Bitesize Bitcoin
Mining Transactions
Early Bitcoin adopter Mike Hearn writes to Satoshi on April 12, 2009 “Hi Satoshi, I read your paper on Bitcoin with great interest. I found it a bit confusing though – I believe it may be easier to follow if you provide some examples. Specifically, it’s not quite clear to me what blocks contain” He then goes on to ask if only one chain is recording all of the transactions or “the story of the economy” as Mr. Hearn states. Satoshi responds 10 hours later “Hi Mike, I’m glad to answer any questions you have. If I get time, I ought to write a FAQ to supplement the paper” he follows with “There is only one global chain” The two continue their back and forth for 2 weeks, chatting about the protocol, even talking about sending transactions back and forth. Unfortunately for Mike Hearn, Satoshi doesn’t directly answer the initial question, “what do blocks contain” But fortunately for you, at Ungovernable Misfits we have the Bitesize Bitcoin series.
In this episode of Bitesize Bitcoin, we will use our previous Bitesize’s hash to extend our chain of understanding of Bitcoin block creation and cover how transactions make their way into a block to be recorded on the one global chain, forever.