Bitcoin Basics - Discussion

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#556

Hey everyone, just finished the mempool video. I am not done the chapter bitcoin basics. Before I advance, I wanted to make sure, that I understand it correctly.

In the mempool video it was explained, that the fees are in dependence of the bytes. The more bytes, the more satoshi.

I have now a general question. Let’s take my ERC-20 wallet as an example. Is it correct to assume, that all the coins/tokens need to be spend? So if I have multiple ERC-20 tokens in one wallet, does that actually mean, that I am artificially increasing my fees? Would it be smarter to have one wallet for each coin/token?

#557

No because first of gas fees are calculated differently on Ethereum and owning more things on your wallet wouldn’t increase your tx fees.
Same as it wouldn’t increase your tx fee for having more UTXOs in your wallet on Bitcoin, just how much UTXOs you use in a tx.

#558

OK, just wondering, bc in the video Ivan said, that always all the UTXOs are spent. The rest is sent back to my own wallet.
It sounded like fees would be higher if I had multiple small UTXOs that needed to be summed up compared to just one UTXO.

Otherwise I don’t get the example from the video.

#559

You don’t need to spend all UTXOs the wallet cherry picks as many UTXOs as it requires to fund the tx. You must always spend the entire UTXO though. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#560

I see. I think now I got it…

But still the fees would be lower if I need less UTXOs for the same transaction, right?

#561

So, when I generate public keys (addresses) from a private key - I can generate an infinite amount of them, which are all linked to my private key? (giving me access to all the public addresses with just that one private key)

Thanks in advance.

#562

Yes, it increases the size of the tx.

1 Like
#563

No, each keypair is separate. You can use a HD (hierarchical deterministic) wallet that generates new keypairs from one master key. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#564

OK cool, yes, my wallet does that, just wanted to understand the concept. Thanks Sensei

#566

love this, thanks for sharing!

#567

Bitcoin utilization without Internet is a fascinating subject! I believe making the protocol more resilient to State actors is yet another growth area for Bitcoin (and all cryptos) for much needed innovation. This is an interesting article I found on the subject of Internet-less Bitcoin operation & transactions. https://news.bitcoin.com/no-internet-no-problem-how-to-send-bitcoin-by-amateur-radio/

1 Like
#568

How many hashs’ make up a block before its time to mine a new block?
How many hash outputs to a block?..

#569

A lot :grin: but technically only one hash is correct.

#570

What happens to transactions that remain in the mempool? I have a transaction on the ETH network that was dropped and because of the high fees, so far, it has not been processed. Do I need to wait or take any action to intervene?

#571

I’m not entirely sure about Ethereum but eventually the tx should be dropped (usually 14 days on Bitcoin). You can also speed it up if you want it to get confirmed faster.

2 Likes
#572

Thanks @Alko89! But do you know if the transaction stay in the mempool until be processed?

#573

I’m not sure what you mean. You will see it as a pending tx in the wallet or explorer. It will eventually get confirmed or removed in case of an extremely low fee. You can’t be 100% sure is it will be either until one scenario happens. Once its in a persistant block its there to stay. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#574

I am seeking clarification regarding UTXOs and the process of sending an input to several outputs and generating a fee.

Perhaps these question will be answered in later videos…

When I send a transaction from a wallet it shows a balance (which would be the sum of all UTXOs tied to my address) and I type in the exact amount that I want to send to ONE address. Ivan is talking about how all UTXOs have to be transformed into inputs and then sent as outputs. So I’m imagining that if I have a balance of 1 BTC in my wallet and I send .5 BTC (including fees) to a friend then the wallet automatically sends .5 BTC back to the address that is generating the transaction? Am I understanding this correctly?

As for fees…The “total input” listed on the explorer is the designated amount of UTXOs before fees to be sent, right? Or is the total input all UTXOs tied to that address? I don’t think that second option makes sense. And then the total output is the designated amount of UTXOs plus fees. How are the fees actually calculated though? Sure you can figure out what the fees are by subtracting the inputs from the outputs but that doesn’t tell me how the fee is generated in the first place.

#575

Yp, this seems right :slight_smile:

If you’re looking at a specific tx then the total input should mean the total input to a tx, having total input of an address wouldn’t make sense as you mentioned because inputs can come from many addresses.

It actually depends on the wallet how it calculates fees. It varies from good to bad to simple to complex ways how they do it. :stuck_out_tongue:
If you’re doing a raw tx manually then you have to do it just like stated, you create another output back to yourself and subtract the other output(s) and the fee you are willing to pay for the tx to get the remainder of inputs and outputs you want to specify the desired fee.

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#576

Thanks for the clarification!