Topic: Bitcoin core - some questions - page 2. (Read 495 times)

Got it. Thank you for your detailed answers. Reading your every post since yesterday. Sold my all XMR for BTC and I was all %100 on XMR since 2017. Was XMR maximalist. Things changed for me. Changed my mind, and I'm accumulating BTC for a while. I don't think that I will buy any other shit besides BTC. After reading your posts, I think I decide right lol.

Yes, there's probably an unknown number of potential causes for file corruption. It's irrelevant if you have a valid backup of it though; you'd just have to rescan the old backup wallet to get the latest transaction history. Keep in mind that you'll lose address labels though.


Just keep wallet.dat backups. Export private keys only for things when you need it elsewhere.

Is that possible to occur "corrupting" in wallet.dat file for some reasons? Did it happen before?

If I use different address for every deposit, well, I'll have bunch of addresses so keeping every damn private keys of them should be pain in the ass. That's why I'm asking.

old blocks were empty, so they're fast (and sync starts with old blocks)

blocks 400,000 - 600,000 are much fuller, they're slow to sync.

There is no need to back up the wallet file again as long as you don't import any private keys. I don't think you are going to do it. Back up your wallet once, copy the file to multiple devices, optionally encrypt them and don't forget the passphrase.

Got it. Thank you!

Last question then. Bitcoin core already comes with wallet.dat in its wallets file. Do I need to do "File" and "Backup Wallet" again?

You either need you wallet file + passphrase or only private keys to spend your funds. The wallet file contains your private keys and it is encrypted with your passphrase.


One or a few of your addresses will participate in the transaction depending on the number of coins you want to spend. Let's say you want to send 0.15 BTC but you received 0.1 BTC to two different addresses. Both of these addresses will participate in the transaction and the remaining 0.05 BTC minus the transaction fee will be returned to your change address.

Syncing now, it's going faster than I thought.

Thought I will need only wallet passphrase for sending bitcoin. Will I need private keys for sending bitcoin as well?

It seems I have to rethink about creating new address for each transaction lol. I run a cafe and I just started to accept bitcoin as a payment method.

Also when I send coins, which wallet will I use? One of my depo addresses? or what?

Yes, you will need your private keys to spend the coins. The corruption Lauda mentioned affects the blockchain data; not your wallet. It might be easier for you to copy the wallet file to a few different data storage devices after encrypting them with VeraCrypt than writing the Master Private Key down. Other wallets give users a mnemonic passphrase (12/24 words) which can be used for wallet recovery.

Do you personally recommend write down private keys of every address that I have created just in case? wallet.dat "can" corrupt for some reasons and if ever happens, I will need private keys of my addresses, right?

https://bitcoin.org/en/wallets-guide#term-master-private-key

Well, I wouldn't recommend running it on any external drive. Also, makes sure to properly shut it down before you turn off your system in any way. Both of these could cause corruptions which could require a full reindex, and those are painfully long.

Yup that was what I think as well, I need individual private keys, so basically I need to keep every private key of my addresses, but wait, what is "master private key"?

Thanks for your answers. Really helped!

Also just in case,

Is there any other thing that I should know about Bitcoin core wallet I haven't mention above?

No problems, just a larger wallet.dat.

There is no direct way to use that file on a mobile phone, if anywhere. You need your individual private keys or your master private key.

That is completely necessary. You need to encrypt it on the following events:
1) Wallet.dat creation.
2) Wallet.dat encryption.
3) Keypool renewal.

Have a few questions about Bitcoin core wallet, the main one, the firstborn son.

1) For maximum security and anonimity, I'm gonna use just one address for each transaction. So keeping every single private key may be a bit problem for me, actually no need of it, methinks. Please correct me if I'm wrong. So creating new address for every transaction can cause a problem for me? Any kind of problem I mean, just as an example, it can be longer sync time, or something like that.

2) I was an XMR guy actually. But recently sold for some reasons and planned to buy some btcs. Well, when I use XMR wallet (CLI/GUI), they give me private key of the wallet and so I can open my wallet with any other type of wallet such as Android/iOS ones or any lightweight one. I just need a private key of that wallet. But Bitcoin Core, itself, gives us only wallet.dat. So how can I reach my wallet on any other device? Or just as an example, I'm in hurry and I need to open my wallet on my android phone. How can I open it? I have used different addresses for each transactions. So basically I have 100 bits in my x address, 200 bits in my y address, 300 bits in my z addres... go on... So should I write down private key of every single address that I have?

3) I keep copying wallet.dat file to safe USB device after each transaction. Is that the only thing that I have to do?

4) Is there any other thing that I should know about Bitcoin core wallet?

Thank you!