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How big is the Bitcoin blockchain?
TLDR: As of today, 21st October 2022, the Bitcoin chain size is 492.8GB. The chain grows every ~10 minutes, as new blocks are added. The average size of new blocks as of today is ~1.2MB. How do I find the current size? If you are looking for the current chain size, please visit Clark Moody’s…
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Does a Lightning Node use more bandwidth than a Bitcoin Node?
TLDR: Lightning nodes use a lot more bandwidth than Bitcoin nodes. 5-10x more. Details I have been running a Bitcoin+Lightning node for a few years. Recently I deployed a Bitcoin only node(i.e. no Lightning). This gave me an opportunity to compare the behavior of nodes running Bitcoin vs Bitcoin+Lightning. I used my network router to…
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What are the benefits of the Segwit upgrade?
TLDR: Segwit enabled the Lightning Network and increased block size from 1MB to ~4MB. Details: Segwit fixed transaction malleability. It did so by moving the malleable part of the transaction, the signature, out of the main block into the coinbase section. Fixing this issue allowed developers to deploy the lighting network as a layer 2 solution. By moving parts…