Running a Full Node

This tutorial will go over the basics of spinning up a Bitcore node. Before you begin, you'll need to have around 8GB of memory and about 200GB of disk space available to store the Bitcoin blockchain plus additional database information. Both 64bit Mac OS X and GNU/Linux are currently supported. The process of downloading the blocks and indexing can take upwards of 24 hours on livenet and 2 hours for testnet, depending on Internet connection and other factors such as CPU and disk speed. It's also possible to use an existing Bitcoin data directory, which will speed up the process as reindexing can take upwards of 12 hours for livenet and 1 hour for testnet.

Install Node.js v4 LTS

It's recommended to install the Node Version Manager, as this makes it simple to switch between different Node.js versions. We will specifically need to install and run v0.12 or v4 LTS. Please follow the directions at https://github.com/creationix/nvm#install-script and then run:

Install ZeroMQ and Tools

For GNU/Linux distribution such as Debian or Ubuntu:

For Mac OS X:

Install Bitcore

Bitcore comes with a command line utility for creating and managing your full node. To get started, run these commands, and you'll then have the bitcore command in your path:

Note: Do not run this command with sudo or with root privileges as this will lead to permission issues.

At this point, if you just want to sync the blockchain and run the Insight Block Explorer, then you are done! Just run:

This will start your node from a config file in

/.bitcore with the insight-api and insight-ui services enabled.

Create a New (Non-Global) Node for Running Custom Services like Bitcore Wallet Service

If you would like to create additional nodes that are not in your global npm installation directory, or run the Bitcore Wallet Service, please do the following:

This will create the directory "mynode" in your current working and install all of the necessary dependencies and configuration files for your node.

To create a node if you already have a Bitcoin data directory that you want to use:

The database directory will likely be at

/.bitcore . Note that you'll need to have txindex enabled in your bitcoin configuration file. To enable txindex , add txindex=1 and reindex=1 to

/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf . After you start Bitcoin once with reindex=1 you should remove it, otherwise it will reindex every time the node starts. Be sure to leave txindex=1 , though.

For installation instructions regarding the Bitcore Wallet Service, please see wallet service

Configure the Network

Your node can run on "livenet" or "testnet". If you wish to configure the network, you can do so by opening the bitcore-node.json configuration file with your favorite text editor (vi is used here):

Then change the network value to "testnet" or "livenet". Here is an example configuration file:

Note: This configuration includes an exec path to a locally compiled bitcoind and shares the datadir with standard .bitcoin location.

Start Syncing

As mentioned previously, this process can take several hours to complete, so you can start the script and come back later to check on the status. Let's get started!

This will start up all of the services that have been enabled in your configuration file. The first service that will most likely be started is Bitcoin itself, followed by others that depend on it, such as the Database and Address Service. The syncing process will connect to other Bitcoin peers in the network and start downloading the blockchain, verifying proof-of-work, and creating indexes for querying the blockchain. Both Bitcoin and the Database Service will log the status of the initial synchronization process.

Query for Information

Get details about the genesis block:

Get the details of a transaction (with address information):

Install a Block Explorer

Note: If you created your node by running bitcored instead of bitcore create mynode , your node will already have these services installed and you can skip this command.

While running individual CLI commands is a useful way to interact with your node, being able to view it in a GUI is even be better. Let's get started by installing the blockchain explorer Insight!

Running A Full Node

Support the Bitcoin network by running your own full node

What Is A Full Node?

A full node is a program that fully validates transactions and blocks. Almost all full nodes also help the network by accepting transactions and blocks from other full nodes, validating those transactions and blocks, and then relaying them to further full nodes.

Most full nodes also serve lightweight clients by allowing them to transmit their transactions to the network and by notifying them when a transaction affects their wallet. If not enough nodes perform this function, clients won’t be able to connect through the peer-to-peer network—they’ll have to use centralized services instead.

Many people and organizations volunteer to run full nodes using spare computing and bandwidth resources—but more volunteers are needed to allow Bitcoin to continue to grow. This document describes how you can help and what helping will cost you.

Costs And Warnings

Running a Bitcoin full node comes with certain costs and can expose you to certain risks. This section will explain those costs and risks so you can decide whether you’re able to help the network.

Special Cases

Miners, businesses, and privacy-conscious users rely on particular behavior from the full nodes they use, so they will often run their own full nodes and take special safety precautions. This document does not cover those precautions—it only describes running a full node to help support the Bitcoin network in general.

Please seek out assistance in the community if you need help setting up your full node correctly to handle high-value and privacy-sensitive tasks. Do your own diligence to ensure who you get help from is ethical, reputable and qualified to assist you.

Secure Your Wallet

It’s possible and safe to run a full node to support the network and use its wallet to store your bitcoins, but you must take the same precautions you would when using any Bitcoin wallet. Please see the securing your wallet page for more information.

Minimum Requirements

Bitcoin Core full nodes have certain requirements. If you try running a node on weak hardware, it may work—but you’ll likely spend more time dealing with issues. If you can meet the following requirements, you’ll have an easy-to-use node.

Desktop or laptop hardware running recent versions of Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.

145 gigabytes of free disk space, accessable at a minimum read/write speed of 100 MB/s.

2 gigabytes of memory (RAM)

A broadband Internet connection with upload speeds of at least 400 kilobits (50 kilobytes) per second

An unmetered connection, a connection with high upload limits, or a connection you regularly monitor to ensure it doesn’t exceed its upload limits. It’s common for full nodes on high-speed connections to use 200 gigabytes upload or more a month. Download usage is around 20 gigabytes a month, plus around an additional 140 gigabytes the first time you start your node.

6 hours a day that your full node can be left running. (You can do other things with your computer while running a full node.) More hours would be better, and best of all would be if you can run your node continuously.

Note: many operating systems today (Windows, Mac, and Linux) enter a low-power mode after the screensaver activates, slowing or halting network traffic. This is often the default setting on laptops and on all Mac OS X laptops and desktops. Check your screensaver settings and disable automatic “sleep” or “suspend” options to ensure you support the network whenever your computer is running.

Possible Problems

Bandwidth limits: Some Internet plans will charge an additional amount for any excess upload bandwidth used that isn’t included in the plan. Worse, some providers may terminate your connection without warning because of overuse. We advise that you check whether your Internet connection is subjected to such limitations and monitor your bandwidth use so that you can stop Bitcoin Core before you reach your upload limit.

Anti-virus: Several people have placed parts of known computer viruses in the Bitcoin block chain. This block chain data can’t infect your computer, but some anti-virus programs quarantine the data anyway, making it more difficult to run Bitcoin Core. This problem mostly affects computers running Windows.

Attack target: Bitcoin Core powers the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network, so people who want to disrupt the network may attack Bitcoin Core users in ways that will affect other things you do with your computer, such as an attack that limits your available download bandwidth.

Linux Instructions

The following instructions describe installing Bitcoin Core on Linux systems.

Ubuntu 16.04

*Instructions for Bitcoin Core 0.14.2

If you use Ubuntu Desktop, click the Ubuntu swirl icon to start the Dash and type “term” into the input box. Choose any one of the terminals listed:

Alternatively, access a console or terminal emulator using another method, such as SSH on Ubuntu Server or a terminal launcher in an alternative desktop environment.

Type the following line to add the Bitcoin Personal Package Archive (PPA) to your system:

You will be prompted for your user password. Provide it to continue. Afterwards, the following text will be displayed:

Press enter to continue. The following text (with some variations) will be displayed and you will be returned to the command line prompt:

Type the following line to get the most recent list of packages:

A large number of lines will be displayed as different update files are downloaded. This step may take several minutes on a slow Internet connection.

To continue, choose one of the following options

To install the Bitcoin Core Graphical User Interface (GUI), type the following line and proceed to the Bitcoin Core GUI section below:

To install the Bitcoin Core daemon (bitcoind), which is useful for programmers and advanced users, type the following line and proceed to the Bitcoin Core Daemon section below:

To install both the GUI and the daemon, type the following line and read both the GUI instructions and the daemon instructions. Note that you can’t run both the GUI and the daemon at the same time using the same configuration directory.

After choosing what packages to install, you will be asked whether you want to proceed. Press enter to continue.

Bitcoin Core GUI

To start Bitcoin Core GUI, click the Ubuntu swirl icon to open the Dash, type bitcoin , and click the Bitcoin icon.

