Terminology

[mipa]

Very useful, thx.

[Kruncha]

Very good post for us new to bitcoin, cheers

However, one question - I thought bitcoin was meant to be infinitely divisible (sure I read that when reading about deflation)?

I ask because of this:

'SAT' & 'Satoshi'
Smallest possible denomination of bitcoin, which is 0.00000001 BTC.

Thanks again for a great post.

K.

[mittbitterson]

Thank you all for a very useful list!

One item that I would love to see added, is the definition and/or explanation of a "change address". 

I've read about several situations where people using paper wallets have lost some of their BTC because they may not have been aware that, depending on the client they imported their key into, the remainder of their unspent BTC is not necessarily sent back to the original address on the paper wallet.  Hopefully a clear explanation of that might help prevent such a loss in the future.

I'm pretty sure I have a decent understanding of it, but I don't think I'm qualified to provide an "official" definition.  If someone is willing to add that to the list, that would be great.

Thanks!

[ZephramC]

Very good post for us new to bitcoin, cheers

However, one question - I thought bitcoin was meant to be infinitely divisible (sure I read that when reading about deflation)?

I ask because of this:

'SAT' & 'Satoshi'
Smallest possible denomination of bitcoin, which is 0.00000001 BTC.

Thanks again for a great post.

K.

Bitcoin is not and never will be infinitely* divisible. Amount 0.00000001 BTC is currently smallest unit. Value is currently expressed by 8byte (64bit) number of this units. This means there is space for 18 446 744 073 709 551 616 units. Considering maximum 21M coins, smallest unit would be ~1.14E-12 BTC. Effectively this means space for adding additional 3 decimal places up to 1E-11 BTC as other values for smallest unit would be impractical**.

We can estimate gross domestic product of planet Earth to be less than 1E14 USD (about 0.83E14 in 2012). If all the world economy was converted to bitcoins then 1 Satoshi would be worth 4.762 cents in current USD. Above mentioned "smallest unit" thousand times less. This I consider adequate for the planetary phase of human evolution :-].

* - infinitely divisible no. But divisible up to the number of atoms in the observed universe times number seconds universe exists that would be no problem.
** - in decimal base. Tonal bitcoin that is different story.

[Kendall70]

Thank you

[yogi]

Thank you all for a very useful list!

One item that I would love to see added, is the definition and/or explanation of a "change address". 

I've read about several situations where people using paper wallets have lost some of their BTC because they may not have been aware that, depending on the client they imported their key into, the remainder of their unspent BTC is not necessarily sent back to the original address on the paper wallet.  Hopefully a clear explanation of that might help prevent such a loss in the future.

I'm pretty sure I have a decent understanding of it, but I don't think I'm qualified to provide an "official" definition.  If someone is willing to add that to the list, that would be great.

Thanks!

Thanks mittbitterson, 'Change Address' added.

[CoinedIt!]

This is very useful.

But it's pure coincidence that I found this thread given the high activity in the newbies section.

Why isn't this stickied?

[uk1]

This is very useful.

But it's pure coincidence that I found this thread given the high activity in the newbies section.

Why isn't this stickied?

it was stickied,its not now because newbs where posting on it.

[cleverchickens]

Great list, thanks.

[CoinedIt!]

This is very useful.

But it's pure coincidence that I found this thread given the high activity in the newbies section.

Why isn't this stickied?

it was stickied,its not now because newbs where posting on it.

Just saw that it is referenced in the newbie readme thread which is stickied.
Ok then.

[booslove37]

Very useful read!thanks

[reminder]

Bookmarked! Thanks again yogi

[w1seguy]

Thank you for compiling this information!

[EsDva]

thx, will try to memorize that all 

[alani123]

Am I in the right place to ask what the term instamine means?
(i usually see it when describing an alternative cryptocurrency)

[yogi]

Am I in the right place to ask what the term instamine means?
(i usually see it when describing an alternative cryptocurrency)

Hi alani123,

I have added the following definition;

'Instamine'
The act of generating coins without having to perform any traditional mining techniques. This is often used by new altcoins as an alternative to premining.

Thank you.

[pcmc5]

Thanks!! Much needed for a newbie...!

[marykay]

this really helps

[hl5460]

This thread should be "sticky".......

[The Bitcoin Catalog]

This thread should be "sticky".......

It was, but for some reason mods removed it...