diff --git a/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs-data.ts b/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs-data.ts index f69aa4a0f..b07c0b0e0 100644 --- a/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs-data.ts +++ b/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs-data.ts @@ -6017,6 +6017,13 @@ export const faqData = [ fragment: "what-are-mining-pools", title: "What are mining pools?", }, + { + type: "endpoint", + category: "basics", + showConditions: bitcoinNetworks, + fragment: "what-are-vb-wu", + title: "What are virtual bytes (vB) and weight units (WU)?", + }, { type: "endpoint", category: "basics", diff --git a/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs.component.html b/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs.component.html index 1f6fca48c..69112e1d4 100644 --- a/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs.component.html +++ b/frontend/src/app/docs/api-docs/api-docs.component.html @@ -134,6 +134,13 @@ Mining pools are groups of miners that combine their computational power in order to increase the probability of finding new blocks. + +

Virtual bytes (vB) and weight units (WU) are used to measure the size of transactions and blocks on the Bitcoin network.

+

A Bitcoin transaction's size in the blockchain is not determined how much bitcoin it transfers—instead, a transaction's size is determined by technical factors such how many inputs and outputs it has, how many signatures it has, and the format it uses (legacy, SegWit, etc). Since space in the Bitcoin blockchain is limited, a transaction's size directly impacts how much you pay in mining fees to get it confirmed into a block.

+

Block sizes are limited to 4,000,000 WU (or 1,000,000 vB since 1 vB = 4 WU).

+

Transaction sizes and block sizes used to be measured in plain bytes, but virtual bytes and weight units were devised to maintain backward compatibility after the SegWit upgrade in 2017. See this post for more details.

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+

When a Bitcoin transaction is made, it is stored in a Bitcoin node's mempool before it is confirmed into a block. When the rate of incoming transactions exceeds the rate transactions are confirmed, the mempool grows in size.

The default maximum size of a Bitcoin node's mempool is 300MB, so when there are 300MB of transactions in the mempool, we say it's "full".