My confusion revolves around the relationship between a block, a transaction and coins. Here are a statement of facts as I understand them:
- Blocks form a chain.
- Blocks form the backbone of the Proof-of-Work: a block must be "solved".
- Blocks contain a header and a tree structure containing transactions.
- The first transaction in a block is special. The person who solves the Proof-of-Work for the first transaction gets rewarded with the coin value of the block (currently 50 coins but decreases over time).
- There is a finite number of blocks: 21,000,000
- I assume there is only a single chain, starting at block B0 and eventually ending at block B21,000,000 - 1.
5. is incorrect.
There is a finite number of
coins but an unlimited number of blocks.
6. is half right.
There is only a single chain, starting at block B
0