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Bitcoin - The Currency of the Internet
A community dedicated to Bitcoin, the currency of the Internet. Bitcoin is a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money. Bitcoins are issued and managed without any central authority whatsoever: there is no government, company, or bank in charge of Bitcoin. You might be interested in Bitcoin if you like cryptography, distributed peer-to-peer systems, or economics. A large percentage of Bitcoin enthusiasts are libertarians, though people of all political philosophies are welcome.
The home for the most innovative cryptocurrency, VeriCoin and Verium VeriCoin: Proof-of-Stake-Time Protocol. PoST Verified. Verium: Proof-of-Work-Time Protocol. PoWT Verified. CPU Mine-able (GPU and ASIC Resistant)
Bitcoin is the currency of the Internet: a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money. Unlike traditional currencies such as dollars, bitcoins are issued and managed without any central authority whatsoever: there is no one in charge of bitcoin and it is made up of willing participants. Bitcoin gives you the option to be your own bank.
/r/Monero Weekly Discussion – September 19, 2020 - Use this thread for general chatter, basic questions, and if you're new to Monero
Index
General questions
Wallet: CLI & GUI
Wallet: Ledger
Nodes
1. General questions
Where can I download the Monero wallet?
There are multiple Monero wallets for a wide range of devices at your disposal. Check the table below for details and download links. Attention: for extra security make sure to calculate and compare the checksum of your downloaded files when possible. Please note the following usage of the labels: ⚠️ - Relatively new and/or beta. Use wallet with caution. ☢️ - Closed source.
Desktop wallets
Wallet
Device
Description
Download link
"Official" GUI / CLI
Windows, macOS, Linux
Default implementation maintained by the core team. Use this wallet to run a full node and obtain maximum privacy. Integrates with hardware wallets. Current version: 0.16.0.3 / 0.16.0.3.
Lightweight wallet -- you don't need to download the blockchain and run a node. MyMonero was developed with the assistance of the core team. It also has web-based and iOS versions.
Your balance is unlocked after 10 confirmations (which means 10 mined blocks). A block is mined approximately every two minutes on the Monero network, so that would be around 20 minutes.
How can I prove that I sent a payment?
The fastest and most direct way is by using the ExploreMonero blockchain explorer. You will need to recover the transaction key from your wallet (complete guide for GUI / CLI).
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are dozens of exchanges that trade Monero against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Check out the list on CoinMarketCap and choose the option that suits you best.
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with fiat?
Kraken (USD and EUR): old-school, decent exchange. They might require your documents for verification and approval of your account.
LocalMonero: peer-to-peer exchange. They have pretty much everything as a payment method and they support hundreds of fiat options.
How can I quickly exchange my Monero (XMR) for Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are multiple ways to exchange your Monero for Bitcoin, but first of all, I'd like to remind you that if you really want to do your part for Monero, one of the simplest ways is to get in touch with your merchant/service provider and request for it to accept Monero directly as payment. Ask the service provider to visit the official website and our communication channels if he or she needs help with system integration. That being said, the community has been recommending two services in particular, XMR.TO and MorphToken. These services are only recommendations and are operated by entities outside the control of the Monero Project. Be diligent.
How do I mine Monero? And other mining questions.
The correct place to ask questions and discuss the Monero mining scene is in the dedicated subreddit MoneroMining. That being said, you can find a list of pools and available mining software in the GetMonero.org website.
2. Wallet: CLI & GUI
Why I can't see my balance? Where is my XMR?
Before any action there are two things to check:
Are you using the latest available version of the wallet? A new version is released roughly every 6 months, so make sure you're using the current release (compare the release on GetMonero.org with your wallet's version on Settings, under Debug info).
Is your wallet fully synchronized? If it isn't, wait the sync to complete.
Because Monero is different from Bitcoin, wallet synchronization is not instant. The software needs to synchronize the blockchain and use your private keys to identify your transactions. Check in the lower left corner (GUI) if the wallet is synchronized. You can't send transactions and your balance might be wrong or unavailable if the wallet is not synced with the network. So please wait. If this is not a sufficient answer for your case and you're looking for more information, please see this answer on StackExchange.
How do I upgrade my wallet to the newest version?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
Why does it take so long to sync the wallet [for the first time]?
You have decided to use Monero's wallet and run a local node. Congratulations! You have chosen the safest and most secure option for your privacy, but unfortunately this has an initial cost. The first reason for the slowness is that you will need to download the entire blockchain, which is considerably heavy (+70 GB) and constantly growing. There are technologies being implemented in Monero to slow this growth, however it is inevitable to make this initial download to run a full node. Consider syncing to a device that has an SSD instead of an HDD, as this greatly impacts the speed of synchronization. Now that the blockchain is on your computer, the next time you run the wallet you only need to download new blocks, which should take seconds or minutes (depending on how often you use the wallet).
I don't want to download the blockchain, how can I skip that?
The way to skip downloading the blockchain is connecting your wallet to a public remote node. You can follow this guide on how to set it up. You can find a list of public remote nodes on MoneroWorld. Be advised that when using a public remote node you lose some of your privacy. A public remote node is able to identify your IP and opens up a range for certain attacks that further diminish your privacy.A remote node can't see your balance and it can't spend your XMR.
How do I restore my wallet from the mnemonic seed or from the keys?
To restore your wallet with the 25 word mnemonic seed, please see this guide. To restore your wallet with your keys, please see this guide.
3. Wallet: Ledger
How do I generate a Ledger Monero Wallet with the GUI or CLI?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange. Check this page for the GUI instructions, and this page for the CLI instructions.
4. Nodes
How can my local node become a public remote node?
If you want to support other Monero users by making your node public, you can follow the instructions on MoneroWorld, under the section "How To Include Your Node On Moneroworld".
How can I connect my node via Tor?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
You've probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what's the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments. It all started with the release of the release of Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper however that will probably go over the head of most readers so we recommend the following videos for a good starting point for understanding how bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:
Some other great resources include Lopp.net, the Princeton crypto series and James D'Angelo's Bitcoin 101 Blackboard series. Some excellent writing on Bitcoin's value proposition and future can be found at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. Some Bitcoin statistics can be found here and here. Developer resources can be found here. Peer-reviewed research papers can be found here. Potential upcoming protocol improvements and scaling resources here and here. The number of times Bitcoin was declared dead by the media can be found here (LOL!)
Key properties of Bitcoin
Limited Supply - There will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion, you can view the inflation schedule here. Once they are all issued Bitcoin will be truly deflationary. The halving countdown can be found here.
Open source - Bitcoin code is fully auditable. You can read the source code yourself here.
Accountable - The public ledger is transparent, all transactions are seen by everyone.
Decentralized - Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes with no single point of failure and as such can't be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works. You can even run a node on a Raspberry Pi.
Censorship resistant - No one can prevent you from interacting with the bitcoin network and no one can censor, alter or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint.
Push system - There are no chargebacks in bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoins reside has the authority to move them.
Low fee scaling - On chain transaction fees depend on network demand and how much priority you wish to assign to the transaction. Most wallets calculate on chain fees automatically but you can view current fees here and mempool activity here. On chain fees may rise occasionally due to network demand, however instant micropayments that do not require confirmations are happening via the Lightning Network, a second layer scaling solution currently rolling out on the Bitcoin mainnet.
Borderless - No country can stop it from going in/out, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking as the ledger is globally distributed.
Trustless - Bitcoin solved the Byzantine's Generals Problem which means nobody needs to trust anybody for it to work.
Secure - Encrypted cryptographically and can’t be brute forced or confiscated with proper key management such as hardware wallets.
Programmable - Individual units of bitcoin can be programmed to transfer based on certain criteria being met
Nearly instant - From a few seconds to a few minutes depending on need for confirmations. Transactions are irreversible after one or more confirmations.
Portable - Bitcoins are digital so they are easier to move than cash or gold. They can even be transported by simply memorizing a string of words for wallet recovery (while cool this method is generally not recommended due to potential for insecure key generation by inexperienced users. Hardware wallets are the preferred method for new users due to ease of use and additional security).
Scalable - While the protocol is still being optimized for increased transaction capacity, blockchains do not scale very well, so most transaction volume is expected to occur on Layer 2 networks built on top of Bitcoin.
Divisible - Each bitcoin can be divided down to 8 decimals, which means you don't have to worry about buying an entire bitcoin.
Bitcoin.org and BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com are helpful sites for beginners. You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin (even just a few dollars worth) and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular resources are below, also check out the bitcoinity exchange resources for a larger list of options for purchases.