You will be prompted to choose a directory to store the Bitcoin block chain and your wallet. Unless you have a separate partition or drive you want to use, click Ok to use the default.

Bitcoin Core GUI will begin to download the block chain. This step will take at least several days, and it may take much more time on a slow Internet connection or with a slow computer. During the download, Bitcoin Core will use a significant part of your connection bandwidth. You can stop Bitcoin Core at any time by closing it; it will resume from the point where it stopped the next time you start it.

After download is complete, you may use Bitcoin Core as your wallet or you can just let it run to help support the Bitcoin network.

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core GUI to start at login.

While running Bitcoin Core GUI, open the Settings menu and choose Options. On the Main tab, click Start Bitcoin on system login. Click the Ok button to save the new settings.

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core GUI will be automatically started in as an icon in the tray.

You have now completed installing Bitcoin Core. If you have any questions, please ask in one of Bitcoin’s many communities, such as Bitcoin StackExchange, BitcoinTalk technical support, or the #bitcoin IRC chatroom on Freenode.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Bitcoin Core Daemon

If you’re logged in as an administrative user with sudo access, you may log out. The steps in this section should be performed as the user you want to run Bitcoin Core. (If you’re an expert administrator, you can make this a locked account used only by Bitcoin Core.)

From the terminal, type:

It will print a message that Bitcoin Core is starting. To interact with Bitcoin Core daemon, you will use the command bitcoin-cli (Bitcoin command line interface).

Note: it may take up to several minutes for Bitcoin Core to start, during which it will display the following message whenever you use bitcoin-cli :

After it starts, you may find the following commands useful for basic interaction with your node: getblockchaininfo , getnetworkinfo , getnettotals , getwalletinfo , stop , and help .

For example, to safely stop your node, run the following command:

A complete list of commands is available in the Bitcoin.org developer reference.

When Bitcoin Core daemon first starts, it will begin to download the block chain. This step will take at least several days, and it may take much more time on a slow Internet connection or with a slow computer. During the download, Bitcoin Core will use a significant part of your connection bandwidth. You can stop Bitcoin Core at any time using the stop command; it will resume from the point where it stopped the next time you start it.

Optional: Start Your Node At Boot

Starting your node automatically each time your computer boots makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to start Bitcoin Core daemon from your crontab. To edit your crontab, run the following command:

Scroll to the bottom of the file displayed and add the following line:

Save the file and exit; the updated crontab file will be installed for you. Now Bitcoin Core daemon will be automatically started each time your reboot your computer.

If you’re an Ubuntu expert and want to use an init script instead, see this Upstart script.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Other Linux Distributions

*Instructions for Bitcoin Core 0.14.2

The following instructions describe installing Bitcoin Core using tools available in most mainstream Linux distributions. We assume you use a Bourne-like shell such as bash .

Using any computer, go to the Bitcoin Core download page and verify you have made a secure connection to the server.

In the “Linux (tgz)” section of the Download page, choose the appropriate file for your Linux install (either 32-bit or 64-bit) and download the file. If necessary, move the file to the computer you want to use to run Bitcoin Core.

Optional: Verify the release signatures

If you know how to use PGP, you should also click the Verify Release Signatures link on the download page to download a signed list of SHA256 file hashes. The 0.11 and later releases are signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s releases key with the fingerprint:

Earlier releases were signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s regular key. That key’s fingerprint is:

Even earlier releases were signed by Gavin Andresen’s key. His primary key’s fingerprint is:

You should verify these keys belong to their owners using the web of trust or other trustworthy means. Then use PGP to verify the signature on the release signatures file. Finally, use PGP or another utility to compute the SHA256 hash of the archive you downloaded, and ensure the computed hash matches the hash listed in the verified release signatures file.

If you aren’t already logged into the computer you want to install Bitcoin on, login now. Make sure you use an account that can use su or sudo to install software into directories owned by the root user.

If you logged in graphically, start a terminal. If you logged in another way, we will assume you’re already in a shell.

Locate the file you downloaded and extract it using the tar command followed by the argument xzf followed by the file name. The argument xzf means eXtract the gZipped tar archive File. For example, for a 64-bit tar archive in your current directory, the command is:

This will create the directory bitcoin-0.14.2 within your current working directory. We will install the contents of its bin subdirectory into the /usr/local/bin directory using the the install command. The install command is part of the GNU coreutils available on nearly every Linux distribution, and the /usr/local/bin directory is a standard location for self-installed executables (you may edit the commands below to use a different location).

If you use sudo to run commands as root, use the following command line:

If you use su to run commands as root, use the following command line:

To continue, choose one of the following options

To use Bitcoin Core Graphical User Interface (GUI), proceed to the Bitcoin Core GUI section below.

To use the Bitcoin Core daemon (bitcoind), which is useful for programmers and advanced users, proceed to the Bitcoin Core Daemon section below.

To use both the GUI and the daemon, read both the GUI instructions and the daemon instructions. Note that you can’t run both the GUI and the daemon at the same time using the same configuration directory.

Bitcoin Core GUI

In order to use Bitcoin Core GUI, you will need several libraries installed. All of them should be available in all major recently-released Linux distributions, but they may not be installed on your computer yet. To determine whether you’re missing any libraries, open a terminal (if you haven’t already) and run the command /usr/local/bin/bitcoin-qt to start Bitcoin Core GUI.

If all the required libraries are installed, Bitcoin Core will start. If a required library is missing, an error message similar to the following message will be displayed:

Search your distribution’s package database for the missing file missing and install package containing that file. Then re-run /usr/local/bin/bitcoin-qt to see if it’s missing another file. Repeat until Bitcoin Core GUI starts.

You will be prompted to choose a directory to store the Bitcoin block chain and your wallet. Unless you have a separate partition or drive you want to use, click Ok to use the default.

After download is complete, you may use Bitcoin Core as your wallet or you can just let it run to help support the Bitcoin network.

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core GUI to start at login. This only works in desktop environments that support the autostart specification, such as Gnome, KDE, and Unity.

While running Bitcoin Core GUI, open the Settings menu and choose Options. On the Main tab, click Start Bitcoin on system login. Click the Ok button to save the new settings.

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core GUI should be automatically started in as an icon in the tray.

If Bitcoin Core GUI does not automatically start, you may need to add it to an .xinit or .xsession file as described here.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Bitcoin Core Daemon

If you’re logged in as an administrative user with sudo access, you may log out. The steps in this section should be performed as the user you want to run Bitcoin Core. (This can be a locked account used only by Bitcoin Core.) If you changed users in a graphical interface, start a terminal.

Type the following command:

It will print a message that Bitcoin Core is starting. To interact with Bitcoin Core daemon, you will use the command bitcoin-cli (Bitcoin command line interface).

Note: it may take up to several minutes for Bitcoin Core to start, during which it will display the following message whenever you use bitcoin-cli :

After it starts, you may find the following commands useful for basic interaction with your node: getblockchaininfo , getnetworkinfo , getnettotals , getwalletinfo , stop , and help .

For example, to safely stop your node, run the following command:

A complete list of commands is available in the Bitcoin.org developer reference.

Optional: Start Your Node At Boot

Scroll to the bottom of the file displayed and add the following line:

Save the file and exit; the updated crontab file will be installed for you. On most distributions, this will cause Bitcoin Core daemon to be automatically started each time your reboot your computer.

If you’re a expert system administrator and want to use an init script instead, see the init scripts directory in Bitcoin Core’s source tree.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Windows Instructions

Windows 10

*Instructions for Bitcoin Core 0.14.2 on Windows 10

Go to the Bitcoin Core download page and verify you have made a secure connection to the server.

Click the large blue Download Bitcoin Core button to download the Bitcoin Core installer to your desktop.

Optional: Verify the release signatures

Earlier releases were signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s regular key. That key’s fingerprint is:

Even earlier releases were signed by Gavin Andresen’s key. His primary key’s fingerprint is:

After downloading the file to your desktop or your Downloads folder ( C:\Users\ \Downloads ), run it by double-clicking its icon. Windows will ask you to confirm that you want to run it. Click Yes and the Bitcoin installer will start. It’s a typical Windows installer, and it will guide you through the decisions you need to make about where to install Bitcoin Core.

To continue, choose one of the following options

If you want to use the Bitcoin Core Graphical User Interface (GUI), proceed to the Bitcoin Core GUI section below.

