Tag: core

bitcoin core – Isn’t an encrypted wallet.dat automatically a “watch-only” wallet?

I have encrypted my wallet.dat outside of this computer. Now I store my wallet.dat on this computer.

If I open it in Bitcoin Core, I can view the balance but not spend it (without entering the decryption passphrase).

Doesn’t this make an encrypted wallet.dat a “watch-only” wallet? Can’t I simply safely keep this on my PC and use the RPC API to check on the balance to make sure that it still contains my coins?

Basically: What is the difference between an encrypted wallet and a “watch-only” wallet? Why would I make a “watch-only” wallet when the encrypted wallet apparently has the same functionality, and is as secure?

Why does Bitcoin Core not let met change the label for “requested payments”?

I created a receive address, entered “fdjdsgudhsgudfhgfhdgf” without thinking about it (I was going to describe it properly later) and sent coins to it from a different wallet.

Then I later changed it to “Accurate description blabla” in the “Transactions” tab, which it allowed me to do. Then I looked in the “Receive” tab and saw that it still had the stupid gibberish label there. So I went to change the label… only to realize to my horror that there is no way to change the label there, once created… ?!

Please tell me I’m hallucinating or missing something. I’ll forever be annoyed by this if I’m somehow forced to keep that “fdjdsgudhsgudfhgfhdgf” label. Especially as it’s now renamed in the “Transactions” tab…

bitcoin core – “At first, anyone could spend anyone’s coins”?

I’ve been watching this Bitcoin video: https://youtu.be/ZIugzFygviw?t=294

At the linked-to timestamp, he claims that:

Due to bugs, at first, anyone could spend anyone’s coins!

I’m not saying that I think he’s lying, but was Bitcoin really that buggy initially? That’s honestly a bit shocking to hear for me. I did think that Bitcoin was quite solid from the very first v1.0, and has only been “expanded upon” with BIPs ever since. I did not know that such serious bugs existed early on.

Exactly how early are we talking? I had coins in 2009 or 2010. So, back then, anyone could just spend those even though only I had the private keys? And this extremely serious bug was somehow fixed without breaking Bitcoin?

seo – When Google Begins Using Core Web Vitals To Effect Ranking Will They Use Field Or Lab Data

So far as I can see, from May, Google will begin using their Core Web Vitals metrics to inform search ranking. Can anyone tell me whether they will use Field or Lab data as the source of these metrics? I haven’t managed to find this information anywhere in their documentation.

Our site scores well on field data but poorly on lab data.

core language – Should I redefine 0^0

I’ve found some times, while playing with combinatorics, that Mathematica can’t calculate some functions because $0^0$ is not defined as $1$.

(I know that some people think that $0^0$ should be left undefined. I’m convinced that $0^0$ should be defined as $1$ and this question doesn’t intend to open a discussion of that).

My question is this:

If I redefine $0^0$ as $1$ in Mathematica like this:

Unprotect(Power)
Power(0,0)=1
Protect(Power)

could I be breaking some internal algorithms of Mathematica?

I did redefined FactorInteger(1) as {} a while ago (and that help me to simplify many function definitions) and I haven’t find any issues as a result of that, but I’m afraid that messing with Power could be more delicate.

wallet.dat – What possible explanation could there be that Bitcoin Core on Linux Mint claims to but does not save the wallet backups?

Linux Mint. Bitcoin Core 0.21.0.

I go to “File” and “Backup wallet”, then select any location. I’ve tried with /home/a and /tmp and others.

Every time, Bitcoin Core says that the file has been successfully saved to the location I picked.

Then I look at that location in the GUI file manager, as well as in the terminal. THE WALLET .DAT BACKUP FILES ARE JUST NOT THERE!

I swear I’m not making this up and that I’ve enabled “Show hidden files” and tried everything to make sure that I’m not doing something wrong.

The files just are not saved, even though Bitcoin Core claims that they are. Why?