Here is a listing of local ATMs. If you would like your paycheck automatically converted to bitcoin use Bitwage. Note: Bitcoins are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Preev is a useful site that that shows how much various denominations of bitcoin are worth in different currencies. Alternatively you can just Google "1 bitcoin in (your local currency)".
Securing your bitcoins
With bitcoin you can "Be your own bank" and personally secure your bitcoins OR you can use third party companies aka "Bitcoin banks" which will hold the bitcoins for you.
If you prefer to "Be your own bank" and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, then you will need to create your own wallet and keep it secure. If you want easy and secure storage without having to learn computer security best practices, then a hardware wallet such as the Trezor, Ledger or ColdCard is recommended. Alternatively there are many software wallet options to choose from here depending on your use case.
If you prefer to let third party "Bitcoin banks" manage your coins, try Gemini but be aware you may not be in control of your private keys in which case you would have to ask permission to access your funds and be exposed to third party risk.
Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email! 2FA requires a second confirmation code to access your account making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.
As mentioned above, Bitcoin is decentralized, which by definition means there is no official website or Twitter handle or spokesperson or CEO. However, all money attracts thieves. This combination unfortunately results in scammers running official sounding names or pretending to be an authority on YouTube or social media. Many scammers throughout the years have claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin. Websites like bitcoin(dot)com and the btc subreddit are active scams. Almost all altcoins (shitcoins) are marketed heavily with big promises but are really just designed to separate you from your bitcoin. So be careful: any resource, including all linked in this document, may in the future turn evil. Don't trust, verify. Also as they say in our community "Not your keys, not your coins".
Where can I spend bitcoins?
Check out spendabit or bitcoin directory for millions of merchant options. Also you can spend bitcoin anywhere visa is accepted with bitcoin debit cards such as the CashApp card. Some other useful site are listed below.
Gift cards for hundreds of retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.
There are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;
1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.
No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).
Accept business from a global customer base.
Increased privacy.
Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.
If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;
Mining bitcoins can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read more here. Still have mining questions? The crew at /BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out. If you want to contribute to the bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions you can run a full node using this setup guide. If you would prefer to keep it simple there are several good options. You can view the global node distribution here.
Earning bitcoins
Just like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoins by being paid to do a job.
You can also earn bitcoins by participating as a market maker on JoinMarket by allowing users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoins for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoins.
Bitcoin-Related Projects
The following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the bitcoin space.
One Bitcoin is quite large (hundreds of £/$/€) so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:
Unit
Symbol
Value
Info
bitcoin
BTC
1 bitcoin
one bitcoin is equal to 100 million satoshis
millibitcoin
mBTC
1,000 per bitcoin
used as default unit in recent Electrum wallet releases
bit
bit
1,000,000 per bitcoin
colloquial "slang" term for microbitcoin (μBTC)
satoshi
sat
100,000,000 per bitcoin
smallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventor
For example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $10000 for one Bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:
0.001 BTC
1 mBTC
1,000 bits
100k sats
For more information check out the Bitcoin units wiki. Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below or stick around for our weekly Mentor Monday thread. If you decide to post a question in /Bitcoin, please use the search bar to see if it has been answered before, and remember to follow the community rules outlined on the sidebar to receive a better response. The mods are busy helping manage our community so please do not message them unless you notice problems with the functionality of the subreddit. Note: This is a community created FAQ. If you notice anything missing from the FAQ or that requires clarification you can edit it here and it will be included in the next revision pending approval. Welcome to the Bitcoin community and the new decentralized economy!
https://github.com/gridcoin-community/Gridcoin-Research/releases/tag/5.0.0.0 Finally! After over ten months of development and testing, "Fern" has arrived! This is a whopper. 240 pull requests merged. Essentially a complete rewrite that was started with the scraper (the "neural net" rewrite) in "Denise" has now been completed. Practically the ENTIRE Gridcoin specific codebase resting on top of the vanilla Bitcoin/Peercoin/Blackcoin vanilla PoS code has been rewritten. This removes the team requirement at last (see below), although there are many other important improvements besides that. Fern was a monumental undertaking. We had to encode all of the old rules active for the v10 block protocol in new code and ensure that the new code was 100% compatible. This had to be done in such a way as to clear out all of the old spaghetti and ring-fence it with tightly controlled class implementations. We then wrote an entirely new, simplified ruleset for research rewards and reengineered contracts (which includes beacon management, polls, and voting) using properly classed code. The fundamentals of Gridcoin with this release are now on a very sound and maintainable footing, and the developers believe the codebase as updated here will serve as the fundamental basis for Gridcoin's future roadmap. We have been testing this for MONTHS on testnet in various stages. The v10 (legacy) compatibility code has been running on testnet continuously as it was developed to ensure compatibility with existing nodes. During the last few months, we have done two private testnet forks and then the full public testnet testing for v11 code (the new protocol which is what Fern implements). The developers have also been running non-staking "sentinel" nodes on mainnet with this code to verify that the consensus rules are problem-free for the legacy compatibility code on the broader mainnet. We believe this amount of testing is going to result in a smooth rollout. Given the amount of changes in Fern, I am presenting TWO changelogs below. One is high level, which summarizes the most significant changes in the protocol. The second changelog is the detailed one in the usual format, and gives you an inkling of the size of this release.
Highlights
Protocol
Note that the protocol changes will not become active until we cross the hard-fork transition height to v11, which has been set at 2053000. Given current average block spacing, this should happen around October 4, about one month from now. Note that to get all of the beacons in the network on the new protocol, we are requiring ALL beacons to be validated. A two week (14 day) grace period is provided by the code, starting at the time of the transition height, for people currently holding a beacon to validate the beacon and prevent it from expiring. That means that EVERY CRUNCHER must advertise and validate their beacon AFTER the v11 transition (around Oct 4th) and BEFORE October 18th (or more precisely, 14 days from the actual date of the v11 transition). If you do not advertise and validate your beacon by this time, your beacon will expire and you will stop earning research rewards until you advertise and validate a new beacon. This process has been made much easier by a brand new beacon "wizard" that helps manage beacon advertisements and renewals. Once a beacon has been validated and is a v11 protocol beacon, the normal 180 day expiration rules apply. Note, however, that the 180 day expiration on research rewards has been removed with the Fern update. This means that while your beacon might expire after 180 days, your earned research rewards will be retained and can be claimed by advertising a beacon with the same CPID and going through the validation process again. In other words, you do not lose any earned research rewards if you do not stake a block within 180 days and keep your beacon up-to-date. The transition height is also when the team requirement will be relaxed for the network.
GUI
Besides the beacon wizard, there are a number of improvements to the GUI, including new UI transaction types (and icons) for staking the superblock, sidestake sends, beacon advertisement, voting, poll creation, and transactions with a message. The main screen has been revamped with a better summary section, and better status icons. Several changes under the hood have improved GUI performance. And finally, the diagnostics have been revamped.
Blockchain
The wallet sync speed has been DRASTICALLY improved. A decent machine with a good network connection should be able to sync the entire mainnet blockchain in less than 4 hours. A fast machine with a really fast network connection and a good SSD can do it in about 2.5 hours. One of our goals was to reduce or eliminate the reliance on snapshots for mainnet, and I think we have accomplished that goal with the new sync speed. We have also streamlined the in-memory structures for the blockchain which shaves some memory use. There are so many goodies here it is hard to summarize them all. I would like to thank all of the contributors to this release, but especially thank @cyrossignol, whose incredible contributions formed the backbone of this release. I would also like to pay special thanks to @barton2526, @caraka, and @Quezacoatl1, who tirelessly helped during the testing and polishing phase on testnet with testing and repeated builds for all architectures. The developers are proud to present this release to the community and we believe this represents the starting point for a true renaissance for Gridcoin!
Summary Changelog
Accrual
Changed
Most significantly, nodes calculate research rewards directly from the magnitudes in EACH superblock between stakes instead of using a two- or three- point average based on a CPID's current magnitude and the magnitude for the CPID when it last staked. For those long-timers in the community, this has been referred to as "Superblock Windows," and was first done in proof-of-concept form by @denravonska.
