Author

Topic: Verifying Amounts (Read 760 times)

legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 1083
Legendary Escrow Service - Tip Jar in Profile
November 29, 2015, 08:56:34 PM
#8
I was reading through the forums and found that if I go to block chain or something I can verify that that person has the amount that I am looking for.  Can someone please let me know how to do this.  Here is a copy and paste of the info I am wondering how to verify:

3) Ask for his coin address and always search it on blockchain.info or www.cryptocoinexplorer.com to verify if his address has the amounts he is claiming.

Thank you all in advance for the assistance.

You need to get the address he claims he owns. Then you can check on a blockexplorer how many coins that address contains. But that is not enough since he could tell you a random address he doesn't own.

You might either ask him to send you a satoshi from that address as proof that he owns the address or ask him for a signature signed with that address. You can check that signature then at http://wallet-2sx53n.sakurity.com/#verify and make sure that the address he signed with is the one he claims to own.

If you did so then you can be sure that he really owns these coins.

Not that proof of ownership is a very good system for building trust. No trust should be given until proper dealing happened. Until then, use escrow.

That's right. Don't trust the person that he will pay after you sending something. Better use an escrow. You only can trust that this person controls the amount of bitcoins he claims to control.
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1068
November 29, 2015, 08:48:51 PM
#7
I was reading through the forums and found that if I go to block chain or something I can verify that that person has the amount that I am looking for.  Can someone please let me know how to do this.  Here is a copy and paste of the info I am wondering how to verify:

3) Ask for his coin address and always search it on blockchain.info or www.cryptocoinexplorer.com to verify if his address has the amounts he is claiming.

Thank you all in advance for the assistance.

You need to get the address he claims he owns. Then you can check on a blockexplorer how many coins that address contains. But that is not enough since he could tell you a random address he doesn't own.

You might either ask him to send you a satoshi from that address as proof that he owns the address or ask him for a signature signed with that address. You can check that signature then at http://wallet-2sx53n.sakurity.com/#verify and make sure that the address he signed with is the one he claims to own.

If you did so then you can be sure that he really owns these coins.

Not that proof of ownership is a very good system for building trust. No trust should be given until proper dealing happened. Until then, use escrow.
legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 1083
Legendary Escrow Service - Tip Jar in Profile
November 29, 2015, 04:30:13 PM
#6
I was reading through the forums and found that if I go to block chain or something I can verify that that person has the amount that I am looking for.  Can someone please let me know how to do this.  Here is a copy and paste of the info I am wondering how to verify:

3) Ask for his coin address and always search it on blockchain.info or www.cryptocoinexplorer.com to verify if his address has the amounts he is claiming.

Thank you all in advance for the assistance.

You need to get the address he claims he owns. Then you can check on a blockexplorer how many coins that address contains. But that is not enough since he could tell you a random address he doesn't own.

You might either ask him to send you a satoshi from that address as proof that he owns the address or ask him for a signature signed with that address. You can check that signature then at http://wallet-2sx53n.sakurity.com/#verify and make sure that the address he signed with is the one he claims to own.

If you did so then you can be sure that he really owns these coins.
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
Grow SMALL amount of BTC by earning it
November 29, 2015, 02:32:04 AM
#5
Multi address wallets like Electrum would make this a hassle and probably actually push away potential buyers as if I remember correctly, each wallet can have as many as 3000 addresses, and if there are amounts all over in the wallet, I dont think someone will want to provide 30+ addresses to verify their funds..
Transfer all your Bitcoins into one wallet and use it. I doubt anyone would have lots of change even with HD wallets, change are also used when sending transactions. If there is indeed lots of different change address, transfer them into a single address and sign from there. It isn't hard to do.

This would only work if the user's wallet service/software allow users to sign message. Some shared wallets do not but some do, like coinbase.com. In that case, you need to ask the person to transfer them into an address which a signed message can be generated from.
member
Activity: 78
Merit: 10
November 29, 2015, 02:14:48 AM
#4
Multi address wallets like Electrum would make this a hassle and probably actually push away potential buyers as if I remember correctly, each wallet can have as many as 3000 addresses, and if there are amounts all over in the wallet, I dont think someone will want to provide 30+ addresses to verify their funds..
legendary
Activity: 4466
Merit: 3391
November 29, 2015, 12:18:52 AM
#3
I was reading through the forums and found that if I go to block chain or something I can verify that that person has the amount that I am looking for.  Can someone please let me know how to do this.  Here is a copy and paste of the info I am wondering how to verify:

3) Ask for his coin address and always search it on blockchain.info or www.cryptocoinexplorer.com to verify if his address has the amounts he is claiming.

Enter the bitcoin address into a block explorer search box (such as blockchain.info or blockr.io). If there are any bitcoins at that address, the block explorer will show them.

BTW, that forum advice is not very useful. Many (if not most) people have no idea which address (or addresses) the bitcoins are going to come from because a good wallet hides that information and an online wallet provider won't tell you at all.
staff
Activity: 3458
Merit: 6793
Just writing some code
November 28, 2015, 11:05:48 PM
#2
As it says, ask for the guys address. Ask him to sign a message with that address. Then you verify that signature to prove that he actually owns the address. Then look up in any block explorer like blockchain.info or blocktrail.com and search the address he gave you. They will show the current balance of that address. If it has the amount or more, he has proven he has that much Bitcoin. If he has less, then ask him again for another address and do the same thing.
hero member
Activity: 588
Merit: 500
November 28, 2015, 10:52:37 PM
#1
I was reading through the forums and found that if I go to block chain or something I can verify that that person has the amount that I am looking for.  Can someone please let me know how to do this.  Here is a copy and paste of the info I am wondering how to verify:

3) Ask for his coin address and always search it on blockchain.info or www.cryptocoinexplorer.com to verify if his address has the amounts he is claiming.

Thank you all in advance for the assistance.
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