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name: bitcoin-libraries-btcd description: | btcd: full-node Bitcoin implementation in Go by btcsuite. Server, RPC, wallet (btcwallet), Lightning (LND-derived). USE WHEN: building Go-native Bitcoin services, alternative to bitcoind, integrating with btcsuite ecosystem. allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob

btcd

Full-node Bitcoin implementation in Go. Maintained by btcsuite team.

Repo: github.com/btcsuite/btcd.

Components

• btcd — full node.
• btcwallet — wallet daemon.
• btcctl — CLI client.
• btcec — secp256k1 binding.
• btcutil — utilities.
• txscript — Script engine.

Install

go install github.com/btcsuite/btcd@latest
go install github.com/btcsuite/btcd/cmd/btcctl@latest

Run

btcd --datadir=/var/lib/btcd
btcctl --rpcuser=... --rpcpass=... getblockchaininfo

Compared to bitcoind

Aspect	bitcoind	btcd
Language	C++	Go
Consensus	Reference	Compatible
Mempool policy	Reference	Differs slightly
Adoption	~95%	<5%
LN	Via separate impl	LND derived from btcd codebase
Performance	Best	Acceptable

Use cases

• Go-native Bitcoin services.
• LND historically uses btcd as backend (also supports bitcoind).
• Educational — Go is more readable than C++.

Common pitfalls

• Soft fork support sometimes lags Bitcoin Core.
• Mempool standardness differences cause some txs to relay differently.
• For production exchanges / services, bitcoind preferred.

See also

• btcsuite/SKILL.md
• lnd-go/SKILL.md
• ../../core/operations/SKILL.md