If you want to use the Bitcoin Core daemon (bitcoind), which is useful for programmers and advanced users, proceed to the Bitcoin Core Daemon section below.

To want to use both the GUI and the daemon, read both the GUI instructions and the daemon instructions. Note that you can’t run both the GUI and the daemon at the same time using the same configuration directory.

Bitcoin Core GUI

Press the Windows key ( ⊞ Win ) and start typing “bitcoin”. When the Bitcoin Core icon appears (as shown below), click on it.

You will be prompted to choose a directory to store the Bitcoin block chain and your wallet. Unless you have a separate partition or drive you want to use, click Ok to use the default.

Your firewall may block Bitcoin Core from making outbound connections. It’s safe to allow Bitcoin Core to use all networks. (Note: you will still need to configure inbound connections as described later in the Network Configuration section.)

After download is complete, you may use Bitcoin Core as your wallet or you can just let it run to help support the Bitcoin network.

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core GUI to start at login.

While running Bitcoin Core GUI, open the Settings menu and choose Options. On the Main tab, click Start Bitcoin on system login. Click the Ok button to save the new settings.

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core GUI will be automatically started minimized in the task bar.

Warning: to prevent data corruption, do not force shutdown your computer from the Windows shutdown screen when you have Bitcoin Core running.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Bitcoin Core Daemon

To start Bitcoin Core daemon, first open a command window: press the Windows key ( ⊞ Win ) and type “cmd”. Choose the option labeled “Command Prompt”.

If you installed Bitcoin Core into the default directory, type the following at the command prompt:

Bitcoin Core daemon should start. To interact with Bitcoin Core daemon, you will use the command bitcoin-cli (Bitcoin command line interface). If you installed Bitcoin Core into the default location, type the following at the command prompt to see whether it works:

Note: it may take up to several minutes for Bitcoin Core to start, during which it will display the following message whenever you use bitcoin-cli :

After it starts, you may find the following commands useful for basic interaction with your node: getblockchaininfo , getnetworkinfo , getnettotals , getwalletinfo , stop , and help .

For example, to safely stop your node, run the following command:

A complete list of commands is available in the Bitcoin.org developer reference.

Optional: Start Your Node At Boot

Starting your node automatically each time your computer boots makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to start Bitcoin Core daemon when you login to your computer.

Start File Explorer and go to,

Right-click on the File Explorer window and choose New → Text file. Name the file start_bitcoind.bat . Then right-click on it and choose Open in Notepad (or whatever editor you prefer). Copy and paste the following line into the file.

(If you installed Bitcoin Core in a non-default directory, use that directory path instead.)

Save the file. The next time you login to your computer, Bitcoin Core daemon will be automatically started.

Warning: to prevent data corruption, do not force shutdown your computer from the Windows shutdown screen when you have Bitcoin Core running.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Windows 8.x

Instructions for Bitcoin Core 0.14.2 on Windows 8 and 8.1.

Go to the Bitcoin Core download page and verify you have made a secure connection to the server.

Click the large blue Download Bitcoin Core button to download the Bitcoin Core installer to your desktop.

Optional: Verify the release signatures

Earlier releases were signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s regular key. That key’s fingerprint is:

Even earlier releases were signed by Gavin Andresen’s key. His primary key’s fingerprint is:

To continue, choose one of the following options

If you want to use the Bitcoin Core Graphical User Interface (GUI), proceed to the Bitcoin Core GUI section below.

If you want to use the Bitcoin Core daemon (bitcoind), which is useful for programmers and advanced users, proceed to the Bitcoin Core Daemon section below.

Bitcoin Core GUI

Press the Windows key ( ⊞ Win ) and start typing “bitcoin”. When the Bitcoin Core icon appears (as shown below), click on it.

You will be prompted to choose a directory to store the Bitcoin block chain and your wallet. Unless you have a separate partition or drive you want to use, click Ok to use the default.

After download is complete, you may use Bitcoin Core as your wallet or you can just let it run to help support the Bitcoin network.

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core GUI to start at login.

While running Bitcoin Core GUI, open the Settings menu and choose Options. On the Main tab, click Start Bitcoin on system login. Click the Ok button to save the new settings.

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core GUI will be automatically started minimized in the task bar.

Warning: to prevent data corruption, do not force shutdown your computer from the Windows shutdown screen when you have Bitcoin Core running.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Bitcoin Core Daemon

To start Bitcoin Core daemon, first open a command window: press the Windows key ( ⊞ Win ) and type “cmd”. Choose the option labeled “Command Prompt”.

If you installed Bitcoin Core into the default directory, type the following at the command prompt:

Note: it may take up to several minutes for Bitcoin Core to start, during which it will display the following message whenever you use bitcoin-cli :

After it starts, you may find the following commands useful for basic interaction with your node: getblockchaininfo , getnetworkinfo , getnettotals , getwalletinfo , stop , and help .

For example, to safely stop your node, run the following command:

A complete list of commands is available in the Bitcoin.org developer reference.

Optional: Start Your Node At Boot

Start File Explorer and go to,

(If you installed Bitcoin Core in a non-default directory, use that directory path instead.)

Save the file. The next time you login to your computer, Bitcoin Core daemon will be automatically started.

Warning: to prevent data corruption, do not force shutdown your computer from the Windows shutdown screen when you have Bitcoin Core running.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

*Instructions for Bitcoin Core 0.14.2

Go to the Bitcoin Core download page and verify you have made a secure connection to the server.

Click the large blue Download Bitcoin Core button to download the Bitcoin Core installer to your desktop.

Optional: Verify the release signatures

Earlier releases were signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s regular key. That key’s fingerprint is:

Even earlier releases were signed by Gavin Andresen’s key. His primary key’s fingerprint is:

To continue, choose one of the following options

If you want to use the Bitcoin Core Graphical User Interface (GUI), proceed to the Bitcoin Core GUI section below.

If you want to use the Bitcoin Core daemon (bitcoind), which is useful for programmers and advanced users, proceed to the Bitcoin Core Daemon section below.

Bitcoin Core GUI

Open the Start menu, type bitcoin into the search box, and click the Bitcoin Core icon.

You will be prompted to choose a directory to store the Bitcoin block chain and your wallet. Unless you have a separate partition or drive you want to use, click Ok to use the default.

After download is complete, you may use Bitcoin Core as your wallet or you can just let it run to help support the Bitcoin network.

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core GUI to start at login.

While running Bitcoin Core GUI, open the Settings menu and choose Options. On the Main tab, click Start Bitcoin on system login. Click the Ok button to save the new settings.

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core GUI will be automatically started minimized in the task bar.

Warning: to prevent data corruption, do not force shutdown your computer from the Windows shutdown screen when you have Bitcoin Core running.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Bitcoin Core Daemon

To start Bitcoin Core daemon, first open a command window: press the Windows key ( ⊞ Win ) and type “cmd”. Choose the program named “cmd.exe”

If you installed the Bitcoin Core into the default directory, type the following at the command prompt :

Bitcoin Core daemon should start. You can now try using Bitcoin Cli Utility.

To interact with Bitcoin Core daemon, you will use the command bitcoin-cli (Bitcoin command line interface). If you installed Bitcoin Core into the default location, type the following at the command prompt to see whether it works:

Note: it may take up to several minutes for Bitcoin Core to start, during which it will display the following message whenever you use bitcoin-cli :

After it starts, you may find the following commands useful for basic interaction with your node: getblockchaininfo , getnetworkinfo , getnettotals , getwalletinfo , stop , and help .

For example, to safely stop your node, run the following command:

A complete list of commands is available in the Bitcoin.org developer reference.

Optional: Start Your Node At Boot

Start File Explorer and go to,

You can also access this folder by executing the following command after reaching the Execute. prompt :

(If you installed Bitcoin Core in a non-default directory, use that directory path instead.)

Save the file. The next time you login to your computer, Bitcoin Core daemon will be automatically started.

Warning: to prevent data corruption, do not force shutdown your computer from the Windows shutdown screen when you have Bitcoin Core running.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Mac OS X Instructions

Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.x

Instructions for Bitcoin Core 0.14.2 on Mac OS X Yosemite

Go to the Bitcoin Core download page and verify you have made a secure connection to the server.

Click the large blue Download Bitcoin Core button to download the Bitcoin Core installer to your Downloads folder.

