Читать книгу Bitcoin, Blockchain & Co. - Joe Martin - Страница 19

Bitcoin Core is the software program which makes the nodes work─it is quasi-Word or Excel. At the same time, it’s the software which transfers the scope of functionality to the node, which would be by comparison the bold font or mathematical function symbols in Word and Excel formulae. The consensus algorithm, which defines which blocks the node can and may accept and in what form, is also in the scope of function of Bitcoin Core. Bitcoin Core defines the checks that a node must make to confirm the correctness of a block. For example, the node must measure the size of a block and it must be smaller than 1 megabyte. If the block delivered by the miner is larger than 1 MB, then it is ignored by the node and not added to the copy of the ledger which is stored locally─its blockchain.

The protocol is also defined for the miners in Bitcoin Core. The miners too must also know the format in which a block is generated for them to be accepted by the nodes. The miners only get the reward of 12.5 Bitcoins (from 2016 to 2020, from 2020 only 6.25 BTC) if the majority of the nodes accept the block and attach it to the existing chain. The size of the payment is also defined in Bitcoin Core.

To be sure that the blockchain cannot make an unpermitted split and that the transactions are secure and cannot be reversed on short notice, you should, as previously stated, wait at least six blocks before passing on the Bitcoins you have received. That is not defined in the protocol, but if a value that can be calculated. It is a result of the mathematics of the whole system. However, it’s also defined in the protocol that the miners only get their reward after 100 blocks─and it’s an important incentive─so that the miners cannot do anything silly or try to defraud.

All that and much more is defined in Bitcoin Core. Bitcoin Core is maintained by the so-called “Core developers” (Core devs) and alterations are only approved gradually, conservatively and with great care.