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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2898 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 12, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Wait a second. Doesn't Bitcoin have a record of every transaction ever? Couldn't you just look at the blockchain to see when you got your coins?

No, because the exchange probably didn't produce any on-chain transaction to handle my purchase orders; and even if they had, my purchase was probably batched in with thousands of others and didn't have any on-chain data indicating how much of the raw acquisition was attributable to me.

The coins were bought off-chain, on an exchange.

In the bitcoin economy as it actually exists, most transactions between people happen off-chain (across the books of an exchange, or in the Lightning Network), and most on-chain transactions are people moving money from one hand to another (exchange deposits and withdrawals, opening and closing Lightning channels, transfers to and from cold wallets).

The easiest way to think about it is that Bitcoin replaces gold bullion, not money. Moving bullion out of the vault it is stored in is exceptional - most transactions happen by exchange of warehouse receipts.

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