Optional: Verify the release signatures

Earlier releases were signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s regular key. That key’s fingerprint is:

Even earlier releases were signed by Gavin Andresen’s key. His primary key’s fingerprint is:

After downloading the file to your Downloads folder ( /Users/ /Downloads ), run it by double-clicking its icon. OS X will open a Finder window for you to drag Bitcoin Core to your Applications folder.

Bitcoin Core GUI

The first time running Bitcoin Core, Max OS X will ask you to confirm that you want to run it:

You will be prompted to choose a directory to store the Bitcoin block chain and your wallet. Unless you have a separate partition or drive you want to use, click Ok to use the default.

After download is complete, you may use Bitcoin Core as your wallet or you can just let it run to help support the Bitcoin network.

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core GUI to start at login.

While running Bitcoin Core GUI, open the Bitcoin Core menu and choose Preferences. On the Main tab, click Start Bitcoin on system login. Click the Ok button to save the new settings.

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core GUI will be automatically started minimized in the task bar.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Bitcoin Core Daemon

The Bitcoin Core daemon (bitcoind) is not included in the .dmg file you may have downloaded to install Bitcoin-QT. Bitcoind, along with its support binaries, is instead included in the OS X .tar.gz file listed on the official Bitcoin Core download page. To download this file using Terminal, execute the following command:

Optional: Verify the release signatures

Earlier releases were signed by Wladimir J. van der Laan’s regular key. That key’s fingerprint is:

Even earlier releases were signed by Gavin Andresen’s key. His primary key’s fingerprint is:

Extract bitcoind and its support binaries from the archive we just downloaded by running this command in Terminal:

Now we’ll move the executables into your default path to make running and stopping bitcoind easier. To move the executables, run these commands (note that we have to use sudo to perform these commands since we are modifying directories owned by root):

To clean up the directory we’ve been working in, run:

You should now be able to start up your full node by running bitcoind -daemon in any Terminal window. If you need to stop bitcoind for any reason, the command is bitcoin-cli stop

Optional: Start Your Node At Login

Starting your node automatically each time you login to your computer makes it easy for you to contribute to the network. The easiest way to do this is to tell Bitcoin Core Daemon to start at login. In OS X, the way to start background programs at login is using a Launch Agent. Here is how to install a Launch Agent for Bitcoin Core daemon on your machine:

The next time you login to your desktop, Bitcoin Core daemon will be automatically started.

To support the Bitcoin network, you also need to allow incoming connections. Please read the Network Configuration section for details.

Upgrading Bitcoin Core

If you are running an older version, shut it down. Wait until it has completely shut down (which might take a few minutes for older versions), then run the installer (on Windows) or just copy over /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on Mac) or bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).

The blockchain and wallet files in the data directory are compatible between versions so there is no requirement to make any changes to the data directory when upgrading. Occasionally the format of those files changes, but the new Bitcoin Core version will include code that automatically upgrades the files to the new format so no manual intervention is required.

Sometimes upgrade of the blockchain data files from very old versions to the new versions is not supported. In those cases it may be necessary to redownload the blockchain. Check the release notes of the new version if you are planning to upgrade from a very old version.

Sometimes downgrade is not possible because of changes to the data files. Again, check the release notes for the new version if you are planning to downgrade.

Network Configuration

If you want to support the Bitcoin network, you must allow inbound connections.

When Bitcoin Core starts, it establishes 8 outbound connections to other full nodes so it can download the latest blocks and transactions. If you just want to use your full node as a wallet, you don’t need more than these 8 connections—but if you want to support lightweight clients and other full nodes on the network, you must allow inbound connections.

Servers connected directly to the Internet usually don’t require any special configuration. You can use the testing instructions below to confirm your server-based node accepts inbound connections.

Home connections are usually filtered by a router or modem. Bitcoin Core will request your router automatically configure itself to allow inbound connections to Bitcoin’s port, port 8333. Unfortunately many routers don’t allow automatic configuration, so you must manually configure your router. You may also need to configure your firewall to allow inbound connections to port 8333. Please see the following subsections for details.

Testing Connections

The BitNodes project provides an online tool to let you test whether your node accepts inbound connections. Before using BitNodes, you must first ensure that your node is fully synced with the block chain. Once you’ve done so, start Bitcoin Core (either the GUI or the daemon), wait 10 minutes, and then visit the Bitnodes page. The tool will attempt to guess your IP address—if the address is wrong (or blank), you will need to enter your address manually.

After you press Check Node, the tool will inform you whether your port is open (green box) or not open (red box). If you get the green box, you don’t need to do anything—you accept inbound connections. If you get the red box, please read the enabling connections subsection.

For confirmation that you accept inbound connections, you can use Bitcoin Core. Bitcoin Core can’t tell you directly whether you allow inbound connections, but it can tell you whether or not you currently have any inbound connections. If your node has been online for at least 30 minutes, it should normally have inbound connections. If want to check your peer info using Bitcoin Core, choose the appropriate instructions below:

GUI Peer Info

In the bottom right corner of the Bitcoin Core GUI are several icons. If you hover over the signal strength icon, it will tell you how many connections you have. The icon won’t turn green until you have more than 8 active connections, which only happens if inbound connections are allowed.

For confirmation, you can go to the Help menu, choose Debug Window, and open the Information tab. In the Network section, it will tell you exactly how many inbound connections you have. If the number is greater than zero, then inbound connections are allowed.

If you don’t have inbound connections, please read the instructions for enabling inbound connections.

Daemon Peer Info

The getconnectioncount command will tell you how many connections you have. If you have more than 8 connections, inbound connections are allowed. For example:

For confirmation, you can use the getpeerinfo command to get information about all of your peers. Each peer’s details will include an inbound field set to true if the connection is inbound. If you have any inbound connections, then inbound connections are allowed.

If you don’t have inbound connections, please read instructions for enabling inbound connections.

Enabling Connections

If Bitcoin Core can’t automatically configure your router to open port 8333, you will need to manually configure your router. We’ve tried to make the following instructions generic enough to cover most router models; if you need specific help with your router, please ask for help on a tech support site such as SuperUser.

Enabling inbound connections requires two steps, plus an extra third step for firewall users:

Giving your computer a static (unchanging) internal IP address by configuring the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on your router.

Forwarding inbound connections from the Internet through your router to your computer where Bitcoin Core can process them.

Configuring your firewall to allow inbound connections. This step mainly applies to Windows users, as Mac OS X and most Linuxes do not enable a firewall by default.

Configuring DHCP

In order for your router to direct incoming port 8333 connections to your computer, it needs to know your computer’s internal IP address. However, routers usually give computers dynamic IP addresses that change frequently, so we need to ensure your router always gives your computer the same internal IP address.

Start by logging into your router’s administration interface. Most routers can be configured using one of the following URLs, so keep clicking links until you find one that works. If none work, consult your router’s manual.

Upon connecting, you will probably be prompted for a username and password. If you configured a password, enter it now. If not, the Router Passwords site provides a database of known default username and password pairs.

After logging in, you want to search your router’s menus for options related to DHCP, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. These options may also be called Address Reservation. For example, the router page shown below calls the option we need “DHCP Reservation”:

In the reservation configuration, some routers will display a list of computers and devices currently connected to your network, and then let you select a device to make its current IP address permanent:

If that’s the case, find the computer running Bitcoin Core in the list, select it, and add it to the list of reserved addresses. Make a note of its current IP address—we’ll use the address in the next section.

Other routers require a more manual configuration. For these routers, you will need to look up the fixed address (MAC address) for your computer’s network card and add it to the list. This operation differs by operating system:

Windows 7 & 8: Press Win-R (Windows key plus the R key) to open the Run dialog. Type cmd to open the console. Type ipconfig /all and find the result that best matches your connection—usually a wireless connection. Look for a line that starts with “Physical Address” and contains a value like this:

Replace all the dashes with colons, so the address looks like this: 01:23:45:67:89:AB. Use that address in the instructions below.

Linux: open a terminal and type ifconfig . Find the result that best matches your connection—a result starting with wlan indicates a wireless connection. Find the field that starts with HWaddr and copy the immediately following field that looks like 01:23:45:67:89:ab. Use that value in the instructions below.

Mac OS X: open a terminal and type ifconfig . Find the result that best matches your connection—a result starting with en1 usually indicates a wireless connection. Find the field that starts with ether: and copy the immediately following field that looks like 01:23:45:67:89:ab. Use that value in the instructions below.

