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Blockchain Quick Reference
book

Blockchain Quick Reference

by Brenn Hill, Samanyu Chopra, Paul Valencourt
August 2018
Beginner to intermediate
350 pages
11h 58m
English
Packt Publishing
Content preview from Blockchain Quick Reference

Block header

The block header of a block in Bitcoin comprises of metadata about the block. Consider the following:

  • Bitcoin version: This field contains the Bitcoin version number.
  • Previous block hash: The previous block's hash is required to create the new block's hash.
  • Merkle root: This is the hash of the root of the Merkle tree of the current block's transactions.
  • Timestamp: This is the timestamp of the block in UNIX.
  • Mining difficulty: Mining is a crucial part of the blockchain ecosystem in Bitcoin. There is a difficulty target for mining, which is mentioned in the header.
  • Nonce: Blockchain adds deviations in each block; these are known as nonce. Take a look at this diagram:
The formation of block headers and what comprises the Merkle ...
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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781788995788