Which testnet am I on?

How can I know which testnet am I on?

I just ran bitcoind -testnet, and I would assume it would connect to the most recent one, but is there a way to know it?

o0'.

Posted 2013-06-15T18:38:51.767

Reputation: 5 180

Answers

Bitcoin and bitcoind versions v0.3.14 - v0.3.19 used the first testnet.
Bitcoin, Bitcoin-Qt and bitcoind versions v0.3.20 - v0.6.1 used the second testnet.
Bitcoin-Qt and bitcoind version v0.7.0 and above use the third testnet.

Pieter Wuille

Posted 2013-06-15T18:38:51.767

Reputation: 54 032

1Oh, so it's hardcoded in the client, I didn't know that. – o0'. – 2013-06-15T20:37:09.367

2The different testnets have slightly different rules, and a separate genesis block, so yes, they are hardcoded. No point in trying to support multiple versions. – Pieter Wuille – 2013-06-16T09:05:02.670

To double check, the genesis block for testnet3 (the current version as of this writing) has hash 000000000933ea01ad0ee984209779baaec3ced90fa3f408719526f8d77f4943. So with the daemon running, you can do

 bitcoind -testnet getblock 000000000933ea01ad0ee984209779baaec3ced90fa3f408719526f8d77f4943

If you are really on testnet3, you should see "height: 0" in the output.

Nate Eldredge

Posted 2013-06-15T18:38:51.767

Reputation: 21 420