<p>The standard bitcoind/bitcoin-qt client lets you ask for the highest known block, via RPC, or get notifications when a new 'best block' is locally acknowledged (via the <code>-blocknotify</code> option). </p>

<p>But, is there any way to tell when more than one equally-high blocks are circulating, and thus it's not yet clear which will win? Or does the standard client remain locked onto only the first block it receives, until it receives a definitively-longer chain? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-17T18:58:25.450Z
I don't think the block height on it's own is sufficient information. You would probably need to examine the hashes, nonces and merkle, from different peers.
T9b
<bitcoind><json-rpc><blockchain-fork>
Can bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (via RPC or command-line-options) be used to discover when two competing best-blocks exist?
Quizzical
# Can bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (via RPC or command-line-options) be used to discover when two competing best-blocks exist?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-15)

The standard bitcoind/bitcoin-qt client lets you ask for the highest known block, via RPC, or get notifications when a new 'best block' is locally acknowledged (via the `-blocknotify` option).

But, is there any way to tell when more than one equally-high blocks are circulating, and thus it's not yet clear which will win? Or does the standard client remain locked onto only the first block it receives, until it receives a definitively-longer chain?

**Tags:** bitcoind, json-rpc, blockchain-fork

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I don't think the block height on it's own is sufficient information. You would probably need to examine the hashes, nonces and merkle, from different peers.  

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## 0 answers

