Bitcoin
Enable an AI agent to recognise Bitcoin, assess the state and spendability of bitcoin holdings and transactions, and determine which actions are technically possible and authorised.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise Bitcoin, assess the state and spendability of bitcoin holdings and transactions, and determine which actions are technically possible and authorised.
Bitcoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer monetary system whose native asset, bitcoin, is transferred through digitally signed transactions and whose shared transaction history is maintained by nodes enforcing consensus rules and miners performing proof of work.
It can be Verify a purported Bitcoin network, output or transaction against an explicit mainnet chain view.; Calculate amounts, fees and spendability from identified outputs and their spending conditions.; Prepare and inspect a transaction for recipient, change, fee, privacy and authorisation requirements.; Coordinate authorised signing and broadcast while keeping secret key material outside the model.; Monitor confirmation depth, conflicts and reorganisations against a stated acceptance policy.; Compare attributed monetary claims with specified evidence and operational measures..
Distinguishing features
Identify Bitcoin mainnet through its genesis and applicable consensus rules; a BTC ticker, address appearance or marketing name alone is insufficient.
Distinguish native bitcoin represented by mainnet unspent transaction outputs from a custodian's balance or a token issued on another network.
Test spending through transaction inputs, output amounts and script conditions rather than assuming a mutable account balance.
Assess chain selection using accumulated proof of work among valid chains, rather than block count alone or an institution's approval.
Distinguish Bitcoin's subsidy schedule from discretionary issuance, while recording the rule set against which issuance is checked.
Scope
+ Bitcoin mainnet identity, consensus rules and competing interpretations of Bitcoin's monetary role
+ BTC denomination, issuance and unspent transaction outputs
+ Transaction construction, validation, propagation and confirmation
+ Key-based spending control, custody arrangements and action authority
+ Proof-of-work chain selection, reorganisations and protocol change
- Generic blockchain and cryptocurrency concepts beyond what distinguishes Bitcoin
- Separate fork networks and their native assets
- Wrapped BTC, exchange account credits and investment products as independently issued claims
- Lightning channel operation and other overlay protocols, except their Bitcoin settlement dependencies
- Mining hardware engineering, electricity infrastructure and environmental accounting
- Personal investment suitability, portfolio allocation and jurisdiction-specific tax determinations
Characteristics
- Referent sense
- network | native asset | protocol | monetary practice Prevents statements about BTC holdings from being confused with statements about software, infrastructure or social adoption.
- Network identity
- Genesis block reference, network designation and consensus-rule context Separates Bitcoin mainnet from test networks and independently operating forks.
- Amount
- Integer satoshis; 100,000,000 satoshis per BTC Supports exact accounting and avoids floating-point ambiguity.
- Observed chain tip
- Block hash, height, accumulated chainwork, observation time and observing node Makes confirmation and spendability assessments relative to an explicit chain view.
- Output spendability
- Unspent status, script requirements, maturity or timelock conditions and available signing capability An apparent holding may not be spendable by the agent or at the present chain state.
- Transaction status
- Constructed | partially signed | signed | observed unconfirmed | confirmed | conflicted; qualified by observer and time Distinguishes preparation, local network observations and inclusion in the selected chain.
- Confirmation depth
- Blocks, relative to a named chain tip; zero if unconfirmed Supports risk-based settlement decisions without implying irreversible finality.
- Transaction fee rate
- Satoshis per virtual byte Relates transaction cost to block-space demand and inclusion expectations.
- Control and authority
- Output or custody claim linked to signers, spending policy and authorising principal Separates technical ability to sign from permission to transfer value.
- Monetary interpretation
- Attributed interpretations such as payment medium, scarce digital asset, speculative asset or monetary alternative Keeps contested economic descriptions attributable and separate from protocol-observable properties.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 28 questions.
Bitcoin identity and meaning Distinguishes the network, native asset and contested monetary interpretations covered by this entry.
Bitcoin names several connected referents, and technical identity does not settle its economic classification.
Mainnet and asset boundary
Establishes whether the subject is native Bitcoin or a neighbouring network or claim.
