Unit 4: Bitcoin Network, Payments, Clients and APIs - Practice Quiz

CSE436 — Blockchain 60 Questions
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1 What is the primary purpose of the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network?

The Bitcoin network Easy
A. To store users' banking passwords
B. To broadcast transactions and blocks
C. To set national interest rates
D. To issue physical Bitcoin coins

2 What does a Bitcoin full node independently verify?

The Bitcoin network Easy
A. Government-issued identity documents
B. Transactions and blockchain rules
C. Only cryptocurrency exchange prices
D. Only wallet account names

3 What does a Bitcoin wallet primarily manage?

Wallets Easy
A. Private and public keys
B. Mining cooling systems
C. Exchange order books
D. Internet service accounts

4 Which wallet information should be kept secret?

Wallets Easy
A. The transaction ID
B. The public address
C. The private key
D. The network fee

5 What information does a payer commonly need to send a Bitcoin payment?

Bitcoin payments Easy
A. The recipient's Bitcoin address
B. The recipient's mining equipment
C. The recipient's full blockchain copy
D. The recipient's email password

6 What does a Bitcoin transaction confirmation indicate?

Bitcoin payments Easy
A. The exchange rate is fixed
B. The private key is public
C. The wallet has been deleted
D. The payment has entered a block

7 What is Segregated Witness, commonly called SegWit?

Innovation in Bitcoin Easy
A. A centralized banking service
B. A national payment currency
C. A physical hardware miner
D. A Bitcoin protocol upgrade

8 Which Bitcoin feature enables conditions to be attached to spending?

Innovation in Bitcoin Easy
A. The mining fan
B. The wallet label
C. The scripting system
D. The exchange ticker

9 What is the main goal of the Lightning Network?

Advanced protocols Easy
A. To replace all Bitcoin wallets
B. To support faster off-chain payments
C. To print physical bitcoins
D. To determine exchange regulations

10 What does a multisignature Bitcoin arrangement require?

Advanced protocols Easy
A. Several required exchange accounts
B. Several required mining machines
C. Several required internet providers
D. Several required cryptographic signatures

11 Which risk is commonly associated with investing in bitcoin?

Bitcoin investment Easy
A. Permanent price stability
B. Guaranteed fixed returns
C. Automatic deposit insurance
D. Significant price volatility

12 What is diversification in an investment portfolio?

Bitcoin investment Easy
A. Sharing every private key publicly
B. Borrowing funds for every purchase
C. Placing every fund in bitcoin
D. Spreading funds across different assets

13 What service commonly matches buyers and sellers of bitcoin?

Buying and selling Bitcoin Easy
A. A network mining pool
B. A hardware manufacturer
C. A cryptocurrency exchange
D. A blockchain explorer

14 What does a market order generally do on a Bitcoin exchange?

Buying and selling Bitcoin Easy
A. Creates a new Bitcoin address
B. Trades near the available market price
C. Confirms a block on the network
D. Waits only for a chosen exact price

15 Which software is a widely used full-node implementation of Bitcoin?

Bitcoin client installation Easy
A. Bitcoin Core
B. Mining Browser
C. Lightning Explorer
D. Crypto Spreadsheet

16 What may Bitcoin Core initially download when configured as a full node?

Bitcoin client installation Easy
A. The Bitcoin blockchain
B. All national bank records
C. All exchange passwords
D. Every user's private key

17 What is bitcoin-cli mainly used for?

Experimenting further with bitcoin-cli Easy
A. Creating traditional bank accounts
B. Predicting future market prices
C. Designing physical mining chips
D. Sending commands to Bitcoin Core

18 Which bitcoin-cli command returns general blockchain status information?

Experimenting further with bitcoin-cli Easy
A. getnewaddress
B. sendtoaddress
C. getblockchaininfo
D. getnetworkhashps

19 Which interface lets programs send structured commands to Bitcoin Core?

Bitcoin programming Easy
A. The JSON-RPC interface
B. The Bluetooth interface
C. The spreadsheet interface
D. The HDMI interface

20 What is a Bitcoin transaction ID, often written as TXID?

Bitcoin programming Easy
A. A password for opening a wallet
B. An identifier derived from transaction data
C. A price assigned by an exchange
D. A username selected by a miner

21 A Bitcoin node receives two valid competing blocks at the same height. One branch later receives another valid block. Which rule determines the branch the node should follow?