They are just not there on my file system. The only wallet.dat that exists is the actual one that Bitcoin Core itself saved, and it has put that in: /home/a/.var/app/org.bitcoincore.bitcoin-qt/data/blablabla/wallet.dat

At this point, having tried and asked and searched so much, I’m starting to truly question my sanity as well as the QA of Linux/Bitcoin Core.

This is even worse than various file nonsense in Windows. Is there some secret, very well hidden setting that I need to enable to “actually show the files” or something? Beyond “Show hidden files”?

network – Port Forwarding for Bitcoin Core in order to allow incoming connections?

There is a rather good explainer on https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#port-forwarding on how to do port forwarding for bitcoin core in order to allow incoming connections so as to support the network.

I have followed the instructions, set a fixed local IP for the Mac running bitcoin core and am now trying to configure the router for port forwarding.

Here I am facing the issue that I do not know what to write in the External host field. Please see attached screenshot. I am trying * since I do not know the IP of external host, but this does not seem to be allowed. The instruction on the above link does not include the detailed configuration that my router requires.

Could anyone please identify what I am filling in wrong in the attached screenshot and suggest how I can change this so that my full node can start allowing incoming transactions?

Many thanks for your time and support!

configuration of my router

Bitcoin Core 0.21.0 Loading PSBT from file gets error: “unable to decode psbt….”

The Bitcoin Core GitHub text says to ask my question here. I also asked on reddit but maybe this is a better place.

I created a PSBT file from my online Bitcoin Core wallet. I transferred it to my offline PC to sign on that Bitcoin Core wallet but when I try to load the PSBT file into the wallet through the “Load PSBT through file…” option I immediately get the following error:

“unable to decode psbt. global unsigned tx key is more than one byte type: iostream error”

Any help would be very greatly appreciated.

If you need to know the steps I completed to get to this stage, here it is:

  1. Got my scriptPubKey and pubkey for my bitcoin address that I own and have bitcoin on and want to test my PSBT with. I used command: getaddressinfo to get this on my offline Bitcoin Core

  2. Created a new wallet on my online Bitcoin Core with “Disable private keys & blank wallet” checked off

  3. Imported the scriptPubKey and pubkey from step 1] into my online Bitcoin Core wallet. It says successful. Command used was: importmulti ‘[{“scriptPubKey” : “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”,”pubkeys” : [“XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”],”timestamp” : “now”,”label” : “PSBT-test”, “watchonly”: true}]’

  4. Inputed my transaction details on the Bitcoin Core online watch-only wallet and generated the PSBT file.

bitcoin core – Punishing Bad Actors to Mitigate Double Spend Attack?

One of the main reasons it’s not considered safe to accept Bitcoin with 0 confirmations is due to the possibility of a double spend (where Mr. Scammer first sends 1 BTC to Alice and then creates an identical transaction in which he sends the same 1 BTC to Bob or to another address controlled by himself. If the network ends up including the second transaction in the blockchain only Bob (or Mr. Scammer himself) will be viewed as the rightful owner of the coins and Alice will end up with nothing).

However, since it is not possible to hide a double spend in the long run, and everyone on the network will eventually know that Mr. Scammer double spent the same coins, why is it not be possible to penalize the double spender in order to reduce the economical incentives of doing so in the first place? For example, we could create a new type of transaction in which Mr. Scammer has to lock up an equivalent amount of BTC for a specified amount of time. If the network indeed concludes that a double spend has occurred we “burn” (or destroy) the locked up BTC.

Wouldn’t this significantly reduce the likelihood of a double spend occurring in the first place?

bitcoin core – Is John McAfee simply lying in this video from mid-2020?

He’s basically saying that if I send you Bitcoin right now, you can forever know how much Bitcoin I have and who I do business with.

He’s also saying that Monero is better and bigger than Bitcoin.

I’m starting to wonder if he really is insane, or if I’ve truly misunderstood something.