Native bitcoin identification
Record evidence connecting the subject to Bitcoin mainnet and distinguish native outputs from representations or redemption claims.
- Which genesis reference and consensus context identify the network being examined? definition
- Does the purported holding identify mainnet outputs or a claim against another issuer or custodian? boundary
Monetary interpretations
Records competing accounts of Bitcoin's purpose and use without treating one account as settled.
Attributed economic claims
Associate descriptions such as money, store of value or speculative asset with their proponents, definitions and evidence.
- Who advances this interpretation of Bitcoin, and where is their definition stated? provenance
- Which observable measures would support or challenge that interpretation over a specified period? measurement
Bitcoin amounts and issuance Models denomination, output-based holdings and rule-governed creation of bitcoin.
An agent must distinguish exact amounts, spendable outputs and issuance claims before accounting for BTC.
UTXO holdings
Represents holdings through identified unspent transaction outputs and explicit aggregation assumptions.
Output-based balance
Record output references, satoshi amounts and the chain view under which they are unspent.
- Which transaction identifiers and output indices contribute to the stated BTC amount? measurement
- Which outputs are excluded because they are spent, immature, locked or outside the relevant control policy? boundary
Subsidy and supply
Separates permitted issuance, observed issuance and estimates of economically available supply.
Supply accounting basis
Record the height and rules used for subsidy calculations, distinguishing newly issued value from transaction fees and uncertain loss estimates.
- What subsidy is permitted at the assessed height, and how is it distinguished from fees in the coinbase transaction? measurement
- Does the supply claim refer to permitted issuance, actual issuance, unspent value or an estimate excluding inaccessible coins? definition
Bitcoin transactions and settlement Follows a proposed spend through construction, network observation and risk-based acceptance.
A signed transaction, mempool observation and confirmed payment support different decisions.
Transaction construction
Connects selected inputs to intended recipients, change and fee requirements.
Spend intent and fee
Record how a proposed transaction implements the authorised payment and accounts for every input amount.
- Which outputs pay the intended recipients, which return change, and how were their scripts verified? action
- What total fee and fee rate follow from the input amounts, output amounts and transaction virtual size? measurement
Confirmation and conflict
Tracks observer-dependent propagation, chain inclusion and conflicting spends.
Payment acceptance state
Record inclusion evidence and the acceptance policy, preserving uncertainty from conflicts and possible reorganisations.
- Which node observed the transaction, and what inclusion block and confirmation depth does its current chain view establish? measurement
- What acceptance threshold and response to replacement, conflicting spends or reorganisation apply to this payment? action
Bitcoin control and custody Separates script-level spending capability, custody claims and authority to act.
Possession of an address or a displayed balance does not establish either spending capability or permission.
Script and signing control
Describes the evidence and participants required to satisfy an output's spending conditions.
Satisfiable spending policy
Record required signatures, script paths and timing conditions through non-secret references.
- Which signatures, script conditions and timelocks must be satisfied to spend these outputs? definition
- Which authorised signing devices or participants can satisfy those conditions, and what evidence establishes their availability? action
Custody and authorisation
Distinguishes direct control from intermediary obligations and specifies who may approve a spend.
Holding and action authority
Record the custody arrangement, withdrawal dependencies and explicit limits on agent actions.
- Is the balance directly controlled through Bitcoin spending conditions or dependent on a custodian honouring a withdrawal request? boundary
- Who may authorise signing or withdrawal, and what recipient, amount and fee limits constrain the agent? action
Bitcoin consensus and change Models chain validity, proof-of-work selection and the evidence needed to describe protocol changes.
Bitcoin state depends on validated chain history and adopted rules, while proposals and stakeholder preferences require separate treatment.
Validation and chain selection
Establishes the validation basis for an observed chain and its selected tip.
Validated chain view
Record node software, validation assumptions and chainwork evidence supporting state assessments.
- Which node implementation, version and validation assumptions produced this chain view? provenance
- What evidence supports selection of this tip by accumulated work among chains valid under the node's rules? measurement
Protocol evolution
Distinguishes proposals, implementation behaviour, activation conditions and actual enforcement.