Network magnitude unit pinned to a static value of 0.25
Max research reward allowed per block raised to 16384 GRC (from 12750 GRC)
New CPIDs begin accruing research rewards from the first superblock that contains the CPID instead of from the time of the beacon advertisement
Removed
500 GRC research reward limit for a CPID's first stake
6-month expiration for unclaimed rewards
10-block spacing requirement between research reward claims
Rolling 5-day payment-per-day limit
Legacy tolerances for floating-point error and time drift
The need to include a valid copy of a CPID's magnitude in a claim
10-block emission adjustment interval for the magnitude unit
Beacons
Added
One-time beacon activation requires that participants temporarily change their usernames to a verification code at one whitelisted BOINC project
Verification codes of pending beacons expire after 3 days
Self-service beacon removal
Changed
Burn fee for beacon advertisement increased from 0.00001 GRC to 0.5 GRC
Rain addresses derived from beacon keys instead of a default wallet address
Beacon expiration determined as of the current block instead of the previous block
Removed
The ability for developers to remove beacons
The ability to sign research reward claims with non-current but unexpired beacons
Unaltered
As a reminder:
Beacons expire after 6 months pass (180 days)
Beacons can be renewed after 5 months pass (150 days)
Renewed beacons must be signed with the same key as the original beacon
Superblocks
Added
Magnitudes less than 1 include two fractional places
Magnitudes greater than or equal to 1 but less than 10 include one fractional place
Changed
A valid superblock must match a scraper convergence
Removed
Superblock popularity election mechanics
Voting
Added
Yes/no/abstain and single-choice response types (no user-facing support yet)
Changed
To create a poll, a maximum of 250 UTXOs for a single address must add up to 100000 GRC. These are selected from the largest downwards.
Burn fee for creating polls scaled by the number of UTXOs claimed
50 GRC for a poll contract
0.001 GRC per claimed UTXO
Burn fee for casting votes scaled by the number of UTXOs claimed
0.01 GRC for a vote contract
0.01 GRC to claim magnitude
0.01 GRC per claimed address
0.001 GRC per claimed UTXO
Maximum length of a poll title: 80 characters
Maximum length of a poll question: 100 characters
Maximum length of a poll discussion website URL: 100 characters
Maximum number of poll choices: 20
Maximum length of a poll choice label: 100 characters
Removed
Magnitude, CPID count, and participant count poll weight types
The ability for developers to remove polls and votes
Detailed Changelog
[5.0.0.0] 2020-09-03, mandatory, "Fern"
Added
Backport newer uint256 types from Bitcoin #1570 (@cyrossignol)
Implement project level rain for rainbymagnitude #1580 (@jamescowens)
Upgrade utilities (Update checker and snapshot downloadeapplication) #1576 (@iFoggz)
Provide fees collected in the block by the miner #1601 (@iFoggz)
Add support for generating legacy superblocks from scraper stats #1603 (@cyrossignol)
Port of the Bitcoin Logger to Gridcoin #1600 (@jamescowens)
Implement zapwallettxes #1605 (@jamescowens)
Implements a global event filter to suppress help question mark #1609 (@jamescowens)
Add next target difficulty to RPC output #1615 (@cyrossignol)
Add caching for block hashes to CBlock #1624 (@cyrossignol)
Make toolbars and tray icon red for testnet #1637 (@jamescowens)
Add an rpc call convergencereport #1643 (@jamescowens)
Implement newline filter on config file read in #1645 (@jamescowens)
Implement beacon status icon/button #1646 (@jamescowens)
Add gridcointestnet.png #1649 (@caraka)
Add precision to support magnitudes less than 1 #1651 (@cyrossignol)
Replace research accrual calculations with superblock snapshots #1657 (@cyrossignol)
Publish example gridcoinresearch.conf as a md document to the doc directory #1662 (@jamescowens)
Add options checkbox to disable transaction notifications #1666 (@jamescowens)
Add support for self-service beacon deletion #1695 (@cyrossignol)
Add support for type-specific contract fee amounts #1698 (@cyrossignol)
Add verifiedbeaconreport and pendingbeaconreport #1696 (@jamescowens)
Add preliminary testing option for block v11 height on testnet #1706 (@cyrossignol)
Add verified beacons manifest part to superblock validator #1711 (@cyrossignol)
Implement beacon, vote, and superblock display categories/icons in UI transaction model #1717 (@jamescowens)
Uncle Passed ~4 years ago and just found out he was big into bitcoin/mining
I've tried googling to figure this out but I'm not tech savvy enough to understand/grasp it, so not sure if this is even possible, here is my situation: My uncle passed in 2016 after a very short battle with an aggressive brain cancetumor etc. The last year of his life was plagued with memory issues but he did talk a bit about bitcoin/mining etc, however in my head he was doing some type of folding at home to help cure diseases etc. Two weeks ago my aunt sold her house and began the moving process, upon showing up to help and clear out her basement I came across a varitable treasure trove of old PC parts. I'd say its hoarding, however it is all in immaculate shape and stored. Along with notebooks and some other information, we found the following: 6 desktop computers with large cases and lots of extra hardware inside, after talking to a friend they believe these may all be mining rigs. In the basement we uncovered 6 boxes of HDDs and graphics cards, however all of the HDD's seem to be 2-4TB and may or may not be dead drives? I purchased an external HDD reader to see if there was any family pictures etc, on there. It's mostly family pictures and videos he'd saved or converted, however because of the news around bitcoin, and the amount of hardware, I wonder if there is a wallet / bitcoin whatever floating around somewhere in one of these drives. Is there an easy way to locate if there is anything of value here? Sorry for length, wanted to include as much as possible for best results. Can answer any other info. ATM we have: 6 PCs with a ton of stuff crammed in them, stacks of HDDs, stacks of graphics cards and a buncha notebooks littered with numbers that are confusing. I don't think these #'s etc are bitchain/codes, but have now way to verify.
/r/Monero Weekly Discussion – September 05, 2020 - Use this thread for general chatter, basic questions, and if you're new to Monero
Index
General questions
Wallet: CLI & GUI
Wallet: Ledger
Nodes
1. General questions
Where can I download the Monero wallet?
There are multiple Monero wallets for a wide range of devices at your disposal. Check the table below for details and download links. Attention: for extra security make sure to calculate and compare the checksum of your downloaded files when possible. Please note the following usage of the labels: ⚠️ - Relatively new and/or beta. Use wallet with caution. ☢️ - Closed source.
Desktop wallets
Wallet
Device
Description
Download link
"Official" GUI / CLI
Windows, macOS, Linux
Default implementation maintained by the core team. Use this wallet to run a full node and obtain maximum privacy. Integrates with hardware wallets. Current version: 0.15.0.1 / 0.15.0.4.
Lightweight wallet -- you don't need to download the blockchain and run a node. MyMonero was developed with the assistance of the core team. It also has web-based and iOS versions.
Your balance is unlocked after 10 confirmations (which means 10 mined blocks). A block is mined approximately every two minutes on the Monero network, so that would be around 20 minutes.
How can I prove that I sent a payment?
The fastest and most direct way is by using the ExploreMonero blockchain explorer. You will need to recover the transaction key from your wallet (complete guide for GUI / CLI).
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are dozens of exchanges that trade Monero against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Check out the list on CoinMarketCap and choose the option that suits you best.
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with fiat?
Kraken (USD and EUR): old-school, decent exchange. They might require your documents for verification and approval of your account.
LocalMonero: peer-to-peer exchange. They have pretty much everything as a payment method and they support hundreds of fiat options.
How can I quickly exchange my Monero (XMR) for Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are multiple ways to exchange your Monero for Bitcoin, but first of all, I'd like to remind you that if you really want to do your part for Monero, one of the simplest ways is to get in touch with your merchant/service provider and request for it to accept Monero directly as payment. Ask the service provider to visit the official website and our communication channels if he or she needs help with system integration. That being said, the community has been recommending two services in particular, XMR.TO and MorphToken. These services are only recommendations and are operated by entities outside the control of the Monero Project. Be diligent.
How do I mine Monero? And other mining questions.
The correct place to ask questions and discuss the Monero mining scene is in the dedicated subreddit MoneroMining. That being said, you can find a list of pools and available mining software in the GetMonero.org website.
2. Wallet: CLI & GUI
Why I can't see my balance? Where is my XMR?
Before any action there are two things to check:
Are you using the latest available version of the wallet? A new version is released roughly every 6 months, so make sure you're using the current release (compare the release on GetMonero.org with your wallet's version on Settings, under Debug info).
Is your wallet fully synchronized? If it isn't, wait the sync to complete.
Because Monero is different from Bitcoin, wallet synchronization is not instant. The software needs to synchronize the blockchain and use your private keys to identify your transactions. Check in the lower left corner (GUI) if the wallet is synchronized. You can't send transactions and your balance might be wrong or unavailable if the wallet is not synced with the network. So please wait. If this is not a sufficient answer for your case and you're looking for more information, please see this answer on StackExchange.
How do I upgrade my wallet to the newest version?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
Why does it take so long to sync the wallet [for the first time]?
