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Satoshi Gazette
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Glossary

The terms the Gazette uses, each defined in one sentence and then explained, with how it is measured, the primary record it comes from and the piece it was first used in. Where a piece first uses a term, the word carries this definition.

Terms on file

47

Last updated ·

E1

  1. End-of-life releasealso EOL release · unmaintained releaseA Bitcoin Core major version outside the project's maintenance window, which covers the latest three; it no longer generally receives fixes, security fixes included.

F1

  1. Fee ratealso feerate · sat/vB · sats per vbyteWhat a transaction pays per unit of block space: its fee in satoshis divided by its virtual size, written sat/vB. Miners fill blocks by it, not by the fee alone.

I1

  1. Issued supply at a blockalso scheduled issuance · issued supplyAll the bitcoin the subsidy schedule has allowed from the genesis block through a given height, computed from the height alone. 21 million is the limit it approaches, not a current figure.

M2

  1. Mempoolalso memory poolA node's own pool of valid transactions not yet confirmed in a block. Every node keeps its own, under its own policy and size limit, so there is no single mempool.
  2. Minimum relay feeratealso minrelaytxfee · min relay fee · mempool minimum feeThe lowest fee rate a node will accept into its mempool and pass on: a policy setting, not a consensus rule, which a node raises by itself when its mempool fills.

R1

  1. Reachable nodealso listening nodeA Bitcoin node that accepts incoming connections at an address a crawler can reach. Published node counts are counts of these; nodes that only connect outward go unseen.

U1

  1. User agentalso UA string · subverThe software name and version a node announces to its peers in its handshake, such as /Satoshi:30.0.0/. It is self-reported: what a node says it runs, not proof of what it runs.

V1

  1. Virtual byte and weight unitalso vbyte · vB · weight unit · WU · virtual size · vsizeThe units block space is metered in since SegWit: weight counts each non-witness byte as 4 units and each witness byte as 1, and virtual size is weight ÷ 4.

How the glossary works

A term is added when a published piece or a Data Desk instrument needs it, and filed under one field: protocol and network, mining, custody and holdings, or policy and money. Each entry carries a one-sentence definition that can be quoted whole, a longer explanation, the primary record the definition rests on, and a link to the piece where the Gazette first used it. Terms the desk measures also say how they are measured, where on the desk, and what people commonly get wrong about them. In that piece the term’s first mention links here, so the definition reaches the reader where they meet the word. Definitions are dated and revised in the open; a change that alters a meaning is logged in Corrections.