Once you have the MAC address, you can fill it into to your router’s manual DHCP assignment table, as illustrated below. Also choose an IP address and make a note of it for the instructions in the next subsection. After entering this information, click the Add or Save button.

Then reboot your computer to ensure it gets assigned the address you selected and proceed to the Port Forwarding instructions below.

Port Forwarding

For this step, you need to know the local IP address of the computer running Bitcoin Core. You should have this information from configuring the DHCP assignment table in the subsection above.

Login to your router using the same steps described near the top of the DHCP subsection. Look for an option called Port Forwarding, Port Assignment, or anything with “Port” in its name. On the some routers, this option is buried in an Applications & Gaming menu.

The port forwarding settings should allow you to map an external port on your router to the “internal port” of a device on your network as shown in the screenshot below.

Both the external port and the internal port should be 8333 for Bitcoin. (You may also want to map port 18333 for Bitcoin’s testnet, although this guide does not cover using testnet.) Make sure the IP address you enter is the same one you configured in the previous subsection.

After filling in the details for the mapping, save the entry. You should not need to restart anything. Start Bitcoin Core (if you haven’t already) and follow the Testing Connections instructions to test your connection.

If you still can’t connect and you use a firewall, you probably need to change your firewall settings. See the Firewall section below.

If something else went wrong, it’s probably a problem with your router configuration. Re-read the instructions above to see if you missed anything, search the web for help with “port forwarding”, and ask for help on sites like SuperUser.

We can’t provide direct support, but if you see a way to improve these instructions, please open an issue.

Firewall Configuration

Firewalls block inbound connections. To use Bitcoin, you need to configure your computer’s firewall to allow connections to port 8333. This is usually as easy as starting your firewall configuration software and defining a new rule to allow inbound connections to port 8333. For additional information for Windows, see the links below:

Mac OS X comes with its firewall disabled by default, but if you have enabled it, see the section Allowing Specific Applications from the official Apple guide.

Ubuntu also comes with its firewall disabled by default, but if you have enabled it, see the Ubuntu wiki page for information about adding port forwarding rules.

Once you have allowed inbound connections to port 8333, start Bitcoin Core (if you haven’t already) and follow the Testing Connections instructions to test your connection.

If something else went wrong re-read the DHCP, port forwarding, and firewall instructions above to see if you missed anything, search the web for help with “port forwarding” and “opening firewall ports”, and ask for help on sites like SuperUser.

We can’t provide direct support, but if you see a way to improve these instructions, please open an issue.

Configuration Tuning

This section contains advice about how to change your Bitcoin Core configuration to adapt it to your needs.

There are two ways to change your configuration. The first is to start Bitcoin Core with the options you want. For example, if you want to limit it to using one CPU core for signature verification, you can start Bitcoin Core like this:

Once you’ve decided you like an option, you can add it to the Bitcoin Core configuration file. You can find that file in the following directories:

OSX: $HOME/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

To add an option to the configuration file, just remove its leading dash. You may also need to remove any quotation marks you used in your shell. For example, the -par option seen above would look like this in the configuration file:

A user-friendly configuration file generator is available here. If you have any questions about configuring Bitcoin Core, please stop by one of our forums or live chatrooms.

Reduce Storage

It is possible to configure your node to to run in pruned mode in order to reduce storage requirements. This can reduce the disk usage from over 145GB to around 5GB.

Running a node in pruned mode is incompatible with -txindex and -rescan . It also disables the RPC importwallet . Two RPCs that are available and potentially helpful, however, are importprunedfunds and removeprunedfunds .

To enable block pruning set prune=N on the command line or in bitcoin.conf , where N is the number of MiB to allot for raw block and undo data.

A value of 0 disables pruning. The minimal value above 0 is 550 . Your wallet is as secure with high values as it is with low ones. Higher values merely ensure that your node will not shut down upon blockchain reorganizations of more than 2 days - which are unlikely to happen in practice. In future releases, a higher value may also help the network as a whole because stored blocks could be served to other nodes.

Reduce Traffic

Some node operators need to deal with bandwidth caps imposed by their ISPs.

By default, bitcoin-core allows up to 125 connections to different peers, 8 of which are outbound. You can therefore, have at most 117 inbound connections.

The default settings can result in relatively significant traffic consumption.

Ways to reduce traffic:

Maximum Upload Targets

A major component of the traffic is caused by serving historic blocks to other nodes during the initial blocks download phase (syncing up a new node). This option can be specified in MiB per day and is turned off by default. This is not a hard limit; only a threshold to minimize the outbound traffic. When the limit is about to be reached, the uploaded data is cut by no longer serving historic blocks (blocks older than one week). Keep in mind that new nodes require other nodes that are willing to serve historic blocks. The recommended minimum is 144 blocks per day (max. 144MB per day)

Disable listening

Disabling listening will result in fewer nodes connected (remember the maximum of 8 outbound peers). Fewer nodes will result in less traffic usage as you are relaying blocks and transactions to fewer nodes.

Reduce maximum connections

Reducing the maximum connected nodes to a minimum could be desirable if traffic limits are tiny. Keep in mind that bitcoin’s trustless model works best if you are connected to a handful of nodes.

Blocks-only mode

Causes your node to stop requesting and relaying transactions unless they are part of a block and also disables listening as described above.

This reduces your node’s bandwidth to the absolute minimum necessary to stay synchronized with the network, about 150 megabytes incoming data per day and about 1 megabyte of outgoing data per day, but it does mean that your node won’t see incoming transactions until they’ve received at least one confirmation.

You will still be able to send transactions from the built-in wallet or from peers you’ve whitelisted using the -whitelist parameter.

US Search Mobile Web

Welcome to the Yahoo Search forum! We’d love to hear your ideas on how to improve Yahoo Search.

The Yahoo product feedback forum now requires a valid Yahoo ID and password to participate.

You are now required to sign-in using your Yahoo email account in order to provide us with feedback and to submit votes and comments to existing ideas. If you do not have a Yahoo ID or the password to your Yahoo ID, please sign-up for a new account.

If you have a valid Yahoo ID and password, follow these steps if you would like to remove your posts, comments, votes, and/or profile from the Yahoo product feedback forum.

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Improve your services

Your search engine does not find any satisfactory results for searches. It is too weak. Also, the server of bing is often off

I created a yahoo/email account long ago but I lost access to it; can y'all delete all my yahoo/yahoo account except for my newest YaAccount

I want all my lost access yahoo account 'delete'; Requesting supporter for these old account deletion; 'except' my Newest yahoo account this Account don't delete! Because I don't want it interfering my online 'gamble' /games/business/data/ Activity , because the computer/security program might 'scure' my Information and detect theres other account; then secure online activities/ business securing from my suspicion because of my other account existing will make the security program be 'Suspicious' until I'm 'secure'; and if I'm gambling online 'Depositing' then I need those account 'delete' because the insecurity 'Suspicioun' will program the casino game 'Programs' securities' to be 'secure' then it'll be 'unfair' gaming and I'll lose because of the insecurity can be a 'Excuse'. Hope y'all understand my explanation!

chithidio@Yahoo.com

i dont know what happened but i can not search anything.

Golf handicap tracker, why can't I get to it?

Why do I get redirected on pc and mobile device?

Rahyaftco@yahoo.com

RYAN RAHSAD BELL literally means

Question on a link

In the search for Anaïs Nin, one of the first few links shows a picture of a man. Why? Since Nin is a woman, I can’t figure out why. Can you show some reason for this? Who is he? If you click on the picture a group of pictures of Nin and no mention of that man. Is it an error?

Repair the Yahoo Search App.

Yahoo Search App from the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I went to the Yahoo Troubleshooting page but the article that said to do a certain 8 steps to fix the problem with Yahoo Services not working and how to fix the problem. Of course they didn't work.

I contacted Samsung thru their Samsung Tutor app on my phone. I gave their Technican access to my phone to see if there was a problem with my phone that stopped the Yahoo Search App from working. He went to Yahoo and I signed in so he could try to fix the Yahoo Search App not working. He also used another phone, installed the app from the Google Play Store to see if the app would do any kind of search thru the app. The Yahoo Search App just wasn't working.

I also had At&t try to help me because I have UVERSE for my internet service. My internet was working perfectly. Their Technical Support team member checked the Yahoo Search App and it wouldn't work for him either.

We can go to www.yahoo.com and search for any topic or website. It's just the Yahoo Search App that won't allow anyone to do web searches at all.

