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README.md

Bitcoin 0.8.2 BETA

Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license. This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit. This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com), and UPnP software written by Thomas Bernard.

Intro

Bitcoin is a free open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that is completely decentralized, without the need for a central server or trusted parties. Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly with each other, with the help of a P2P network to check for double-spending.

Setup

Bitcoin-Qt is the original Bitcoin client and it builds the backbone of the network. However, it downloads and stores the entire history of Bitcoin transactions; depending on the speed of your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or more.

Unix

You need the Qt4 run-time libraries to run Bitcoin-Qt. On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install libqtgui4

Unpack the files into a directory and run:

bin/32/bitcoin-qt (GUI, 32-bit)
bin/32/bitcoind (headless, 32-bit)
bin/64/bitcoin-qt (GUI, 64-bit)
bin/64/bitcoind (headless, 64-bit)

Windows

Unpack the files into a directory and run bitcoin-qt.exe.

Need Help?

See the documentation at the Bitcoin Wiki for help and more information.
Ask for help on #bitcoin on Freenode. If you don't have an IRC client use webchat here.
Ask for help on the BitcoinTalk forums.