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For a bitcoin newbie like me, is this not like getting a dollar bill, change the picture on the front to my face and calling a new currency?

supergreg 11y ago
Yes, but that bill will only have value if people accept it. It's the same with all the alternative cryptocurrencies out there.
- sp332 11y ago
  Or real currencies either. http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/you-can-now-make-two-tenners-by-cutting-a-20-bill-in-half-in-this-quebec-town-vgtrn http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/you-can-now-make-two-tenners-...
sp332 11y ago
It's not the money that's being changed, it's the rules regarding transactions and accounting. This client will accept more transactions per block. Blocks are mined at a semi-regular rate averaging <10 minutes. So this allows tons of transactions to be added.
rahimnathwani 11y ago
No. His software fork is participating in the same Bitcoin network as everyone else. This software fork is not the same as a network fork, and definitely not the same as creating an entirely new network that just happens to run the same software.
- rmc 11y ago
  > No. His software fork is participating in the same Bitcoin network as everyone else. for now
inoop 11y ago
It's more like introducing a new $10.000 dollar bill that only you accept, but no-one else. He's making it sound like Bitcoin is all about freedom of choice, when in reality a small group of ~6 Chinese miners decide what the block size is.
- ianpurton 11y ago
  It's a little more complicated than that. Assuming you are correct about the 6 Chinese miners controlling > 50% of the hash power they could indeed collude and support a new block size. When the first large block arrives the blockchain splits effectively creating a new currency. Old Bitcoin and New Bitcoin. It's the Bitcoin infrastructure in terms of exchanges and wallets that will decide which of these coins will be the winner. Basically if you have 1 Bitcoin before, then after the split you will have 1 Bitcoin in each chain. The market will decide which of these coins will hold value. It's not the first time the blockchain has split.
- tyho 11y ago
  That's a common misconception. The miners can do what they like, but if they start mining blocks that the exchanges (and everyone else) don't accept the blocks they mine, then they can't sell their coins. Bitcoins democracy comes not from what the miners think, but what the people who accept bitcoin as payment think.
  - XorNot 11y ago
    Almost like every other currency?
- yitchelle 11y ago
  That's what I was thinking. As a lowest common denominator, bitcoin, or any other thing for that matter, can be accepted as money if the other party accepts it in exchange. If no one accepts it, it is worthless.

supergreg 11y ago

Yes, but that bill will only have value if people accept it. It's the same with all the alternative cryptocurrencies out there.

sp332 11y ago
Or real currencies either. http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/you-can-now-make-two-tenners-by-cutting-a-20-bill-in-half-in-this-quebec-town-vgtrn http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/you-can-now-make-two-tenners-...

sp332 11y ago

It's not the money that's being changed, it's the rules regarding transactions and accounting. This client will accept more transactions per block. Blocks are mined at a semi-regular rate averaging <10 minutes. So this allows tons of transactions to be added.

rahimnathwani 11y ago

No. His software fork is participating in the same Bitcoin network as everyone else. This software fork is not the same as a network fork, and definitely not the same as creating an entirely new network that just happens to run the same software.

rmc 11y ago
> No. His software fork is participating in the same Bitcoin network as everyone else. for now

inoop 11y ago

It's more like introducing a new $10.000 dollar bill that only you accept, but no-one else. He's making it sound like Bitcoin is all about freedom of choice, when in reality a small group of ~6 Chinese miners decide what the block size is.

ianpurton 11y ago
It's a little more complicated than that. Assuming you are correct about the 6 Chinese miners controlling > 50% of the hash power they could indeed collude and support a new block size. When the first large block arrives the blockchain splits effectively creating a new currency. Old Bitcoin and New Bitcoin. It's the Bitcoin infrastructure in terms of exchanges and wallets that will decide which of these coins will be the winner. Basically if you have 1 Bitcoin before, then after the split you will have 1 Bitcoin in each chain. The market will decide which of these coins will hold value. It's not the first time the blockchain has split.
tyho 11y ago
That's a common misconception. The miners can do what they like, but if they start mining blocks that the exchanges (and everyone else) don't accept the blocks they mine, then they can't sell their coins. Bitcoins democracy comes not from what the miners think, but what the people who accept bitcoin as payment think.
- XorNot 11y ago
  Almost like every other currency?
yitchelle 11y ago
That's what I was thinking. As a lowest common denominator, bitcoin, or any other thing for that matter, can be accepted as money if the other party accepts it in exchange. If no one accepts it, it is worthless.