You have decided to use Monero's wallet and run a local node. Congratulations! You have chosen the safest and most secure option for your privacy, but unfortunately this has an initial cost. The first reason for the slowness is that you will need to download the entire blockchain, which is considerably heavy (+70 GB) and constantly growing. There are technologies being implemented in Monero to slow this growth, however it is inevitable to make this initial download to run a full node. Consider syncing to a device that has an SSD instead of an HDD, as this greatly impacts the speed of synchronization. Now that the blockchain is on your computer, the next time you run the wallet you only need to download new blocks, which should take seconds or minutes (depending on how often you use the wallet).
I don't want to download the blockchain, how can I skip that?
The way to skip downloading the blockchain is connecting your wallet to a public remote node. You can follow this guide on how to set it up. You can find a list of public remote nodes on MoneroWorld. Be advised that when using a public remote node you lose some of your privacy. A public remote node is able to identify your IP and opens up a range for certain attacks that further diminish your privacy.A remote node can't see your balance and it can't spend your XMR.
How do I restore my wallet from the mnemonic seed or from the keys?
To restore your wallet with the 25 word mnemonic seed, please see this guide. To restore your wallet with your keys, please see this guide.
3. Wallet: Ledger
How do I generate a Ledger Monero Wallet with the GUI or CLI?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange. Check this page for the GUI instructions, and this page for the CLI instructions.
4. Nodes
How can my local node become a public remote node?
If you want to support other Monero users by making your node public, you can follow the instructions on MoneroWorld, under the section "How To Include Your Node On Moneroworld".
How can I connect my node via Tor?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
/r/Monero Weekly Discussion – September 26, 2020 - Use this thread for general chatter, basic questions, and if you're new to Monero
Index
General questions
Wallet: CLI & GUI
Wallet: Ledger
Nodes
1. General questions
Where can I download the Monero wallet?
There are multiple Monero wallets for a wide range of devices at your disposal. Check the table below for details and download links. Attention: for extra security make sure to calculate and compare the checksum of your downloaded files when possible. Please note the following usage of the labels: ⚠️ - Relatively new and/or beta. Use wallet with caution. ☢️ - Closed source.
Desktop wallets
Wallet
Device
Description
Download link
"Official" GUI / CLI
Windows, macOS, Linux
Default implementation maintained by the core team. Use this wallet to run a full node and obtain maximum privacy. Integrates with hardware wallets. Current version: 0.16.0.3 / 0.16.0.3.
Lightweight wallet -- you don't need to download the blockchain and run a node. MyMonero was developed with the assistance of the core team. It also has web-based and iOS versions.
Your balance is unlocked after 10 confirmations (which means 10 mined blocks). A block is mined approximately every two minutes on the Monero network, so that would be around 20 minutes.
How can I prove that I sent a payment?
The fastest and most direct way is by using the ExploreMonero blockchain explorer. You will need to recover the transaction key from your wallet (complete guide for GUI / CLI).
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are dozens of exchanges that trade Monero against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Check out the list on CoinMarketCap and choose the option that suits you best.
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with fiat?
Kraken (USD and EUR): old-school, decent exchange. They might require your documents for verification and approval of your account.
LocalMonero: peer-to-peer exchange. They have pretty much everything as a payment method and they support hundreds of fiat options.
How can I quickly exchange my Monero (XMR) for Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are multiple ways to exchange your Monero for Bitcoin, but first of all, I'd like to remind you that if you really want to do your part for Monero, one of the simplest ways is to get in touch with your merchant/service provider and request for it to accept Monero directly as payment. Ask the service provider to visit the official website and our communication channels if he or she needs help with system integration. That being said, the community has been recommending two services in particular, XMR.TO and MorphToken. These services are only recommendations and are operated by entities outside the control of the Monero Project. Be diligent.
How do I mine Monero? And other mining questions.
The correct place to ask questions and discuss the Monero mining scene is in the dedicated subreddit MoneroMining. That being said, you can find a list of pools and available mining software in the GetMonero.org website.
2. Wallet: CLI & GUI
Why I can't see my balance? Where is my XMR?
Before any action there are two things to check:
Are you using the latest available version of the wallet? A new version is released roughly every 6 months, so make sure you're using the current release (compare the release on GetMonero.org with your wallet's version on Settings, under Debug info).
Is your wallet fully synchronized? If it isn't, wait the sync to complete.
Because Monero is different from Bitcoin, wallet synchronization is not instant. The software needs to synchronize the blockchain and use your private keys to identify your transactions. Check in the lower left corner (GUI) if the wallet is synchronized. You can't send transactions and your balance might be wrong or unavailable if the wallet is not synced with the network. So please wait. If this is not a sufficient answer for your case and you're looking for more information, please see this answer on StackExchange.
How do I upgrade my wallet to the newest version?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
Why does it take so long to sync the wallet [for the first time]?
You have decided to use Monero's wallet and run a local node. Congratulations! You have chosen the safest and most secure option for your privacy, but unfortunately this has an initial cost. The first reason for the slowness is that you will need to download the entire blockchain, which is considerably heavy (+70 GB) and constantly growing. There are technologies being implemented in Monero to slow this growth, however it is inevitable to make this initial download to run a full node. Consider syncing to a device that has an SSD instead of an HDD, as this greatly impacts the speed of synchronization. Now that the blockchain is on your computer, the next time you run the wallet you only need to download new blocks, which should take seconds or minutes (depending on how often you use the wallet).
I don't want to download the blockchain, how can I skip that?
The way to skip downloading the blockchain is connecting your wallet to a public remote node. You can follow this guide on how to set it up. You can find a list of public remote nodes on MoneroWorld. Be advised that when using a public remote node you lose some of your privacy. A public remote node is able to identify your IP and opens up a range for certain attacks that further diminish your privacy.A remote node can't see your balance and it can't spend your XMR.
How do I restore my wallet from the mnemonic seed or from the keys?
To restore your wallet with the 25 word mnemonic seed, please see this guide. To restore your wallet with your keys, please see this guide.
3. Wallet: Ledger
How do I generate a Ledger Monero Wallet with the GUI or CLI?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange. Check this page for the GUI instructions, and this page for the CLI instructions.
4. Nodes
How can my local node become a public remote node?
If you want to support other Monero users by making your node public, you can follow the instructions on MoneroWorld, under the section "How To Include Your Node On Moneroworld".
How can I connect my node via Tor?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
/r/Monero Weekly Discussion – September 12, 2020 - Use this thread for general chatter, basic questions, and if you're new to Monero
Index
General questions
Wallet: CLI & GUI
Wallet: Ledger
Nodes
1. General questions
Where can I download the Monero wallet?
There are multiple Monero wallets for a wide range of devices at your disposal. Check the table below for details and download links. Attention: for extra security make sure to calculate and compare the checksum of your downloaded files when possible. Please note the following usage of the labels: ⚠️ - Relatively new and/or beta. Use wallet with caution. ☢️ - Closed source.
Desktop wallets
Wallet
Device
Description
Download link
"Official" GUI / CLI
Windows, macOS, Linux
Default implementation maintained by the core team. Use this wallet to run a full node and obtain maximum privacy. Integrates with hardware wallets. Current version: 0.16.0.3 / 0.16.0.3.
Lightweight wallet -- you don't need to download the blockchain and run a node. MyMonero was developed with the assistance of the core team. It also has web-based and iOS versions.
Your balance is unlocked after 10 confirmations (which means 10 mined blocks). A block is mined approximately every two minutes on the Monero network, so that would be around 20 minutes.
How can I prove that I sent a payment?
The fastest and most direct way is by using the ExploreMonero blockchain explorer. You will need to recover the transaction key from your wallet (complete guide for GUI / CLI).
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are dozens of exchanges that trade Monero against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Check out the list on CoinMarketCap and choose the option that suits you best.
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with fiat?
Kraken (USD and EUR): old-school, decent exchange. They might require your documents for verification and approval of your account.
LocalMonero: peer-to-peer exchange. They have pretty much everything as a payment method and they support hundreds of fiat options.
How can I quickly exchange my Monero (XMR) for Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are multiple ways to exchange your Monero for Bitcoin, but first of all, I'd like to remind you that if you really want to do your part for Monero, one of the simplest ways is to get in touch with your merchant/service provider and request for it to accept Monero directly as payment. Ask the service provider to visit the official website and our communication channels if he or she needs help with system integration. That being said, the community has been recommending two services in particular, XMR.TO and MorphToken. These services are only recommendations and are operated by entities outside the control of the Monero Project. Be diligent.
How do I mine Monero? And other mining questions.
