Digioli.co.uk

I wanted to learn a bit more about Bitcoin development so I created a hello world example.

First, generate an address and get some bitcoins. Then check your balance to make sure it has been mined.

const { PrivateKey, Unit, Networks, Transaction, Script } = require('bitcore-lib');
const Message = require('bitcore-message');
const explorers = require('bitcore-explorers');

const insight = new explorers.Insight('testnet');
const miningFee = 999;
const WIF = 'cRsbEYyVB2XMBc4gSFBqdCdCWiXYjpKExqRAeGvAHW2tQXryPJwU';
const privateKey = PrivateKey.fromWIF(WIF);
const publicKey = privateKey.publicKey;
const address = publicKey.toAddress(Networks.testnet);
const targetPublicKey = new PrivateKey().publicKey;
const targetAddress = publicKey.toAddress(Networks.testnet);
console.log('Address', address);
console.log('Target Address', targetAddress);
insight.getUnspentUtxos(address, (error, utxos) => {
  if (error) {
    throw error;
  } else {
    const utxo = utxos[0].toObject();
    if ((Unit.fromBTC(utxo.amount).toSatoshis() - miningFee > miningFee)) {
      const transaction = new Transaction(Networks.testnet)
        .from(utxos)
        .fee(miningFee)
        .to(targetAddress, miningFee)
        .change(address)
        .addData('Hello world')
        .sign(privateKey);
  console.log(`Transaction hex: ${transaction.checkedSerialize()}`);

  insight.broadcast(transaction, (error, result) =&gt; {
    if (error) {
      throw error;
    }

    console.log('result', result);
  });
} else {
  throw 'Not enough funds';
}
  }
});

One thing to make note of is developing a POC is awkward using bitcore. They have a built in 'security mechanism' that prevents nested npm module dependencies. I created a work around - an npm post-install script that removes dependent modules and symlinks to just one.

Bitcoin Development

References