4 ms·

Basic BTC 101 question. Are there a fixed number of txns in a block or is it variable? (And what do you recommend I read to learn this kind of stuff)

• rmc 14y ago
  As far as I know there is no limit on the number of transactions, but there is a limit on the total number of possible bitcoins (about 21 million IIRC)
  • tocomment 14y ago
    So when a node picks up a block to process it gathers up all of the pending transactions at that time?
    • wmf 14y ago
      Yes. (More like the node creates a block containing all pending transactions, but that's a nit.)
• mckoss 14y ago
  It's variable. Each miner decides (in software) which transactions to include in a block. Everything is in here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_specification https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_specification Or read the source code for the standard client: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/main.cpp https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/main.cpp