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Bitcoin: Download block headers only in Bitcoin Core?

Published by Terlumun Aondover on February 13th, 2025.

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Downloading Block Headers Only with Bitcoin Core

When using Bitcoin Core, it’s common for users to be interested in exploring the blockchain data beyond just viewing the transactions. However, downloading entire blocks can be a significant undertaking due to their large size (approximately 1 MB). In this article, we’ll explore whether you can download block headers only from Bitcoin Core.

Why Download Block Headers Only?

There are several reasons why you might want to download block headers instead of full blocks:

Resource efficiency

: Downloading block headers can be more resource-efficient than downloading the entire block.

Debugging and analysis: By examining the header-only data, you may find valuable insights into your wallet’s activity or identify potential issues with the network.

Testing and development: Developers might need to test their applications on a blockchain without actually transferring funds.

Using Bitcoin Core to Download Block Headers

Yes, it is possible to download block headers only from Bitcoin Core. Here are some steps you can follow:

Step 1: Start Bitcoin Core

Ensure that you’re running the latest version of Bitcoin Core on your local machine. You can start it by running bitcoin-qt --datadir ~/Desktop/btc (replace /home/user/Desktop/btc with the actual path to your Bitcoin Core executable).

Step 2: Use the --headers-only Option

You can download block headers only using the following command:

bitcoin-qt --headers-only --datadir ~/Desktop/btc

The --headers-only option tells Bitcoin Core to only download and store the header data, excluding the full block transaction.

Step 3: Verify the Downloaded Data

To verify that you have downloaded the correct headers, you can use a simple command:


bitcoin-qt --headers-only --datadir ~/Desktop/btc

cat ~/Desktop/btchistory.csv | tail -n 1

This will download and print the first block of data from the blockchain.

Conclusion

Downloading block headers only with Bitcoin Core is a viable option for those who need to explore or analyze the blockchain without transferring funds. While this approach requires some technical knowledge, it can be an effective way to get started. Keep in mind that downloading block headers will consume significant disk space and may not be suitable for large-scale use cases.

Additional Resources

For more information on Bitcoin Core command-line options, refer to the official [Bitcoin Core documentation](

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