Bitcoin miners perform a function that is analogous to gold mining, but very different. While gold miners deal with rocks, Bitcoin miners deal with data.
-Bitcoin mining is the mechanism that keeps everyone in the system synchronized together. To mine, computers that take part listen for transactions (ledger transfer announcements) broadcasted through the peer-to-peer network. The miners process and confirm these transactions by including them in a block and adding it to the blockchain.
+Bitcoin mining is the mechanism that keeps everyone in the system synchronized together. To mine, computers that take part listen for transactions (ledger transfer announcements) broadcasted through the peer-to-peer network. The miners process and confirm these transactions by including them in a block and adding it to the block chain.
Bitcoin miners perform this labor because miners that solve a block earn (1) any transaction fees paid by customers for faster transaction processing and (2) newly created coins, issued into existence according to a fixed formula.
-Bitcoin mining is a very competitive market. Bitcoin miners are neither able to increase their own block reward beyond the rules in the protocol nor process fraudulent transactions that could corrupt the Bitcoin network. Because anyone can become a Bitcoin miner and the Bitcoin network is the largest distributed computer network in the world, it is extremely improbable that a malicious Bitcoin miner could compromise the blockchain. Thus, Bitcoin mining is used to protect the neutrality and the consensus of the network, even if not all Bitcoin miners can be trusted.
+Bitcoin mining is a very competitive market. Bitcoin miners are neither able to increase their own block reward beyond the rules in the protocol nor process fraudulent transactions that could corrupt the Bitcoin network. Because anyone can become a Bitcoin miner and the Bitcoin network is the largest distributed computer network in the world, it is extremely improbable that a malicious Bitcoin miner could compromise the block chain. Thus, Bitcoin mining is used to protect the neutrality and the consensus of the network, even if not all Bitcoin miners can be trusted.
The blockchain is a shared public transaction log on which the entire Bitcoin network relies. All confirmed transactions are included in the blockchain with no exception. This way, new transactions can be verified to be spending bitcoins that are actually owned by the spender. The integrity and the chronological order of the blockchain are enforced with cryptography.
+The block chain is a shared public transaction log on which the entire Bitcoin network relies. All confirmed transactions are included in the block chain with no exception. This way, new transactions can be verified to be spending bitcoins that are actually owned by the spender. The integrity and the chronological order of the block chain are enforced with cryptography.
A transaction is a transfer of value between Bitcoin addresses that gets included in the blockchain. Bitcoin wallets keep a secret piece of data called a private key for each Bitcoin address. Private keys are used to sign transactions, providing a mathematical proof that they come from the owner of the addresses. The signature also prevents the transaction from being altered by anybody once it has been issued. All transactions are broadcast between users and confirmed by the network in the following minutes, through a process called mining.
+A transaction is a transfer of value between Bitcoin addresses that gets included in the block chain. Bitcoin wallets keep a secret piece of data called a private key for each Bitcoin address. Private keys are used to sign transactions, providing a mathematical proof that they come from the owner of the addresses. The signature also prevents the transaction from being altered by anybody once it has been issued. All transactions are broadcast between users and confirmed by the network in the following minutes, through a process called mining.
Mining is a distributed consensus system that is used to confirm waiting transactions by including them in the blockchain. It enforces a chronological order in the blockchain, protects the neutrality of the network, and allows different computers to agree on the state of the system. To be confirmed, transactions must be packed in a block that fits very strict cryptographic rules that will be verified by the network. These rules prevent any previous block from being modified because doing so would invalidate all following blocks. Mining also creates the equivalent of a competitive lottery that prevents any individual from easily adding new blocks consecutively in the blockchain. This way, no individuals can control what is included in the blockchain or replace parts of the blockchain to roll back their own spends.
+Mining is a distributed consensus system that is used to confirm waiting transactions by including them in the block chain. It enforces a chronological order in the block chain, protects the neutrality of the network, and allows different computers to agree on the state of the system. To be confirmed, transactions must be packed in a block that fits very strict cryptographic rules that will be verified by the network. These rules prevent previous block from being modified because doing so would invalidate all following blocks. Mining also creates the equivalent of a competitive lottery that prevents any individual from easily adding new blocks consecutively in the block chain. This way, no individuals can control what is included in the block chain or replace parts of the block chain to roll back their own spends.
This is only a very short and concise summary of the system. If you want to get into the details, you can read the original paper that describes the system's design, and explore the Bitcoin wiki.
diff --git a/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.png b/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.png index a7a9713c..a09f3d8f 100644 Binary files a/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.png and b/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.png differ diff --git a/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.svg b/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.svg index 80b78bc6..2b89b414 100644 --- a/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.svg +++ b/en/img/bitcoin_at_a_glance.svg @@ -7,12 +7,38 @@ xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" - version="1.1" + xmlns:sodipodi="http://sodipodi.sourceforge.net/DTD/sodipodi-0.dtd" + xmlns:inkscape="http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape" width="600" height="600" - id="svg2985"> + id="svg2985" + version="1.1" + inkscape:version="0.48.3.1 r9886" + sodipodi:docname="bitcoin_at_a_glance_src.svg" + inkscape:export-filename="/media/X/bitcoin.org/bitcoin.org/en/img/blockchain.png" + inkscape:export-xdpi="1687.5" + inkscape:export-ydpi="1687.5">A Bitcoin address is like a physical address or an email. It is the only information you need to provide for someone to pay you with Bitcoin.
-The blockchain is a public record of all Bitcoin transactions, in chronological order. The blockchain is shared between all Bitcoin users. It is used to verify the balance of Bitcoin addresses and to prevent double spending.
+The block chain is a public record of all Bitcoin transactions, in chronological order. The block chain is shared between all Bitcoin users. It is used to verify the balance of Bitcoin addresses and to prevent double spending.
A block is a record in the blockchain that contains and confirms many waiting transactions. Roughly every 10 minutes on average, a new block including transactions is appended to the blockchain through mining.
+A block is a record in the block chain that contains and confirms many waiting transactions. Roughly every 10 minutes on average, a new block including transactions is appended to the block chain through mining.
BTC is the common unit of Bitcoin currency. It can be used similar to USD for US dollar instead of B⃦ or $.
@@ -38,10 +38,10 @@ title: Vocabulary - BitcoinConfirmation means that a transaction has been verified by the network and is highly unlikely to be reversed. One confirmation is pretty secure. Though for larger amounts ( ex. 1000 $USD and above ), one can wait for a transaction to have more confirmations - 6 is a frequently chosen number. Each new confirmation decreases the risk of a reversal exponentially.
Cryptography is the branch of mathematics that lets us create mathematical proofs that provide high levels of security. Online commerce and banking already uses cryptography. In the case of Bitcoin, cryptography is used to make it impossible for anybody to spend funds from another user's wallet or to corrupt the blockchain. It can also be used to encrypt a wallet, so that it cannot be used without a password.
+Cryptography is the branch of mathematics that lets us create mathematical proofs that provide high levels of security. Online commerce and banking already uses cryptography. In the case of Bitcoin, cryptography is used to make it impossible for anybody to spend funds from another user's wallet or to corrupt the block chain. It can also be used to encrypt a wallet, so that it cannot be used without a password.
If a malicious user tries to spend their bitcoins to two different recipients at the same time, this is double spending. Bitcoin mining and the blockchain are there to create a consensus on the network about which of the two transactions will win.
+If a malicious user tries to spend their bitcoins to two different recipients at the same time, this is double spending. Bitcoin mining and the block chain are there to create a consensus on the network about which of the two transactions will win.