The Bitcoin network Medium
A. Follow the branch with the most accumulated proof-of-work
B. Follow the branch containing the greatest number of transactions
C. Follow the branch first announced by the largest mining pool
D. Follow the branch whose latest block has the smallest hash

22 A transaction is valid under Bitcoin's consensus rules, but its fee rate is below a node's minimum relay fee. What will that node most likely do?

The Bitcoin network Medium
A. Mine it immediately because consensus validity overrides policy
B. Reject it from its mempool and usually not relay it
C. Relay it but mark all of its outputs as unspendable
D. Add it permanently to the blockchain without confirmation

23 A user backs up the seed phrase of a hierarchical deterministic wallet before generating 50 additional receiving addresses. Assuming no extra passphrase is used, what can the backup restore?

Wallets Medium
A. Only the address that was active when the backup was created
B. Only addresses generated before the backup was created
C. The private keys for addresses derived from the same seed
D. The blockchain records but none of the wallet's private keys

24 A company wants an internet-connected system to monitor funds and prepare payments without storing private keys online. Which design best meets this requirement?

Wallets Medium
A. Store an unencrypted seed file on the online payment server
B. Import every private key into the online monitoring database
C. Use a watch-only wallet online and sign PSBTs offline
D. Use a paper wallet to sign transactions through a web browser

25 A wallet selects UTXOs worth BTC and BTC. It sends BTC and pays a fee of BTC. What change output should it create?

Bitcoin payments Medium
A. BTC
B. BTC
C. BTC
D. BTC

26 A merchant delivers an expensive product immediately after seeing an unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction. Which risk is most directly increased?

Bitcoin payments Medium
A. The transaction may be replaced or conflict with another spend
B. The output amount may increase when the next block is created
C. The transaction fee may be refunded automatically to the buyer
D. The payment address may stop being valid after one transaction

27 Why was Segregated Witness important for protocols that depend on referencing an unconfirmed parent transaction?

Innovation in Bitcoin Medium
A. It allowed nodes to confirm transactions without receiving blocks
B. It made relevant transaction identifiers resistant to third-party signature malleability
C. It removed the need to pay fees for dependent transactions
D. It replaced proof-of-work with signature-based block production

28 A Taproot output contains several alternative spending conditions, but only one condition is used. What is a key on-chain benefit of its script-tree design?

Innovation in Bitcoin Medium
A. Only the executed script path and its proof need to be revealed
B. The output can be spent without a signature or valid script
C. Every unused condition is permanently removed from the wallet
D. All spending conditions are executed simultaneously by each node

29 Three directors control a Bitcoin treasury using a 2-of-3 multisignature policy. Which statement correctly describes the spending condition?

Advanced protocols Medium
A. Exactly two named directors must sign, excluding the third director
B. Any one director can spend, but all three must approve recovery
C. All three directors must sign every transaction from the treasury
D. Any two directors can spend, while one key alone is insufficient

30 In a cross-chain atomic swap, why are hashlocks commonly combined with timelocks?

Advanced protocols Medium
A. Hashlocks encrypt blocks, while timelocks accelerate block production
B. Hashlocks reveal a shared secret, while timelocks permit later refunds
C. Hashlocks select miners, while timelocks prevent transaction signatures
D. Hashlocks set exchange rates, while timelocks calculate network fees

31 An investor buys the same fiat value of Bitcoin every month regardless of price. What is the most accurate effect of this strategy?

Bitcoin investment Medium
A. It eliminates volatility by fixing the number of bitcoins purchased monthly
B. It guarantees a profit whenever the holding period exceeds one year
C. It reduces dependence on choosing one purchase time but retains market risk
D. It ensures the average purchase price equals the lowest market price

32 An investor moves Bitcoin from a custodial exchange to a properly initialized hardware wallet. Which risk trade-off has most directly changed?

