How many bitcoin addresses exist

As long as Bitcoin uses the RIPEMD hash function, there are 2^ Bitcoin addresses. That number is. The Bitcoin blockchain is vast and complex, forming a network of over If so many addresses are created just to pass bitcoin between people.

That's like click the following article atom compared to the number of atoms in the Earth.

Quite small. This answer would be a better fit on e. How many Bitcoin addresses are there?

When blocks are downloaded by a wallet client, the how many bitcoin addresses exist therein are checked to see whether any of them send coins to addresses held in this wallet.

If so, those coins are added to the wallet's balance. So B will see an extra 25 BTC appear in his wallet.

As mentioned in the other answers, he'll be able to spend them as if they were his own. So it's a race between A and B to how many bitcoin addresses exist who spends them first - either can do it.

If B has already downloaded the relevant transactions before generating the colliding address, the situation is a little different. As far as I know, most Bitcoin clients, when generating a fresh random address, will not rescan the block chain to see whether it contains any how many bitcoin addresses exist sending coins to that address.

how many bitcoin addresses exist

As described above, the probability of this happening is infinitesimally small, so for all practical purposes, such a scan would just be a waste of time and resources. Of course, barring RNG faults, this question is sort of like asking "If how many bitcoin addresses exist 50 US state governors were simultaneously struck by lightning, how would the stock market be affected?

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