The correct place to ask questions and discuss the Monero mining scene is in the dedicated subreddit MoneroMining. That being said, you can find a list of pools and available mining software in the GetMonero.org website.
2. Wallet: CLI & GUI
Why I can't see my balance? Where is my XMR?
Before any action there are two things to check:
Are you using the latest available version of the wallet? A new version is released roughly every 6 months, so make sure you're using the current release (compare the release on GetMonero.org with your wallet's version on Settings, under Debug info).
Is your wallet fully synchronized? If it isn't, wait the sync to complete.
Because Monero is different from Bitcoin, wallet synchronization is not instant. The software needs to synchronize the blockchain and use your private keys to identify your transactions. Check in the lower left corner (GUI) if the wallet is synchronized. You can't send transactions and your balance might be wrong or unavailable if the wallet is not synced with the network. So please wait. If this is not a sufficient answer for your case and you're looking for more information, please see this answer on StackExchange.
How do I upgrade my wallet to the newest version?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
Why does it take so long to sync the wallet [for the first time]?
You have decided to use Monero's wallet and run a local node. Congratulations! You have chosen the safest and most secure option for your privacy, but unfortunately this has an initial cost. The first reason for the slowness is that you will need to download the entire blockchain, which is considerably heavy (+70 GB) and constantly growing. There are technologies being implemented in Monero to slow this growth, however it is inevitable to make this initial download to run a full node. Consider syncing to a device that has an SSD instead of an HDD, as this greatly impacts the speed of synchronization. Now that the blockchain is on your computer, the next time you run the wallet you only need to download new blocks, which should take seconds or minutes (depending on how often you use the wallet).
I don't want to download the blockchain, how can I skip that?
The way to skip downloading the blockchain is connecting your wallet to a public remote node. You can follow this guide on how to set it up. You can find a list of public remote nodes on MoneroWorld. Be advised that when using a public remote node you lose some of your privacy. A public remote node is able to identify your IP and opens up a range for certain attacks that further diminish your privacy.A remote node can't see your balance and it can't spend your XMR.
How do I restore my wallet from the mnemonic seed or from the keys?
To restore your wallet with the 25 word mnemonic seed, please see this guide. To restore your wallet with your keys, please see this guide.
3. Wallet: Ledger
How do I generate a Ledger Monero Wallet with the GUI or CLI?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange. Check this page for the GUI instructions, and this page for the CLI instructions.
4. Nodes
How can my local node become a public remote node?
If you want to support other Monero users by making your node public, you can follow the instructions on MoneroWorld, under the section "How To Include Your Node On Moneroworld".
How can I connect my node via Tor?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
This is a follow-up on https://old.reddit.com/Bitcoin/comments/hqzp14/technical_the_path_to_taproot_activation/ Taproot! Everybody wants it!! But... you might ask yourself: sure, everybody else wants it, but why would I, sovereign Bitcoin HODLer, want it? Surely I can be better than everybody else because I swapped XXX fiat for Bitcoin unlike all those nocoiners? And it is important for you to know the reasons why you, o sovereign Bitcoiner, would want Taproot activated. After all, your nodes (or the nodes your wallets use, which if you are SPV, you hopefully can pester to your wallet vendoimplementor about) need to be upgraded in order for Taproot activation to actually succeed instead of becoming a hot sticky mess. First, let's consider some principles of Bitcoin.
You the HODLer should be the one who controls where your money goes. Your keys, your coins.
You the HODLer should be able to coordinate and make contracts with other people regarding your funds.
You the HODLer should be able to do the above without anyone watching over your shoulder and judging you.
I'm sure most of us here would agree that the above are very important principles of Bitcoin and that these are principles we would not be willing to remove. If anything, we would want those principles strengthened (especially the last one, financial privacy, which current Bitcoin is only sporadically strong with: you can get privacy, it just requires effort to do so). So, how does Taproot affect those principles?
Taproot and Your /Coins
Most HODLers probably HODL their coins in singlesig addresses. Sadly, switching to Taproot would do very little for you (it gives a mild discount at spend time, at the cost of a mild increase in fee at receive time (paid by whoever sends to you, so if it's a self-send from a P2PKH or bech32 address, you pay for this); mostly a wash). (technical details: a Taproot output is 1 version byte + 32 byte public key, while a P2WPKH (bech32 singlesig) output is 1 version byte + 20 byte public key hash, so the Taproot output spends 12 bytes more; spending from a P2WPKH requires revealing a 32-byte public key later, which is not needed with Taproot, and Taproot signatures are about 9 bytes smaller than P2WPKH signatures, but the 32 bytes plus 9 bytes is divided by 4 because of the witness discount, so it saves about 11 bytes; mostly a wash, it increases blockweight by about 1 virtual byte, 4 weight for each Taproot-output-input, compared to P2WPKH-output-input). However, as your HODLings grow in value, you might start wondering if multisignature k-of-n setups might be better for the security of your savings. And it is in multisignature that Taproot starts to give benefits! Taproot switches to using Schnorr signing scheme. Schnorr makes key aggregation -- constructing a single public key from multiple public keys -- almost as trivial as adding numbers together. "Almost" because it involves some fairly advanced math instead of simple boring number adding, but hey when was the last time you added up your grocery list prices by hand huh? With current P2SH and P2WSH multisignature schemes, if you have a 2-of-3 setup, then to spend, you need to provide two different signatures from two different public keys. With Taproot, you can create, using special moon math, a single public key that represents your 2-of-3 setup. Then you just put two of your devices together, have them communicate to each other (this can be done airgapped, in theory, by sending QR codes: the software to do this is not even being built yet, but that's because Taproot hasn't activated yet!), and they will make a single signature to authorize any spend from your 2-of-3 address. That's 73 witness bytes -- 18.25 virtual bytes -- of signatures you save! And if you decide that your current setup with 1-of-1 P2PKH / P2WPKH addresses is just fine as-is: well, that's the whole point of a softfork: backwards-compatibility; you can receive from Taproot users just fine, and once your wallet is updated for Taproot-sending support, you can send to Taproot users just fine as well! (P2WPKH and P2WSH -- SegWit v0 -- addresses start with bc1q; Taproot -- SegWit v1 --- addresses start with bc1p, in case you wanted to know the difference; in bech32 q is 0, p is 1) Now how about HODLers who keep all, or some, of their coins on custodial services? Well, any custodial service worth its salt would be doing at least 2-of-3, or probably something even bigger, like 11-of-15. So your custodial service, if it switched to using Taproot internally, could save a lot more (imagine an 11-of-15 getting reduced from 11 signatures to just 1!), which --- we can only hope! --- should translate to lower fees and better customer service from your custodial service! So I think we can say, very accurately, that the Bitcoin principle --- that YOU are in control of your money --- can only be helped by Taproot (if you are doing multisignature), and, because P2PKH and P2WPKH remain validly-usable addresses in a Taproot future, will not be harmed by Taproot. Its benefit to this principle might be small (it mostly only benefits multisignature users) but since it has no drawbacks with this (i.e. singlesig users can continue to use P2WPKH and P2PKH still) this is still a nice, tidy win! (even singlesig users get a minor benefit, in that multisig users will now reduce their blockchain space footprint, so that fees can be kept low for everybody; so for example even if you have your single set of private keys engraved on titanium plates sealed in an airtight box stored in a safe buried in a desert protected by angry nomads riding giant sandworms because you're the frickin' Kwisatz Haderach, you still gain some benefit from Taproot) And here's the important part: if P2PKH/P2WPKH is working perfectly fine with you and you decide to never use Taproot yourself, Taproot will not affect you detrimentally. First do no harm!