Bitcoin investment Medium
A. Transaction-fee risk disappears, but inflation risk becomes unavoidable
B. Exchange counterparty risk falls, but key-management responsibility increases
C. Market-price risk falls, but blockchain reorganization risk increases
D. Mining difficulty risk falls, but exchange-rate volatility increases

33 Bitcoin trades at $31,000, but a buyer submits a limit buy order at $30,000. What should the buyer expect?

Buying and selling Bitcoin Medium
A. The order executes only at $30,000 or a lower available price
B. The order guarantees execution before the end of the trading day
C. The order executes immediately at the current market price
D. The order converts automatically into a sale above $31,000

34 An exchange quotes a bid of $42,000 and an ask of $42,400 for one bitcoin. Ignoring fees, which price applies to a customer making an immediate purchase?

Buying and selling Bitcoin Medium
A. $42,000, because buyers always receive the bid price
B. $42,200, because market orders execute at the midpoint
C. $42,800, because the spread is added to the ask price
D. $42,400, because an immediate buyer pays the ask price

35 Before installing a downloaded Bitcoin client, which procedure provides the strongest evidence that the file is both authentic and unchanged?

Bitcoin client installation Medium
A. Verify its signed checksums using a trusted developer signing key
B. Compare the file size with a copy from an online discussion forum
C. Confirm that the download completed without a browser warning
D. Check that the filename contains the expected version number

36 A user enables pruning in Bitcoin Core because disk space is limited. Which outcome should the user expect?

Bitcoin client installation Medium
A. The node skips historical validation and trusts balances from its peers
B. The node validates only transactions involving addresses in its wallet
C. The node stores every old block but removes all transaction signatures
D. The node validates blocks but deletes older block data after validation

37 The output of bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo reports headers: 850000 and blocks: 849997. What is the most reasonable interpretation?

Experimenting further with bitcoin-cli Medium
A. The node has created three invalid blocks during initial synchronization
B. The node has validated three blocks that its peers have not announced
C. The node's wallet contains three transactions awaiting confirmation
D. The node knows three more block headers than blocks it has validated

38 Which command sequence should be used to retrieve a decoded, verbose block at height 700000?

Experimenting further with bitcoin-cli Medium
A. Run bitcoin-cli getblockhash 700000, then bitcoin-cli getblock <hash> 2
B. Run bitcoin-cli getrawtransaction 700000, then bitcoin-cli decoderawtransaction
C. Run bitcoin-cli getchaintxstats 700000, then bitcoin-cli listtransactions
D. Run bitcoin-cli getblockcount 700000, then bitcoin-cli getblock 700000 2

39 A payment application must calculate transaction outputs and fees precisely. Which internal representation is safest for monetary values?

Bitcoin programming Medium
A. Rounded percentage values measured in fee units
B. Binary floating-point values measured in bitcoins
C. Formatted text values including currency symbols
D. Integer values measured in satoshis

40 A merchant's web application receives a transaction ID from a customer's browser. What should the application do before marking the invoice as securely paid?

Bitcoin programming Medium
A. Check only that the transaction ID contains exactly 64 hexadecimal characters
B. Trust the transaction ID because hashes cannot represent fraudulent payments
C. Ask the browser to resend the transaction ID until two responses match
D. Query a trusted node and verify the output, amount, and required confirmations

41 A Bitcoin node receives two valid competing chain tips. Chain A has height 850,100 and cumulative chainwork . Chain B has height 850,098 and cumulative chainwork . Assuming neither chain violates consensus rules, which tip will the node select?

The Bitcoin network Hard
A. Chain B, because lower-height chains receive a propagation preference
B. Chain A, because reorganizations to lower heights are invalid
C. Chain A, because it contains two more confirmed blocks
D. Chain B, because it has greater cumulative proof-of-work

42 While processing a BIP152 compact block, a node reconstructs every transaction except three whose short IDs are ambiguous or absent from its mempool. What is the normal recovery procedure?