I let Google know that the Yahoo Search App installed from their Google Play Store had completely stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I told them that Yahoo has made sure that their Yahoo members can't contact them about anything.

I noticed that right after I accepted the agreement that said Oath had joined with Verizon I started having the problem with the Yahoo Search App.
No matter what I search for or website thru the Yahoo Search App it says the following after I searched for
www.att.com.

WEBPAGE NOT AVAILABLE
This webpage at gttp://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geJGq8BbkrgALEMMITE5jylu=X3oDMTEzcTjdWsyBGNvbG8DYmyxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDTkFQUEMwxzEEc2VjA3NylRo=10/Ru=https%3a%2f%2fwww.att.att.com%2f/Rk=2/Es=plkGNRAB61_XKqFjTEN7J8cXA-
could not be loaded because:
net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED

I tried to search for things like www.homedepot.com. The same thing happened. It would say WEBPAGE NOT AVAILABLE. The only thing that changed were all the upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.
Then it would again say
could not be loaded because:
net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED

This is the same thing that happened when Samsung and At&t tried to do any kind of searches thru the Yahoo Search App.

Yahoo needs to fix the problem with their app.

Yahoo Search App from the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I went to the Yahoo Troubleshooting page but the article that said to do a certain 8 steps to fix the problem with Yahoo Services not working and how to fix the problem. Of course they didn't work.

What Are Bitcoin Nodes and Why Do We Need Them?

It's well known that bitcoin is designed as a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) network. However, what's often lost in translation is the sheer amount of machinery that is needed to maintain this global infrastructure.

For example, in order to validate and relay transactions, bitcoin requires more than a network of miners processing transactions, it must broadcast messages across a network using 'nodes'. This is the first step in the transaction process that results in a block confirmation.

To function to its full potential, the bitcoin network must not only provide an avenue for transactions, but also remain secure. By using a number of randomly selected nodes, the network can reduce the problem of double spending – when a user attempts to spend the same digital token twice.

However, bitcoin doesn't just need nodes, it requires lots of fully functioning nodes – nodes that have the bitcoin core client on a machine instance with the complete block chain. The more nodes there are, the more secure the network is.

This is one of the reasons there is a plan to put bitcoin nodes in space, and that the plan has important implications for bitcoin.

The problem is, the number of nodes on the network is dropping, and core developers believe it may continue to do so.

Waning support

Looking at a 60-day chart of bitcoin nodes shows that the number has gone down significantly. It went from 10,000 reachable nodes in early March to below 8,000 at the beginning of May.

Source: Bitnodes

What's interesting is that during a recent 24-hour period, the number of reachable nodes went down from 8,200 to 7,600 and back to 8,200 again. This suggests that a portion of users running nodes are turning off their machines at night, meaning that this contingent of nodes are being run on desktops or laptops.

Source: Bitnodes

Another issue is the geographic distribution of the nodes. The majority of reachable nodes are located in North America.

In Africa, where bitcoin could perhaps help people lacking access to financial resources more than anywhere else, there is a regional paucity of reachable nodes.

A map based on Bitnodes data. Source: Coinviz

Lack of incentive

Unlike bitcoin mining, where participants are rewarded for confirming transactions, running a bitcoin node does not provide any incentive. The only benefit for someone to run a node is to help protect the network, and based on the Bitnodes data, the number of people interested in supporting the network with a full node is waning.

There could be a number of reasons for that.

For one thing, running a full node utilizes the resources of a machine for basically no monetary return. Plus, the collapse of Mt. Gox has likely left many people with less desire to support the digital currency.

Furthermore, the popularity of the bitcoin core client in China, where it was for a time immensely popular, has tapered off given the contentious regulatory environment there.

Centralization of mining

In terms of supporting the bitcoin network, it used to be a lot easier for the average user to participate. However, the advent of massive ASIC data centres has weakened the consensual nature of mining, and by extension providing nodes, for many people.

Ross McKelvie, lead engineer at bitcoin incubator Boost VC, believes that it will be larger operators with data centres like KnCMiner that will have to pick up the slack in the number of bitcoin nodes, reasoning:

"As bitcoin grows, so does the network and the computing power behind the scenes required to run it. The majority of bitcoiners won't be able to support their own nodes and will be taken over by companies like KnC."

KnCMiner is just an example of economics and logistics in the mining industry pushing bitcoin towards a more centralized future. McKelvie also believes that major technology companies that take interest in bitcoin will have to put their computing resources behind the digital currency:

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see large tech companies like Google and Amazon throwing resources at bitcoin as they adopt the currency."

Feedback from nodes

As part of the bitcoin core developer team, Mike Hearn sees the issue of nodes dropping from 10,000 down to under 7,000 as a significant problem. To Hearn, the core of the issue is disinterest in both expending computing resources and electricity toward something that may have diminishing value.

On the bitcoin developer mailing list, Hearn has proposed added functionality that would allow communications between nodes and the developers to better understand why so many are dropping out.

Hearn also wants to exclude consumer wallets installed on laptops and desktops from the network as well.

This is because their number will continue to decline no matter what – and they appear to only be working when users are awake during the day.

One of the reasons why lots of nodes are important is redundancy, according to Hearn:

"It makes [the bitcoin network] 'seem' bigger, more robust and more decentralised, because there are more people uniting to run it. So there's a psychological benefit."

Moving forward

Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik believes that community attention to the lack of nodes supporting the network is what the industry needs in order to boost numbers:

"I agree we need more full nodes. I've long been a proponent of such calls for more nodes."

However, such calls for voluntary support might not be enough motivation for people to do so, though, so, one logical idea that has been floated is to give nodes some sort of incentive.

However, that's probably not feasible right now: over the past six months, miners have been averaging a daily reward of 15.98 BTC per day, according to Blockchain.

Recent bitcoin prices would peg that value at around $7,040 per day for the entire network – and the growth in transaction fees has been incredibly flat over the past six months. As a result, miners would likely be reluctant to concede any revenue to bitcoin nodes, which don't require pricey ASIC hardware to run.

Transaction fees on the network for past six months. Source: Blockchain

Members of the bitcoin community seem to be losing interest in hosting full nodes. And it's something to pay attention to, because over time it might mean that the major companies in the industry may have to pick up the slack.

If larger players are taking up the role of supporting the network as full nodes, though, it continues to lessen the amount of decentralization the network has at an infrastructure level.

This is all down to circumstances surrounding bitcoin sentiment – the rise of ASICs, the selloffs in China and complete collapse of Mt. Gox – plus little in the way of incentives for someone to run a node.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

What’s a Bitcoin Node? Mining vs. Validation?

You’ll often hear the word node thrown around in blockchain and cryptocurrency circles. If you’ve read our intro to blockchain (and we highly recommend you do that), one of the characters in the comic there that’s writing down transactions on a piece of paper is actually a node. That introduction is quite simplified, however – let’s explain the concept of nodes in a bit more detail now.

Validation Nodes

One node is a computer running specific software. In the case of Bitcoin, one node is a Bitcoin program which connects to other Bitcoin nodes, i.e. other Bitcoin programs on the same machine, or on other machines which can be across the street or on the other side of the planet. There are several types and several versions of Bitcoin software. By picking a specific version of a specific Bitcoin program, a user “votes” for certain changes in the Bitcoin protocol. For example, if a bunch of users suggest the increase of 21 million total BTC to 42 million, the majority of the network is required to vote “yes” by installing the software implementing this change. Code changes are, thus, democratic.

Where this idea falls apart is the fact that there are very few Bitcoin nodes out there: a mere 10000 currently.

… whereas Ethereum, a cryptocurrency 5 years younger, already has twice as many:

Neither number is very impressive from a global perspective. According to some calculations, running a Bitcoin node on AWS (Amazon’s cloud service) costs around $10 per month. This means that taking over 10000 brand new nodes takes $100,000 per month, or only $1.2m per year – pocket change to any Bitcoin early adopter.

A list of node software you can install, along with their pros, cons, and special features, can be found here.