Taproot and Your Contracts
No one is an island, no one lives alone. Give and you shall receive. You know: by trading with other people, you can gain expertise in some obscure little necessity of the world (and greatly increase your productivity in that little field), and then trade the products of your expertise for necessities other people have created, all of you thereby gaining gains from trade. So, contracts, which are basically enforceable agreements that facilitate trading with people who you do not personally know and therefore might not trust. Let's start with a simple example. You want to buy some gewgaws from somebody. But you don't know them personally. The seller wants the money, you want their gewgaws, but because of the lack of trust (you don't know them!! what if they're scammers??) neither of you can benefit from gains from trade. However, suppose both of you know of some entity that both of you trust. That entity can act as a trusted escrow. The entity provides you security: this enables the trade, allowing both of you to get gains from trade. In Bitcoin-land, this can be implemented as a 2-of-3 multisignature. The three signatories in the multisgnature would be you, the gewgaw seller, and the escrow. You put the payment for the gewgaws into this 2-of-3 multisignature address. Now, suppose it turns out neither of you are scammers (whaaaat!). You receive the gewgaws just fine and you're willing to pay up for them. Then you and the gewgaw seller just sign a transaction --- you and the gewgaw seller are 2, sufficient to trigger the 2-of-3 --- that spends from the 2-of-3 address to a singlesig the gewgaw seller wants (or whatever address the gewgaw seller wants). But suppose some problem arises. The seller gave you gawgews instead of gewgaws. Or you decided to keep the gewgaws but not sign the transaction to release the funds to the seller. In either case, the escrow is notified, and if it can sign with you to refund the funds back to you (if the seller was a scammer) or it can sign with the seller to forward the funds to the seller (if you were a scammer). Taproot helps with this: like mentioned above, it allows multisignature setups to produce only one signature, reducing blockchain space usage, and thus making contracts --- which require multiple people, by definition, you don't make contracts with yourself --- is made cheaper (which we hope enables more of these setups to happen for more gains from trade for everyone, also, moon and lambos). (technology-wise, it's easier to make an n-of-n than a k-of-n, making a k-of-n would require a complex setup involving a long ritual with many communication rounds between the n participants, but an n-of-n can be done trivially with some moon math. You can, however, make what is effectively a 2-of-3 by using a three-branch SCRIPT: either 2-of-2 of you and seller, OR 2-of-2 of you and escrow, OR 2-of-2 of escrow and seller. Fortunately, Taproot adds a facility to embed a SCRIPT inside a public key, so you can have a 2-of-2 Taprooted address (between you and seller) with a SCRIPT branch that can instead be spent with 2-of-2 (you + escrow) OR 2-of-2 (seller + escrow), which implements the three-branched SCRIPT above. If neither of you are scammers (hopefully the common case) then you both sign using your keys and never have to contact the escrow, since you are just using the escrow public key without coordinating with them (because n-of-n is trivial but k-of-n requires setup with communication rounds), so in the "best case" where both of you are honest traders, you also get a privacy boost, in that the escrow never learns you have been trading on gewgaws, I mean ewww, gawgews are much better than gewgaws and therefore I now judge you for being a gewgaw enthusiast, you filthy gewgawer).
Taproot and Your Contracts, Part 2: Cryptographic Boogaloo
Now suppose you want to buy some data instead of things. For example, maybe you have some closed-source software in trial mode installed, and want to pay the developer for the full version. You want to pay for an activation code. This can be done, today, by using an HTLC. The developer tells you the hash of the activation code. You pay to an HTLC, paying out to the developer if it reveals the preimage (the activation code), or refunding the money back to you after a pre-agreed timeout. If the developer claims the funds, it has to reveal the preimage, which is the activation code, and you can now activate your software. If the developer does not claim the funds by the timeout, you get refunded. And you can do that, with HTLCs, today. Of course, HTLCs do have problems:
Privacy. Everyone scraping the Bitcoin blockchain can see any HTLCs, and preimages used to claim them.
This can be mitigated by using offchain techniques so HTLCs are never published onchain in the happy case. Lightning would probably in practice be the easiest way to do this offchain. Of course, there are practical limits to what you can pay on Lightning. If you are buying something expensive, then Lightning might not be practical. For example, the "software" you are activating is really the firmware of a car, and what you are buying is not the software really but the car itself (with the activation of the car firmware being equivalent to getting the car keys).
Even offchain techniques need an onchain escape hatch in case of unresponsiveness! This means that, if something bad happens during payment, the HTLC might end up being published onchain anyway, revealing the fact that some special contract occurred.
And an HTLC that is claimed with a preimage onchain will also publicly reveal the preimage onchain. If that preimage is really the activation key of a software than it can now be pirated. If that preimage is really the activation key for your newly-bought cryptographic car --- well, not your keys, not your car!
Trust requirement. You are trusting the developer that it gives you the hash of an actual valid activation key, without any way to validate that the activation key hidden by the hash is actually valid.
Fortunately, with Schnorr (which is enabled by Taproot), we can now use the Scriptless Script constuction by Andrew Poelstra. This Scriptless Script allows a new construction, the PTLC or Pointlocked Timelocked Contract. Instead of hashes and preimages, just replace "hash" with "point" and "preimage" with "scalar". Or as you might know them: "point" is really "public key" and "scalar" is really a "private key". What a PTLC does is that, given a particular public key, the pointlocked branch can be spent only if the spender reveals the private key of the given public key to you. Another nice thing with PTLCs is that they are deniable. What appears onchain is just a single 2-of-2 signature between you and the developemanufacturer. It's like a magic trick. This signature has no special watermarks, it's a perfectly normal signature (the pledge). However, from this signature, plus some datta given to you by the developemanufacturer (known as the adaptor signature) you can derive the private key of a particular public key you both agree on (the turn). Anyone scraping the blockchain will just see signatures that look just like every other signature, and as long as nobody manages to hack you and get a copy of the adaptor signature or the private key, they cannot get the private key behind the public key (point) that the pointlocked branch needs (the prestige). (Just to be clear, the public key you are getting the private key from, is distinct from the public key that the developemanufacturer will use for its funds. The activation key is different from the developer's onchain Bitcoin key, and it is the activation key whose private key you will be learning, not the developer's/manufacturer's onchain Bitcoin key). So:
Privacy: PTLCs are private even if done onchain. Nobody else can learn what the private key behind the public key is, except you who knows the adaptor signature that when combined with the complete onchain signature lets you know what the private key of the activation key is. Somebody scraping the blockchain will not learn the same information even if all PTLCs are done onchain!
Lightning is still useful for reducing onchain use, and will also get PTLCs soon after Taproot is activated, but even if something bad happens and a PTLC has to go onchain, it doesn't reveal anything!
Trust issues can be proven more easily with a public-private keypair than with a hash-preimage pair.
For example, the developer of the software you are buying could provide a signature signing a message saying "unlock access to the full version for 1 day". You can check if feeding this message and signature to the program will indeed unlock full-version access for 1 day. Then you can check if the signature is valid for the purported pubkey whose private key you will pay for. If so, you can now believe that getting the private key (by paying for it in a PTLC) would let you generate any number of "unlock access to the full version for 1 day" message+signatures, which is equivalent to getting full access to the software indefinitely.
For the car, the manufacturer can show that signing a message "start the engine" and feeding the signature to the car's fimrware will indeed start the engine, and maybe even let you have a small test drive. You can then check if the signature is valid for the purported pubkey whose privkey you will pay for. If so, you can now believe that gaining knowledge of the privkey will let you start the car engine at any time you want.
(pedantry: the signatures need to be unique else they could be replayed, this can be done with a challenge-response sequence for the car, where the car gathers entropy somehow (it's a car, it probably has a bunch of sensors nowadays so it can get entropy for free) and uses the gathered entropy to challenge you to sign a random number and only start if you are able to sign the random number; for the software, it could record previous signatures somewhere in the developer's cloud server and refuse to run if you try to replay a previously-seen signature.)
Taproot lets PTLCs exist onchain because they enable Schnorr, which is a requirement of PTLCs / Scriptless Script. (technology-wise, take note that Scriptless Script works only for the "pointlocked" branch of the contract; you need normal Script, or a pre-signed nLockTimed transaction, for the "timelocked" branch. Since Taproot can embed a script, you can have the Taproot pubkey be a 2-of-2 to implement the Scriptless Script "pointlocked" branch, then have a hidden script that lets you recover the funds with an OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY after the timeout if the seller does not claim the funds.)
Quantum Quibbles!
Now if you were really paying attention, you might have noticed this parenthetical:
(technical details: a Taproot output is 1 version byte + 32 byte public key, while a P2WPKH (bech32 singlesig) output is 1 version byte + 20 byte public key hash...)
So wait, Taproot uses raw 32-byte public keys, and not public key hashes? Isn't that more quantum-vulnerable?? Well, in theory yes. In practice, they probably are not. It's not that hashes can be broken by quantum computes --- they're still not. Instead, you have to look at how you spend from a P2WPKH/P2PKH pay-to-public-key-hash. When you spend from a P2PKH / P2WPKH, you have to reveal the public key. Then Bitcoin hashes it and checks if this matches with the public-key-hash, and only then actually validates the signature for that public key. So an unconfirmed transaction, floating in the mempools of nodes globally, will show, in plain sight for everyone to see, your public key. (public keys should be public, that's why they're called public keys, LOL) And if quantum computers are fast enough to be of concern, then they are probably fast enough that, in the several minutes to several hours from broadcast to confirmation, they have already cracked the public key that is openly broadcast with your transaction. The owner of the quantum computer can now replace your unconfirmed transaction with one that pays the funds to itself. Even if you did not opt-in RBF, miners are still incentivized to support RBF on RBF-disabled transactions. So the extra hash is not as significant a protection against quantum computers as you might think. Instead, the extra hash-and-compare needed is just extra validation effort. Further, if you have ever, in the past, spent from the address, then there exists already a transaction indelibly stored on the blockchain, openly displaying the public key from which quantum computers can derive the private key. So those are still vulnerable to quantum computers. For the most part, the cryptographers behind Taproot (and Bitcoin Core) are of the opinion that quantum computers capable of cracking Bitcoin pubkeys are unlikely to appear within a decade or two.
