain characteristics, an effort that requires on average a predictable amount of repetitious trial and error. When a node finds such a solution, it announces it to the rest of the network. Peers receiving the new solved block validate it before accepting it, adding it to the chain. | ||
When a transaction is first acknowledged in a block, it receives one confirmation. The transaction itself is only acknowledged once, but blocks themselves are acknowledged repeatedly as time passes and the chain grows. Each time that first block is acknowledged by future blocks, the transaction is considered to have received another confirmation. After six confirmations, the Bitcoin client switches from showing "unconfirmed" to "confirmed". Although a transaction is technically "confirmed" after a single confirmation, the client avoids reporting it until several confirmations later, just to ensure that it is overwhelmingly likely that the transactions are part of the main block chain rather than an orphaned one, and more importantly, practically impossible to reverse. | When a transaction is first acknowledged in a block, it receives one confirmation. The transaction itself is only acknowledged once, but blocks themselves are acknowledged repeatedly as time passes and the chain grows. Each time that first block is acknowledged by future blocks, the transaction is considered to have received another confirmation. After six confirmations, the Bitcoin client switches from showing "unconfirmed" to "confirmed". Although a transaction is technically "confirmed" after a single confirmation, the client avoids reporting it until several confirmations later, just to ensure that it is overwhelmingly likely that the transactions are part of the main block chain rather than an orphaned one, and more importantly, practically impossible to reverse. | ||