It’s important to note that validation nodes are purely an expense for the users running them. They give their users nothing. Bitcoin Core, for example, needs around 150 GB of disk space, 2GB of RAM, and a fast and uncapped internet connection with at least 50 kb of constant upload speed available just to run. It’s not uncommon to need to upload over 200 GB of traffic per month when running a single node. Validation nodes are volunteer nodes and are useful for the system’s decentralization, but as they become ever more expensive to run, so too does the number of nodes drop. Add to that the mounting disillusion with Bitcoin’s theoretical decentralization due to the fact that bankers seem to have taken over the protocol’s development, and the fact that Bitcoin’s price is being pumped by crime syndicates, and it’s no surprise that the number of nodes dropped by 20% in a single month – from 12000 to 10000. As more nodes disappear, so does centralization. A hostile takeover becomes more and more probable.

Mining Nodes

A mining node is a validation node which also uses the hardware of your own or a rented machine to guess the combinations of numbers and letters needed to validate and verify a block. A mining node can team up with other nodes and send guesses to a common pool (pool mining) to increase chances of guessing, but then counts as only one node.

Because most new miners opt to join a powerful pool to maximize their chances of mining a block and getting rewards, we’re seeing a very serious technological centralization happening in which 20 of the most powerful pools are mining almost all the Bitcoin.

Here’s a list of the biggest mining pools – notice that the first one mines 25% of all the bitcoin in existence.

A mining node is the only bit of software which can “produce” new Bitcoin, and running one in a way that makes it worth your while requires either a very strong computer or free electricity. If you’d like to give mining a go, the list of BTC mining software can be found here.

Conclusion

A mining node is a node which contributes to the network by guessing the combinations needed to “seal” the blocks of transactions and thus confirm them, producing new Bitcoins in the process. A validation node is a node which validates this information, makes sure it’s true, and passes the information along to other nodes, thus enabling the transfer of monetary value from location A to location B. Mining nodes are a subset of validation nodes because every mining node is also a validation node.

This difference is only manifested in the PoW consensus system and becomes technically unnecessary in PoS. With PoS every node can be a validation node, and mining nodes as such no longer exist – new tokens are created based on another principle. For more about this, please read our PoW vs. PoS article.

What is a Bitcoin Node? Mining versus Validation

This introduction to Bitcoin Nodes was originally published at Bruno’s Bitfalls website, and is reproduced here with permission.

You’ll often hear the word node thrown around in blockchain and cryptocurrency circles. If you’ve read our intro to blockchain (and we highly recommend you do that), one of the characters in the comic there that’s writing down transactions on a piece of paper is actually a node. That introduction is quite simplified, however — so let’s explain the concept of nodes in a bit more detail now.

Validation Nodes

Where this idea falls apart is in the fact that there are very few Bitcoin nodes out there — a mere 10000 currently.

In contrast, Ethereum — a cryptocurrency five years younger — already has twice as many:

A list of node software you can install, along with their pros, cons, and special features, can be found here.

It’s important to note that validation nodes are purely an expense for the users running them. They give their users nothing. Bitcoin Core, for example, needs around 150GB of disk space, 2GB of RAM, and a fast and uncapped internet connection with at least 50KB of constant upload speed available just to run. It’s not uncommon to need to upload over 200GB of traffic per month when running a single node. Validation nodes are volunteer nodes and are useful for the system’s decentralization, but as they become ever more expensive to run, so too does the number of nodes drop. Add to that the mounting disillusion with Bitcoin’s theoretical decentralization due to the fact that bankers seem to have taken over the protocol’s development, and the fact that Bitcoin’s price is being pumped by crime syndicates, and it’s no surprise that the number of nodes dropped by 20% in a single month — from 12000 to 10000. As more nodes disappear, so does centralization. A hostile takeover becomes more and more probable.

Mining Nodes

Here’s a list of the biggest mining pools. Notice that the first one mines 25% of all the Bitcoin in existence.

Conclusion

A mining node is a node which contributes to the network by guessing the combinations needed to “seal” the blocks of transactions and thus confirm them, producing new Bitcoins in the process. A validation node is a node which validates this information, makes sure it’s true, and passes the information along to other nodes, thus enabling the transfer of monetary value from location A to location B. Mining nodes are a subset of validation nodes, because every mining node is also a validation node.

This difference is only manifested in the PoW consensus system and becomes technically unnecessary in PoS. With PoS, every node can be a validation node, and mining nodes as such no longer exist: new tokens are created based on another principle. For more about this, please read our PoW vs PoS article.

Bitcoin node

Bitnodes is currently being developed to estimate the size of the Bitcoin network by finding all the reachable nodes in the network.

Chart shows the number of reachable nodes during the last 24 hours. Individual series can be enabled or disabled from the legend to view the chart for specific networks.

Network Availability

Chart shows the number of reachable nodes as seen by the crawler during the last 24 hours without taking into account the nodes that are already connected to the crawler. Reachable nodes that have reached their max. allowed connections will not be reflected in the chart.

User Agents

Chart shows the distribution of reachable nodes across leading user agents. Series can be enabled or disabled from the legend to view the chart for specific user agents.

Chart shows the distribution of reachable nodes across leading ASNs. Series can be enabled or disabled from the legend to view the chart for specific ASNs.

Chart shows the distribution of reachable nodes across leading countries. Series can be enabled or disabled from the legend to view the chart for specific countries.

Block Heights

Chart shows the distribution of reachable nodes across leading block heights. Series can be enabled or disabled from the legend to view the chart for specific groups of block heights. Index 0 denotes nodes with the consensus block height. Index 1 denotes nodes with 1 block behind the consensus block height. Consensus block height is determined based on the most common block height among the reachable nodes in the network.

Transactions Propagation

Chart shows propagation time in milliseconds for transactions during the last 24 hours. Tx 50% denotes 50% of the inv messages for all transactions in a block were observed within the given time from the first 1000 nodes. Timestamp for an inv message is based on the time when the kernel first saw the packet containing the inv message. The aggregated data does not include inv messages that were observed 1 hour after the first inv message for the same transaction.

Blocks Propagation

Chart shows propagation time in milliseconds for blocks during the last 24 hours. Block 50% denotes 50% of the inv messages for a block were observed within the given time from the first 1000 nodes. Timestamp for an inv message is based on the time when the kernel first saw the packet containing the inv message. The aggregated data does not include inv messages that were observed 1 hour after the first inv message for the same block.

Join the Network

Be part of the Bitcoin network by running a Bitcoin full node, e.g. Bitcoin Core.

Use this tool to check if your Bitcoin client is currently accepting incoming connections from other nodes.

Start a Bitcoin full node on your Linux, Mac, BSD or Windows system to help validate and relay transactions across the Bitcoin network by running this command:

About Bitnodes

Bitnodes is currently being developed to estimate the size of the Bitcoin network by finding all the reachable nodes in the network. The current methodology involves sending getaddr messages recursively to find all the reachable nodes in the network, starting from a set of seed nodes. Bitnodes uses Bitcoin protocol version 70001 (i.e. >= /Satoshi:0.8.x/), so nodes running an older protocol version will be skipped. The crawler implementation in Python is available from GitHub (ayeowch/bitnodes) and the crawler deployment is documented in Provisioning Bitcoin Network Crawler.

The crawler maintained by Bitnodes connects from these IP addresses: 136.243.139.96 , 136.243.139.120 , 2a01:4f8:212:3b1f::2

Should Full Bitcoin Nodes Get Rewarded like Miners?

The Bitcoin network is a large operation, and many people do not understand what makes the engine run under the hood. Mining is a concept that takes a little bit longer for some to learn how miners confirm transactions, find blocks and secure the network. Another important, intricate part of the system is nodes. Miners processing transactions and keeping the blockchain going needs to be relayed by a network of nodes.

Running a Bitcoin Node

The permissionless distributed ledger used in Bitcoin is a chain of communication, which require nodes to validate actions within its protocol. They are essential to the ecosystem just as much as miners who are finding blocks and processing the data. There are currently 5,796 nodes acting as connectors and redistribution points that fully confirm transactions and blocks. Bittorrent is a protocol that is very similar to how the digital currency operates. The system is a giant collaboration of home computers, servers, and hosts acting as nodes to help lighten the weight of peer-to-peer file sharing. This helps the Bittorrent network become resilient from attack and speed up its processes. In the Bitcoin network, the actions of home computers and servers hosting full nodes also protects the currency from a single point of failure.

Running a Bitcoin node comes with a few requirements and also some costs at times if running it continuously. This includes the electricity to operate the host device the blockchain is kept on and the cost of a constant internet connection running the software. Any desktop can perform the function of hosting a node like Windows, Mac, and various Linux operating systems. It can also be held on smaller devices that are capable of holding the entire blockchain with enough memory to perform the functions. Gadgets like the inexpensive Raspberry Pi can also house the distributed ledger when the Bitcoin protocol is applied to the operating system. Full nodes need at least 90 gigabytes of storage space and 2 gigabytes of memory (RAM) to keep up with the network. A recommended 6 hours of run-time per day is suggested by forums and community members concerning the subject.