Current quantum computers can barely crack prime factorization problem for primes of 5 bits.
The 256-bit elliptic curve use by Bitcoin is, by my (possibly wrong) understanding, equivalent to 4096-bit primes, so you can see a pretty big gap between now (5 bit primes) and what is needed (4096 bit primes).
A lot of financial non-Bitcoin systems use the equivalent of 3072-bit primes or less, and are probably easier targets to crack than the equivalent-to-4096-bit-primes Bitcoin.
So:
Quantum computers capable of cracking Bitcoin are still far off.
Pay-to-public-key-hash is not as protective as you might think.
We will probably see banks get cracked before Bitcoin, so the banking system is a useful canary-in-a-coal-mine to see whether we should panic about being quantum vulnerable.
For now, the homomorphic and linear properties of elliptic curve cryptography provide a lot of benefits --- particularly the linearity property is what enables Scriptless Script and simple multisignature (i.e. multisignatures that are just 1 signature onchain). So it might be a good idea to take advantage of them now while we are still fairly safe against quantum computers. It seems likely that quantum-safe signature schemes are nonlinear (thus losing these advantages).
Summary
If you are a singlesig HODL-only Bitcoin user, Taproot will not affect you positively or negatively. Importantly: Taproot does no harm!
If you use or intend to use multisig, Taproot will be a positive for you.
If you transact onchain regularly using typical P2PKH/P2WPKH addresses, you get a minor reduction in feerates since multisig users will likely switch to Taproot to get smaller tx sizes, freeing up blockspace for yours.
If you are using multiparticipant setups for special systems of trade, Taproot will be a positive for you.
Remember: Lightning channels are multipartiicpiant setups for special systems of lightning-fast offchain trades!
I Wanna Be The Taprooter!
So, do you want to help activate Taproot? Here's what you, mister sovereign Bitcoin HODLer, can do!
If you have developer experience especially in C, C++, or related languages
Review the Taproot code! There is one pull request in Bitcoin Core, and one in libsecp256k1. I deliberately am not putting links here, to avoid brigades of nontechnical but enthusiastic people leaving pointless reviews, but if you are qualified you know how to find them!
But I am not a cryptographeBitcoin Core contributomathematician/someone as awesome as Pieter Wuille
That's perfectly fine! The cryptographers have been over the code already and agree the math is right and the implementation is right. What is wanted is the dreary dreary dreary software engineering: are the comments comprehensive and understandable? no misspellings in the comments? variable names understandable? reasonable function naming convention? misleading coding style? off-by-one errors in loops? conditions not covered by tests? accidental mixups of variables with the same types? missing frees? read-before-init? better test coverage of suspicious-looking code? missing or mismatching header guards? portability issues? consistent coding style? you know, stuff any coder with a few years of experience in coding anything might be able to catch. With enough eyes all bugs are shallow!
If you are running a mining pool/mining operation/exchange/custodial service/SPV server
Be prepared to upgrade!
One of the typical issues with upgrading software is that subtle incompatibilities with your current custom programs tend to arise, disrupting operations and potentially losing income due to downtime. If so, consider moving to the two-node setup suggested by gmax, which is in the last section of my previous post. With this, you have an up-to-date "public" node and a fixed-version "private" node, with the public node protecting the private node from any invalid chainsplits or invalid transactions. Moving to this setup from a typical one-node setup should be smooth and should not disrupt operations (too much).
If you are running your own fullnode for fun or for your own wallet
Be prepared to upgrade! The more nodes validating the new rules (even if you are a non-mining node!), the safer every softfork will be!
If you are using an SPV wallet or custodial wallet/service (including hardware wallets using the software of the wallet provider)
Contact your wallet provider / SPV server and ask for a statement on whether they support Taproot, and whether they are prepared to upgrade for Taproot! Make it known to them that Taproot is something you want!
But I Hate Taproot!!
That's fine!
Raise your objections to Taproot now, or forever hold your peace! Maybe you can raise them here and some of the devs (probably nullc, he goes everywhere, even in rbtc!) might be able to see your objections! Or if your objections are very technical, head over to the appropriate pull request and object away!
Maybe you simply misunderstand something, and we can clarify it here!
Or maybe you do have a good objection, and we can make Taproot better by finding a solution for it!
Don’t take anything i say here as fact, i am in no way qualified to talk about quantum computing or bitcoin at all. i’m just trying to ask a question and learn more. thank you. Someone with a physics and cybersecurity background please inform me I’m going to try my best with my limited knowledge to ask this question but the idea of quantum computing is using the superposition of an electron in place of a “bit” correct? meaning one “bit” can store potentially endless data correct? so couldn’t a single quantum computer completely overtake all of the miners and power being put into mining today? It would at least have a significant advantage over everyone else to the point where a single person could hold ungodly amounts of bitcoin. Quantum computing would pretty much mean the death of encryption and therefor bitcoin and blockchain technologies wouldn’t it?
/r/Monero Weekly Discussion – August 15, 2020 - Use this thread for general chatter, basic questions, and if you're new to Monero
Index
General questions
Wallet: CLI & GUI
Wallet: Ledger
Nodes
1. General questions
Where can I download the Monero wallet?
There are multiple Monero wallets for a wide range of devices at your disposal. Check the table below for details and download links. Attention: for extra security make sure to calculate and compare the checksum of your downloaded files when possible. Please note the following usage of the labels: ⚠️ - Relatively new and/or beta. Use wallet with caution. ☢️ - Closed source.
Desktop wallets
Wallet
Device
Description
Download link
"Official" GUI / CLI
Windows, macOS, Linux
Default implementation maintained by the core team. Use this wallet to run a full node and obtain maximum privacy. Integrates with hardware wallets. Current version: 0.15.0.1 / 0.15.0.4.
Lightweight wallet -- you don't need to download the blockchain and run a node. MyMonero was developed with the assistance of the core team. It also has web-based and iOS versions.
Your balance is unlocked after 10 confirmations (which means 10 mined blocks). A block is mined approximately every two minutes on the Monero network, so that would be around 20 minutes.
How can I prove that I sent a payment?
The fastest and most direct way is by using the ExploreMonero blockchain explorer. You will need to recover the transaction key from your wallet (complete guide for GUI / CLI).
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are dozens of exchanges that trade Monero against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Check out the list on CoinMarketCap and choose the option that suits you best.
How do I buy Monero (XMR) with fiat?
Kraken (USD and EUR): old-school, decent exchange. They might require your documents for verification and approval of your account.
LocalMonero: peer-to-peer exchange. They have pretty much everything as a payment method and they support hundreds of fiat options.
How can I quickly exchange my Monero (XMR) for Bitcoin (BTC)?
There are multiple ways to exchange your Monero for Bitcoin, but first of all, I'd like to remind you that if you really want to do your part for Monero, one of the simplest ways is to get in touch with your merchant/service provider and request for it to accept Monero directly as payment. Ask the service provider to visit the official website and our communication channels if he or she needs help with system integration. That being said, the community has been recommending two services in particular, XMR.TO and MorphToken. These services are only recommendations and are operated by entities outside the control of the Monero Project. Be diligent.
How do I mine Monero? And other mining questions.
The correct place to ask questions and discuss the Monero mining scene is in the dedicated subreddit MoneroMining. That being said, you can find a list of pools and available mining software in the GetMonero.org website.
2. Wallet: CLI & GUI
Why I can't see my balance? Where is my XMR?
Before any action there are two things to check:
Are you using the latest available version of the wallet? A new version is released roughly every 6 months, so make sure you're using the current release (compare the release on GetMonero.org with your wallet's version on Settings, under Debug info).
Is your wallet fully synchronized? If it isn't, wait the sync to complete.
Because Monero is different from Bitcoin, wallet synchronization is not instant. The software needs to synchronize the blockchain and use your private keys to identify your transactions. Check in the lower left corner (GUI) if the wallet is synchronized. You can't send transactions and your balance might be wrong or unavailable if the wallet is not synced with the network. So please wait. If this is not a sufficient answer for your case and you're looking for more information, please see this answer on StackExchange.
