Bitcoin adopts a proof-of-work consensus network and is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. That is to say, the ledger records are being kept by users and not a central authority.
Many people and organizations volunteer to use spare computing and bandwidth resources to run full nodes and eliminate the need for a central authority to keep records.
If you are looking to download the Bitcoin blockchain ledger to support the growth of the network or to mine cryptocurrencies, this article will guide you on where to get what you seek.
Key Takeaways
• The Bitcoin blockchain ledger holds the identities of all participants in a secure and pseudo-anonymous form, as well as their respective crypto balances.
• Full nodes help the network by accepting transactions and blocks from other full nodes, validating them, and then relaying them to other full nodes.
• Bitcoin blockchain is growing linearly at a size of 52.5 GB per year.
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What is the Bitcoin Blockchain Ledger?
A blockchain is best described as a digital ledger of all transactions on a network, duplicated and distributed across all participating computer systems on the network.
The Bitcoin blockchain ledger is a record of all the blocks and the verified transactions on the Bitcoin network recorded within them.
This decentralized way of managing the database by multiple participants is what makes the blockchain secure, and impossible to change, hack, or cheat.
Every transaction, which is contained in blocks, is added to the blockchain ledger of all the participants as they occur after suitable authentication and verification by designated network participants known as miners.
Hence, uniform copies of the database are maintained across all participating computer systems at all times. Compromising a block will require changing it across all the copies of the database on participating computers, which is very much impossible.
Where to Download Bitcoin Blockchain Ledger
The Bitcoin blockchain ledger can be securely downloaded via Bitcoin Core, an open source client software for the Bitcoin network, released by Bitcoin itself. It connects to the network and runs a node.
Can be used to mine Bitcoins and also includes an inbuilt wallet for sending and receiving Bitcoins. It’s available for Windows, MacOS and Linux.
Learn how to set up a Mining rig under $1000 if you are looking to mine Bitcoins.
Some years back, to download the Bitcoin blockchain ledger, you could use a BitTorrent client like getbitcoinblockchain.com to download it from a previous state.
But the size has become very large and most torrents have ceased to exist. So the best option to download the Bitcoin blockchain ledger is with the Bitcoin Core wallet.
You can download Bitcoin Core on the official Bitcoin website or download it from the Bitcoin Core website.
After downloading, setting up the software and choosing the download location. it will begin to download the Bitcoin blockchain ledger to your computer.
This might take a lot of time even with a high-speed connection.
You can monitor the Initial Block Download progress if you are using the GUI version of Bitcoin Core.
Before you download, read this!
Size
The Bitcoin blockchain is continually growing as more blocks are added to the chain. While this significantly adds to the security of the ledger, it also increases the size. So you have to decide between a full node or a partial node.
Full nodes have to store the complete version of the blockchain Ledger – every block and transaction that ever happened on the blockchain from the very first block.
Partial nodes do not store the complete blockchain ledger but only the part of the blockchain they require – the block header, which is smaller than the entire block. Verification of transactions is done using what is SPV(Simplified Payment Verification) mode.
However, they still need to be connected to full node clients to transmit their transactions to the network.
You can configure your node to run in pruned mode to reduce storage requirements. This can reduce the disk usage from over 420GB to around 7GB.
Requirements
Before you proceed to download the Bitcoin blockchain ledger with Bitcoin Core, ensure you meet these minimum requirements to avoid dealing with issues resulting from weak hardware.
- Your PC (desktop or laptop) should be running the latest or recent versions of the Operating System (Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux).
- At least 2 gigabytes of memory (RAM) to run Bitcoin Core smoothly.
- At least 7 gigabytes of free storage is required and it should be accessible at a minimum read/write speed of 100 MB/s.
- Broadband Internet connection with minimum upload speeds of 50 kilobytes per second. The faster the better.
- An unmetered connection to avoid termination of connection as a result of bandwidth limit.
Also, you will be needing 6 hours a day to keep your full node running is also required for a quick catch-up with all new transactions on the blockchain.
Disable automatic sleep or suspend for your system screensaver settings. This will prevent the system from entering low power mode, hence your node will keep running so long as your computer is on.
After you download, read this!
Verification
After downloading, you should verify to ensure you did not download an altered software and risk losing your coins. You can view verification instructions and download the signatures and cryptographic checksums for verification on the official bitcoin core download page.
Setting up
Before setting up Bitcoin Core to download Bitcoin blockchain ledger, please ensure you follow the instructions on running a full node to get things done the right way.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Where is the blockchain ledger stored?
Blockchain is a decentralized ledger stored on computers or nodes across the network. It is not stored on a central database.
Q2. Do I have to download the entire blockchain?
If you are mining solo, downloading the entire blockchain is necessary since every new block mined on blockchain references the hash code of the last block in the chain. Otherwise, they become Orphaned blocks.
If you are mining in a pool, then you don’t need the blockchain, the pool will send you whatever work you are mining on.
Q3. How many GB is the bitcoin blockchain?
Currently, the Bitcoin blockchain has reached over 420 gigabytes and is growing linearly according to Blockchain.com charts.
Final Thoughts
Running a full node is a secure and trustless way to use Bitcoin without any attack. All rules are followed. You should know however that it will cost you. So before you decide to run a full node, be sure you have the resources to spare.
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