The Bitcoin network Hard
A. Discard the announcement and wait until another peer advertises the full block
B. Accept the partial block provisionally, then validate it after the next confirmation
C. Request the missing transactions with getblocktxn, then validate the reconstructed block
D. Request every transaction with getdata, then rebuild the compact-block header

43 A watch-only wallet imports the descriptor wpkh([d34db33f/84h/0h/0h]xpub.../0/*). What can it do without access to the corresponding private keys?

Wallets Hard
A. Derive receiving addresses and detect payments, but not produce valid signatures
B. Derive private child keys, but only for the unhardened wildcard portion
C. Detect payments to imported addresses, but not derive additional child addresses
D. Derive receiving addresses and sign, because the hardened steps precede the xpub

44 An HD wallet is restored from its seed, but an address at receive index 5,000 was used after a long sequence of unused addresses. A standard discovery scan stops before reaching it. Which remedy addresses the actual problem?

Wallets Hard
A. Import the seed as a legacy key and rebuild only the wallet transaction database
B. Regenerate the master key with a new birthday and preserve the original gap limit
C. Rescan the same blocks with the unchanged derivation range and a larger fee rate
D. Increase the derivation look-ahead or descriptor range and rescan the relevant blocks

45 A merchant receives an unconfirmed payment that signals replaceability. The merchant controls the payment output and can create a high-fee child transaction. Which statement best characterizes the merchant's security?

Bitcoin payments Hard
A. CPFP may accelerate confirmation, but it cannot prevent a conflicting replacement of the parent
B. The child guarantees payment if its combined fee rate exceeds the minimum relay fee
C. CPFP permanently removes replaceability once the child reaches the peer-to-peer network
D. The child converts the parent into a confirmed transaction under package relay rules

46 A finalized payment transaction has weight 721 WU, spends inputs totaling 150,000 sat, and pays the recipient 100,000 sat. At exactly 25 sat/vB, with no other deductions or dust issue, what change output is required?

Bitcoin payments Hard
A. 49,279 sat
B. 45,500 sat
C. 45,475 sat
D. 31,975 sat

47 For a transaction whose inputs are all native SegWit inputs, what happens if a third party modifies only witness serialization without invalidating the transaction?

Innovation in Bitcoin Hard
A. The txid can change while the wtxid remains unchanged
B. Both identifiers must remain unchanged because witnesses are committed by signatures
C. The wtxid can change while the txid remains unchanged
D. Both identifiers change because SegWit stores witnesses inside the legacy transaction ID

48 A Taproot output commits to one key-path spend and several script leaves. If one script-path leaf is exercised, what is revealed on-chain?

Innovation in Bitcoin Hard
A. The executed script and every sibling script in plaintext, but not the internal key
B. Only a Schnorr signature, with all script-path information remaining hidden
C. The executed script, its control block, and the hashes needed for its Merkle path
D. Every committed script, the internal private key, and the complete Merkle tree

49 In a cross-chain atomic swap, Alice chooses secret and first locks coins on Chain A. Bob then locks coins on Chain B using the same hashlock. Which timelock and redemption arrangement protects both parties?

Advanced protocols Hard
A. Both refunds expire simultaneously; Bob privately sends after Alice's confirmation
B. Alice's Chain A refund expires earlier; Bob redeems on B and reveals for Alice
C. Bob's Chain B refund expires later; Bob redeems on A without learning Alice's secret
D. Alice's Chain A refund expires later; Alice redeems on B and reveals for Bob

50 In a penalty-based Lightning channel, a dishonest peer broadcasts a revoked commitment transaction while the honest peer is offline. What must a watchtower do?

Advanced protocols Hard
A. Publish a cooperative close transaction after the revoked commitment receives one confirmation
B. Replace the revoked commitment with the latest state using a higher absolute transaction fee
C. Reveal the current channel secret to miners so they can invalidate the revoked transaction
D. Detect the revoked commitment and publish the preconstructed justice transaction before the delay expires

51 An investment gains 50% in year one and loses 50% in year two. Ignoring fees and taxes, what happens to an initial investment of $100,000?