How do I upgrade my wallet to the newest version?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
Why does it take so long to sync the wallet [for the first time]?
You have decided to use Monero's wallet and run a local node. Congratulations! You have chosen the safest and most secure option for your privacy, but unfortunately this has an initial cost. The first reason for the slowness is that you will need to download the entire blockchain, which is considerably heavy (+70 GB) and constantly growing. There are technologies being implemented in Monero to slow this growth, however it is inevitable to make this initial download to run a full node. Consider syncing to a device that has an SSD instead of an HDD, as this greatly impacts the speed of synchronization. Now that the blockchain is on your computer, the next time you run the wallet you only need to download new blocks, which should take seconds or minutes (depending on how often you use the wallet).
I don't want to download the blockchain, how can I skip that?
The way to skip downloading the blockchain is connecting your wallet to a public remote node. You can follow this guide on how to set it up. You can find a list of public remote nodes on MoneroWorld. Be advised that when using a public remote node you lose some of your privacy. A public remote node is able to identify your IP and opens up a range for certain attacks that further diminish your privacy.A remote node can't see your balance and it can't spend your XMR.
How do I restore my wallet from the mnemonic seed or from the keys?
To restore your wallet with the 25 word mnemonic seed, please see this guide. To restore your wallet with your keys, please see this guide.
3. Wallet: Ledger
How do I generate a Ledger Monero Wallet with the GUI or CLI?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange. Check this page for the GUI instructions, and this page for the CLI instructions.
4. Nodes
How can my local node become a public remote node?
If you want to support other Monero users by making your node public, you can follow the instructions on MoneroWorld, under the section "How To Include Your Node On Moneroworld".
How can I connect my node via Tor?
This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.
Hello all, first thing first, I am a computer repair technician at a Bitcoin mining facility. We have about 20,000 bitcoin miners that me and my coworkers are in charge of monitoring and repairing. So with that being said I am pretty much lost when it comes to python and servers and things of that sort.Everyone that has dealt with computers/electronics know that heat is a huge issue. And heat is a killer to bitcoin miners,so monitoring the temperature and humidity in the facility is crucial so we can control the waterwalls and such as needed .I have successfully set up 14 raspberry pis with DHT22 sensors by copying and pasting scripts that I found online. They are reporting to a website through POST method. The readings are shown on a barchart,but is not dynamic so it only shows 1 reading at a time. I have been tasked with setting up a way to get all the sensors reading to a single server,then pulling the data from the server onto a D3.js grouped bar chart . Now, there is 14 Pis and each is set to read every mintue. These will be running 24/7 so there will be alot of readings. My question,actually a few questions is I am needing to set up 1 Pi as a dedicated server receiving all the readings. 1)What would be the best way to set that up,I have read that a MQTT server is the easiest but cant handle a lot of data(which I will have)I was thinking about a MySql. 2)Would I need to attach extra storage to this Pi to handle all the data. 3) How do I send all the readings to the server Pi(NOTE: they will all be on the same network) 4) How would I pull all this information from the server and input it into a D3.js grouped bar chart. Do I need to have a web server installed on the Pi?. I'm not expecting a step by step answer, and I am on a timeline and honestly dont have time to learn pythhon,html,php,sql or whatever is needed for this. All I am asking is for is a step in the right direction, thanks to all that read this and any information will be greatly appreciated
Hello Fellow Redditors, I am going to list some of my income sources. I will try to give as much information as I can. Some details about me:I am u/abhiearns, I am currently studying. I want to create some sort of extra income sources. I have been trying to use beermoney as well as other passive income communities like passive_income, passiveincome to find some sites and sources that can work for me. Enough with the details, Let start by listing some of my extra income sources. Active Earning: So, I will start with sites on which you have to work actively and devote some serious hours to earn some extra income. These are some beermoney sites (include survey sites, and other such sites):
QuickThoughts: This is one of my favorite survey site and I highly recommend it. It is one of the high paying survey sites. Each survey is between 5-30 min. You can earn 0.4 - 2 dollars from every survey. Usually they have $2 surveys. They have a maximum daily cap of $10. They are available for Android and IOS users, they are not available on web as of now.
Payment Type: Amazon GC for Android and iTunes GC for IOS
Minimum Payment: $10
Qmee: This is also one of the good sites but over the years the earning potential has decreased. You can do surveys as well as they have an extensions which lets you earn while surfing search engines (Google and Bing). The surveys range between 2-30 mins and you can earn 0.1 - 2 dollars for each survey. The extensions lets you earn 0.01 - 0.1 dollars through suggestions but it is really infrequent. Best thing I like about them is that they don't have any minimum payment. It also lets you earn using Referrals of $1.
Platform: Android, IOS and Website
Type: Survey Site, Search Engine Suggestions
Payment Type: Paypal, Other GC's
Minimum Payment: No minimum payment
Referral Links: Full $1 to you (Link) | We both get $0.5 (Link) | Full $1 to me (Link)
SwagBucks: This is one of the most famous site for earning some extra income. This site have surveys, videos, offers, search. Honestly I use this site only to earn for offers because, there surveys are less paying and really time consuming. The earning potential depends on how much time you devote and what type of offers you get. It has a referral link and lets you earn 300 SB ($3) for each user you invite.
Platform: Android, IOS and Website
Type: Survey Site, Offers, Videos
Payment Type: Paypal, Other GC's
Minimum Payment: $25 for Paypal, $3 for Amazon, and variable for other GC's
Passive Earning (No Initial Investments): These will list some of my passive earning sources, I am not listing my investments here because I think they deserve a separate section.Disclaimer: I have 2 laptops and an extra phone so I use all of them for earning, the payments may vary depending on the number and power of various computers.
HoneyGain: This is one of the software in which you can earn selling your internet bandwidth. They sell the bandwidth to various business. It is one the best site to earn passively. You can earn $20 in a month but it depends on the network. Best thing is that it is totally passive you just have to start the app. They have referral link through which you can earn 10% of the earnings of the user you invite and the user you invite gets $5.
CryptoTap (CryptoBrowser): This browser lets you earn bitcoins while surfing. The browser is just like chrome and it lets you mine bitcoins. The best part about this is there referral program which lets you earn up to level 10. You can look at their referral program in more details on there sites. The earning depends on your CPU or GPU power.
Brave Browser: This browser lets you earn semi passively, you just have to click on ads. They pay in Basic Attention Token (BAT). You need an uphold account for getting the payments.
Cocoon Browser: This browser lets you earn passively selling your data. You just have to do what you do and this browser collect the information and sells it. The earnings depends on you usage. As of now they are not available on Mobile Platforms. They do have a referral program and you can earn $3 by inviting a user.
MinerGate: This is a site and software combination which provides you with mining software and pools. You just have to install the software and run mining. You can also use there mining pool if you want to use some other software. If you do start using this, I recommend mining Monero (XMR). They also have a referral program.
CashMagnet: This is an Android based app which lets you earn automatically. You just have to download some games from this app and run this and it will automatically run the apps. They also have a referral program.
Passive Earning (Investments Required): These are the sources which require some sort of initial investment. These sources can be risky and there are chances to lose money.
Discover Savings Account: If you some extra money laying around, I recommend using this savings account. As of now they give 1.6% interest annually. I know, its not that much, but it is something.
Credit Card Cash backs: Yes, you can earn some kind of money using cashbacks from various credit card companies. Companies like Bank of America and Discover give there users 1-5% cash back on every purchase. Bank of America gives 1-3% cash back. Discover you can get up to 5% cashback. If you are a student I highly recommend using Discover Student Credit Card, you can get up to $50 just applying for it using this link.
Type: Credit Card Cash Back
Betterment (Robo Advisor): Betterment is one of the best robo advisor out there. If you just starting out and have no idea about investing, you can give this a show. They have different type of goals like retirement, general investing and other which help you to manage your money according to your own requirement. They charge 0.25% fees, but you get 1 year free when you create your account 1st time.
Acrons (Robo Advisor): Acrons is also a robo advisor but it is little different from betterment. Acorns lets you invest money by rounding your purchases like if you spend $5.75 at McDonalds it will invest $0.25 from your account. I know its really little and it adds up really fast and you won't feel much change in your lifestyle. It also gives you some cashback for purchases at certain vendors.
\** I am still trying other sites and apps. I will keep updating this post.* These are some of the sources I use to earn, I highly recommend these. I won't say you will become a millionaire using these but still its little more than you had yesterday.
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