The more nodes there are within the network, the more trustless and decentralized the system becomes. The validation provided by these nodes assures that double spending doesn’t happen, and all the protocol is adhered to. Bitcoin miners are offered an incentive to process transactions, which include freshly created digital coins as well as transaction fees.

Rewarding Full Nodes

Currently, there is no incentive to run a full node within the ecosystem, but some have thought of ways to handle the method by offering a reward. There have been ideas to add this incentive to the code itself and other solutions outside the blockchain’s operations. Theoretically, a reward for running a full node by an individual would help bolster the network, add security, and speed up verifications.

The global node count according to 21 inc.

Not only can individuals host a node but companies and organizations can also participate in securing the network. Recently the Bitcoin exchange BTCC has helped the network by hosting 100 dispersed full nodes worldwide. Last January the payment processor BitPay announced its new feature service with Microsoft’s Azure blockchain as a service (BaaS) platform and will enable individual users or organizations to run a full Bitcoin node on the distributed cloud. Other companies such as 21inc enable the community to run nodes, and there’s also altcoins that want to incentivize the network as well. For example, Spreadcoin is a token that uses what the creators call “Proof of Bitcoin Node” that adds a reward to those operating a full Bitcoin node.

Nodes also help form a consensus. The node count at over 5,000 is far below the all-time high of above 10,000 . This has caused concern for some and is the reason why people have discussed offering rewards. With the block size debate, nodes running a different Bitcoin client are also helping bring consensus to the infrastructure with hard or soft fork implementations. Currently, some users have started running nodes for Bitcoin Classic, Unlimited, and XT . These alternative code structures could decide the new rules for the system including increasing the block size. Miners and those running full nodes will be part of the “voting” process during a code change when the majority comes to consensus. This means that either Bitcoin Classic or another version could be the protocol used over Core.

The digital currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 is a grand creation with an array of functions that are supported by those hosting full Bitcoin nodes. Most people would agree the more, the merrier. However, how to actually keep this number up and increasing is a problem in itself — one that will rise in importance as the currency grows and gains more users.

Do you run a full node? What do you think about incentivizing full nodes? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Pixbay, and Wiki Commons

How to run a Bitcoin full node on Google Cloud

Above: Visualization of nodes in the Bitcoin network. Currently around 10,000 nodes are online.

Are you a believer in Bitcoin? If you have a stake in the cryptocurrency, one way to support your investment is to run a fully-validating Bitcoin node. Doing so will help secure the Bitcoin network by verifying transactions and blocks — thus keeping miners honest — and also helping other new nodes sync to the network, making it more robust. One way you can run a full node is to leverage a cloud computing service such as Google Cloud.

To be clear, running a Bitcoin full node is not the same as mining Bitcoin. If you are a merchant running a Bitcoin business or just accepting Bitcoin payments, you should absolutely be running your own node to validate your transactions, instead of trusting a third party. Some critics argue that running a full node in the cloud centralizes Bitcoin and limits your privacy, but it’s an easy alternative for those who don’t have an “always on” computer at home, or bandwidth to contribute to the network.

This guide walks you through the steps required to get started.

Sign up for a free Google Cloud trial

If you haven’t already signed up, Google Cloud offers a $300 credit for 365 days: https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial. You will need to enter your credit card information, but you should still be able to run your Bitcoin node for free for several months.

Create a VM Instance

Before launching a VM instance, you’ll have to create a new project in the dashboard. Next, enable the Compute Engine API in the Google API Console. Go to the VM Instances tab under Compute Engine and click Create Instance.

Configuring the VM

For machine type, 1 vCPU and 3.75GB of memory should be sufficient (Note: I had to increase this to 5GB because the daemon kept getting killed because of insufficient memory). This configuration will take about six days to sync the blockchain. If you want a faster sync, beef up your VM — just remember to downgrade after the sync. For the boot disk, I chose Ubuntu 16.04 as the OS, and changed the size to 200GB (at the time of publishing, Bitcoin’s blockchain size was about 156GB. Note: I increased this to 400GB, b/c I was running out of space).

Configuring Firewall Rules

You will need to add a firewall rule for TCP ports 8332 and 8333. Port 8333 is used to communicate with other nodes via the Bitcoin protocol, and port 8332 is used for JSON-RPC communications. To do this in Google Cloud, click on your instance to see the details, and under Network Interfaces, click on default under Network. Under “Firewall rules,” click “Add firewall rule.” For targets, I applied to all instances in the network; for Source IP ranges – 0.0.0.0/0 ; for Protocols and ports – tcp:8332;tcp:8333 .

Install Bitcoin Core

Go back to your instance and SSH into the VM, then follow installation instructions for Linux from Bitcoin Core. You will have to go with the Bitcoind option. After you run bitcoind -daemon , the daemon will start downloading the blockchain. This can take a while, but you can check progress by seeing how many blocks have been downloaded with bitcoin-cli getblockcount . To see how big the blockchain is, check https://blockchain.info/q/getblockcount. The whole syncing process took about six days for me.

Test inbound connections to your Bitcoin node to make sure other nodes on the Bitcoin network can connect to it. Just enter the external IP of your VM instance, and click Check Node. If you see a green bar, you’re accepting inbound connections. Nice! You can also run bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo in the VM to see how many total connections your node has.

You can also configure your node in different ways, perhaps to save bandwidth or set up an API to talk to it. For more on running full nodes and configuring them, read Securing Your Financial Sovereignty by Jameson Lopp.

What’s a Bitcoin Node? Mining vs. Validation?

Validation Nodes

Where this idea falls apart is the fact that there are very few Bitcoin nodes out there: a mere 10000 currently.

… whereas Ethereum, a cryptocurrency 5 years younger, already has twice as many:

A list of node software you can install, along with their pros, cons, and special features, can be found here.

Mining Nodes

Here’s a list of the biggest mining pools – notice that the first one mines 25% of all the bitcoin in existence.

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bitcoin_node

Running a Full Node

Install Node.js v4 LTS

Install ZeroMQ and Tools

Install Bitcore

Create a New (Non-Global) Node for Running Custom Services like Bitcore Wallet Service

Configure the Network

Start Syncing

Query for Information

Install a Block Explorer

Running A Full Node

What Is A Full Node?

Costs And Warnings

Special Cases

Secure Your Wallet

Minimum Requirements

Possible Problems

Linux Instructions

Ubuntu 16.04

Bitcoin Core GUI

Bitcoin Core Daemon

Other Linux Distributions

Bitcoin Core GUI

Bitcoin Core Daemon

Windows Instructions

Windows 10

Bitcoin Core GUI

Bitcoin Core Daemon

Windows 8.x

Bitcoin Core GUI

Bitcoin Core Daemon

Bitcoin Core GUI

Bitcoin Core Daemon

Mac OS X Instructions

Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.x

Bitcoin Core GUI

Bitcoin Core Daemon

Upgrading Bitcoin Core

Network Configuration

Testing Connections

GUI Peer Info

Daemon Peer Info

Enabling Connections

Configuring DHCP

Port Forwarding

Firewall Configuration

Configuration Tuning

Reduce Storage

Reduce Traffic

Maximum Upload Targets

Disable listening

Reduce maximum connections

Blocks-only mode

US Search Mobile Web

Improve your services

I created a yahoo/email account long ago but I lost access to it; can y'all delete all my yahoo/yahoo account except for my newest YaAccount

chithidio@Yahoo.com

i dont know what happened but i can not search anything.

Golf handicap tracker, why can't I get to it?

Rahyaftco@yahoo.com

RYAN RAHSAD BELL literally means

Question on a link

Repair the Yahoo Search App.

What Are Bitcoin Nodes and Why Do We Need Them?

Waning support

Lack of incentive

Centralization of mining

Feedback from nodes

Moving forward

What’s a Bitcoin Node? Mining vs. Validation?

Validation Nodes

Mining Nodes

Conclusion

What is a Bitcoin Node? Mining versus Validation

Validation Nodes

Mining Nodes

Conclusion

Bitcoin node

Network Availability

среда, 20 июня 2018 г.