Bitcoin investment Hard
A. It ends at $100,000, because the arithmetic mean return is zero
B. It ends at $87,500, representing the geometric mean of the returns
C. It ends at $75,000, representing a cumulative loss of 25%
D. It ends at $50,000, because the second-year loss offsets the original capital

52 A portfolio begins with $60 in Bitcoin and $40 in cash. Bitcoin then falls 40% while cash is unchanged. To restore the original 60/40 allocation without adding funds, what trade is required?

Bitcoin investment Hard
A. Sell $5.60 of Bitcoin for cash
B. Buy $9.60 of Bitcoin using cash
C. Sell $9.60 of Bitcoin for cash
D. Buy $14.40 of Bitcoin using cash

53 An exchange order book has asks of 0.3 BTC at $60,000, 0.4 BTC at $60,200, and 0.5 BTC at $60,500. Ignoring fees, what is the volume-weighted average execution price of a 0.8 BTC market buy?

Buying and selling Bitcoin Hard
A. $60,200.00 per BTC
B. $60,275.00 per BTC
C. $60,500.00 per BTC
D. $60,162.50 per BTC

54 The best ask is $60,100. A trader submits a post-only limit buy for 2 BTC at $60,000. What is the most accurate expected behavior?

Buying and selling Bitcoin Hard
A. The order executes immediately at $60,000 because limit prices bind the seller
B. The order rests on the book and may fill partially or fully at $60,000 or lower
C. The order executes immediately at $60,100 because that is the nearest available ask
D. The order is necessarily rejected because every post-only order must cross the spread

55 Which procedure provides the strongest practical verification of a downloaded Bitcoin Core release before installation?

Bitcoin client installation Hard
A. Verify trusted signatures on the checksum manifest, then match the binary's cryptographic hash
B. Run the binary in administrator mode, then accept the operating system's first-run warning
C. Confirm that the download used HTTPS, then compare the binary's filename and file size
D. Compare the website's version string, then scan the executable with one antivirus product

56 Which statement accurately describes a Bitcoin Core node operating with block pruning enabled?

Bitcoin client installation Hard
A. It retains every old transaction but removes block headers after calculating cumulative chainwork
B. It skips validation for discarded blocks and therefore must trust checkpoints for the current UTXO set
C. It can serve arbitrary historical blocks because pruning removes only wallet-related transaction records
D. It validates the chain and retains the UTXO set, but discards old block data and limits historical rescans

57 A confirmed transaction is absent from the mempool, and the node was started without -txindex. Its containing block is known and still stored locally. Which RPC can retrieve the decoded transaction?

Experimenting further with bitcoin-cli Hard
A. getrawtransaction "txid" true "blockhash"
B. decoderawtransaction "txid" "blockhash"
C. gettransaction "txid" true "blockhash"
D. gettxout "txid" 0 "blockhash"

58 Several wallets must independently sign the same funded multisignature PSBT. Which command sequence correctly combines and broadcasts the result?

Experimenting further with bitcoin-cli Hard
A. signrawtransactionwithwallet per signer, joinpsbts, then submitblock with the PSBT
B. walletprocesspsbt per signer, combinepsbt, finalizepsbt, then sendrawtransaction
C. decodepsbt per signer, utxoupdatepsbt, then sendrawtransaction with the base64 PSBT
D. combinepsbt before signing, sendrawtransaction, then finalizepsbt after confirmation

59 Under legacy or SegWit v0 signature hashing, what does SIGHASH_SINGLE | SIGHASH_ANYONECANPAY primarily allow when the signed input has a corresponding output index?

Bitcoin programming Hard
A. No inputs may be added, while outputs preceding the matching output remain fully committed
B. Any input or output may be changed, while the signature commits only to the transaction version
C. Other outputs may be added, while the signature commits to all existing inputs and no outputs
D. Other inputs may be added, while the signature commits to the current input and matching output

60 A native P2WSH output commits to a 2-of-3 CHECKMULTISIG witness script. Which witness-stack structure correctly spends it with two valid signatures?

Bitcoin programming Hard
A. Two ordered signatures, the script hash, and an empty dummy element as the final element
B. An empty dummy element, two ordered signatures, and the witness script as the final element
C. The witness script, three public keys, two signatures, and no dummy stack element
D. An empty dummy element, two signatures, and the redeem script placed in scriptSig