<p>The synchronization process has two parts: Downloading the data and verifying it's validity. You already took care of the downloading part by acquiring the boostrap file. Now your Bitcoin Core is building the transaction database by verifying the network's whole transaction history.</p>

<p>The value you are asking about doesn't give you a time estimate, but shows you how much of the data in the blockchain still has to be verified.</p>

<p>You are just at the very beginning, so your client still has to verify the transactions of 4 years and 17 weeks. Since you have downloaded all the data already (it's in the bootstrap file), your downloading speed doesn't matter.</p>

<p>Depending on the speed of your computer, the verification process can take a few hours to a few days.</p>

<p>If you don't want to run a full node and don't want to wait that long, you might want to look into thin clients, such as MultiBit.</p>

<p>Also see: 
<a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/4461/5406">Why is downloading blocks taking longer and longer?</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-14T15:35:46.683Z
2014-11-14T15:35:46.683Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.283Z
Murch
<p>By the way, there is a bittorrent download available too, which can give you a head start on the chain. </p>

<p>From Andreas's most excellent book, in chapter 3, </p>

<p>"You can shorten the blockchain initialization time by downloading a partial copy of the blockchain using a bittorrent client from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/" rel="nofollow">http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/</a>."</p>

<p>About 1/3 of the way down the page. </p>

<p><a href="https://github.com/aantonop/bitcoinbook/blob/develop/ch03.asciidoc" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/aantonop/bitcoinbook/blob/develop/ch03.asciidoc</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T10:08:19.163Z
2014-11-17T10:08:19.163Z
deskenny
<p>I just downloaded bootstrap (~21GB) and started bitcoin base. It shows me that time to sync will be 4 year and 17 weeks? Is it going to change, or do i have to wait that much?</p>

<p>My internet downloading speed is only about 220 kb/s.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-20T13:04:40.357Z
possible duplicate of [How long should synchronizing your wallet for the first time take?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/11029/5406)
Murch
<bitcoin-core><synchronization>
Do i need ~4 years to sync?
Nuinoz
# Do i need ~4 years to sync?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-14)

I just downloaded bootstrap (~21GB) and started bitcoin base. It shows me that time to sync will be 4 year and 17 weeks? Is it going to change, or do i have to wait that much?

My internet downloading speed is only about 220 kb/s.

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, synchronization

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: possible duplicate of [How long should synchronizing your wallet for the first time take?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/11029/5406)  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-11-14. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

The synchronization process has two parts: Downloading the data and verifying it's validity. You already took care of the downloading part by acquiring the boostrap file. Now your Bitcoin Core is building the transaction database by verifying the network's whole transaction history.

The value you are asking about doesn't give you a time estimate, but shows you how much of the data in the blockchain still has to be verified.

You are just at the very beginning, so your client still has to verify the transactions of 4 years and 17 weeks. Since you have downloaded all the data already (it's in the bootstrap file), your downloading speed doesn't matter.

Depending on the speed of your computer, the verification process can take a few hours to a few days.

If you don't want to run a full node and don't want to wait that long, you might want to look into thin clients, such as MultiBit.

Also see:
[Why is downloading blocks taking longer and longer?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/4461/5406)


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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-11-17. Score: 0

By the way, there is a bittorrent download available too, which can give you a head start on the chain.

From Andreas's most excellent book, in chapter 3,

"You can shorten the blockchain initialization time by downloading a partial copy of the blockchain using a bittorrent client from <http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/>."

About 1/3 of the way down the page.

<https://github.com/aantonop/bitcoinbook/blob/develop/ch03.asciidoc>


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