# Gavin Andresen
# 2010-06-11 01:34:11
# https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=179.msg1472#msg1472

I'll try to answer what I can: @p{par}


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You either have to run a node or trust somebody else (like MyBitcoin.com) to keep a wallet for you. @p{par}

Your account balance is stored in a Berkeley DB file called 'wallet.dat' (what directory depends on your operating system; on my Mac it is ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/wallet.dat, on linux it is ~/.bitcoin/wallet.dat, not sure about PCs). @p{par}

The only application that can read wallet.dat is the bitcoin code, and the database structure isn't documented anywhere besides the bitcoin C++ source code. @p{brk}

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Theoretically, no, but the code to do lightweight validation hasn't been written. @p{brk}

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Satoshi is planning on encrypting the wallet database, so you'd need to enter a password to read it.  (and they need to get your private keys to generate transactions@p{--} those are what are stored in the wallet.dat) @p{brk}

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Dunno. @p{brk}

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There's another thread about this in these forums; maybe we should start a "Satoshi's TODO list" thread and get folks to volunteer to help out. @p{brk}

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Fewer and fewer coins will be created over the next N years (where N is@p{--} what, 20?).  That's a feature, not a bug... @p{par}

RE: developing your own version: are you thinking of creating a second bitcoin implementation that is compatible with the existing C++ one  (good idea, in my opinion)?  Or creating a similar-but-not-the-same system (bad idea, in my opinion)?