Rule change status
Record the specific change and evidence for its status without equating publication, signalling or software release with activation.
- Which proposal and implementation sources specify the change and its activation conditions? provenance
- Is the assessed behaviour a consensus rule, local relay or mining policy, wallet convention or separate network rule? boundary
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- This description covers both the Bitcoin system and its native asset because no narrower sense was supplied; the ACT.ACT classification should be reviewed.
- These are recalled facts, not findings checked against sources; current legal status and operational statistics require research.
- BIPs are community specifications, not rules issued by a central regulator; claims that bitcoin is money, digital gold or a reliable store of value remain contested.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Asset ticker - BTC - Widely used for bitcoin; a ticker alone does not identify a blockchain or distinguish native bitcoin from wrapped representations.
- Bitcoin transaction identifier - txid: 64 hexadecimal characters - Identifies a transaction; witness transactions also have a distinct witness-inclusive identifier, wtxid.
- Bitcoin mainnet payment address - Common prefixes: 1, 3, bc1q, bc1p - Prefixes distinguish address encodings and spending constructions; an address is not a personal identity or necessarily a persistent account.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- BIP 32, Hierarchical Deterministic Wallets: a specification in the community-maintained Bitcoin Improvement Proposals process.
- BIP 141, Segregated Witness: specifies witness-related consensus rules through the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals process.
- BIP 173 and BIP 350: specify Bech32 and Bech32m address encodings through the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals process.
- BIP 340, BIP 341 and BIP 342: specify Schnorr signatures, Taproot and Tapscript through the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals process.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Transferring value without a central transaction processor.
- Holding an asset for investment, speculation or a proposed store of value.
- Paying participating merchants and individuals.
- Transferring value across borders, sometimes with conversion through exchanges.
- Providing the underlying asset and settlement mechanism for Lightning payment channels.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Target average interval between blocks - Approximately 10; individual intervals vary widely - minutes
- Native accounting subdivision - 100000000 satoshis per bitcoin - satoshi/BTC
- Maximum scheduled issuance under existing consensus rules - Approximately 21000000 - BTC
- Maximum block weight - 4000000 - weight units
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Lost private keys or recovery material can make funds permanently inaccessible; stolen keys can enable unauthorized spending.
- Price volatility can produce substantial losses relative to goods or national currencies.
- Custodians and exchanges can fail, freeze withdrawals or lose customer funds.
- Congestion can raise transaction fees and delay confirmation; reorganizations can reverse recently confirmed transactions.
- Transactions are publicly traceable, while mistaken or fraudulent payments generally lack a built-in reversal mechanism.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Legal treatment, taxation and obligations placed on service providers vary by jurisdiction and require current verification.
- Access to exchanges, banking connections and merchant acceptance varies geographically.
- Mining location depends partly on electricity availability, cost, infrastructure and local policy.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Cryptocurrency - Cryptocurrency is a broader category; Bitcoin is one particular system and native asset.
- Blockchain - A blockchain is a data structure and ledger approach; Bitcoin combines one with a monetary asset, network and consensus rules.
- Bitcoin Cash - Bitcoin Cash is a separate network and asset that split from Bitcoin in 2017 and follows different consensus rules.
- Lightning Network - Lightning enables payments through channels anchored to Bitcoin; its payments are not each recorded as separate Bitcoin blockchain transactions.
- Wrapped bitcoin - Wrapped representations circulate on other systems and introduce additional custody or bridging assumptions; they are not native Bitcoin outputs.
- Bitcoin Core - Bitcoin Core is a software implementation used to participate in Bitcoin, rather than the network or asset itself.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of Bitcoin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Which existing Vercy world model, if any, already owns Bitcoin or part of this scope and should supply the canonical publication?
- Which primary protocol references and implementation versions should anchor the researched model at publication time?
- How should network-identity disputes and competing monetary definitions be attributed without turning stakeholder claims into settled classifications?
- Which payment contexts require distinct confirmation, conflict and reorganisation response policies?
- What evidence is sufficient to distinguish demonstrably unspendable bitcoin from holdings merely presumed lost or inactive?