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Coinbase has an interest to increase the block size so that the protocol can be further centralized, making people more reliant on their centralized bitcoin as

by yxitcti 11y ago

Coinbase has an interest to increase the block size so that the protocol can be further centralized, making people more reliant on their centralized bitcoin as a service business. Honestly, the whole bitcoin ecosystem is a sinking ship at this point. The protocol is broken and there are too many vested interests to properly fix it. It's time to move over to Ethereum.

snitko 11y ago
Why is it a sinking ship? I can still send money to anyone anywhere in the world for a very low fee relatively fast, without any restrictions, long forms or questions asked. I don't know what do you think Bitcoin's value is to people, but I surely know what value it has for me personally.
- yxitcti 11y ago
  Sinking doesn't imply fully sunk. Yes, bitcoin is still semi-useable but it's becoming less and less so. Meanwhile businesses are chomping at the bit to bring it fully under their control so they can profit more from it. There are much better alternatives.
  - NhanH 11y ago
    How financially invested are you in Ethereum?
    - yxitcti 11y ago
      Not at all. I hold about $5 worth of bitcoin, but that's it.
  - snitko 11y ago
    Semi-usable? How so? I regularly buy things with Bitcoin and I haven't noticed any decline in products and services being offered for Bitcoin. Expedia still accepts it. Cheapair still accepts it. Dell still accepts it. Many other large and small businesses accept it. Yes, it's not the same level of penetration as credit cards, but CC have been around since when? And Bitcoin? Have a sense of proportion.
  - 0xADADA 11y ago
    1) What are the "much better alternatives"? 2) I've made 4 transactions in bitcoin this week, none of which had any problem being confirmed. 3) If people switch to alternatives, don't you think people will be incentivized to decentralize them for their own benefit just like bitcoin?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
lvs 11y ago
I suspect you have a horse in this race, but it is certainly true that a lot of investors -- both in the currency and in the companies -- are now in too deep, and they know it. That goes for all your alternatives as well.
reitzensteinm 11y ago
It seems to me that you have it completely backwards. Smaller block sizes are better for Coinbase, all else equal, because that means transactions on the blockchain are more expensive. Which makes sending payments on third party services more attractive, and long term they can flip bits around in their database while taking a cut, ala PayPal. Except the backing currency is BTC, not USD et al. I think that Coinbase is primarily interested here in shepherding the Bitcoin ecosystem as a whole towards success, because it doesn't want the pool it's swimming in to dry up. Sometimes selfless and selfish motivations align.
- sanswork 11y ago
  You're thinking of coinbase. Coindesk is s blog
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - reitzensteinm 11y ago
    Oops, thanks.
buttershakes 11y ago
I'm really not sure where people are getting this. All companies with the exception of Blockstream want Bitcoin to scale so that it can aquire more users. More users is instrumental to the growth of new companies. Not scaling the network means we will cease to aquire active users, and the entire ecosystem will possibly stall. While that happens we will have capital outflow to other coins. Ethereum has been a beneficiary of that outflow, but is a significantly less tested code base, with much less hashing power, and significantly fewer users. Its still a very early product with its own vested interests. The two networks aren't even comparable at the moment in terms of capability and ecosystem.
CyberDildonics 11y ago
> Coinbase has an interest to increase the block size so that the protocol can be further centralized, making people more reliant on their centralized bitcoin as a service business. This is fundamentally not at all how bitcoin works. Nobody relies on coinbase to actually use bitcoin. A bigger -maximum- block size won't increase centralization since 1 MB every 10 minutes is so far from stressing even modest resources. Anyone who can watch netflix can download at least 200 times faster than they need to keep up with the blockchain.
- ikeboy 11y ago
  It's also verification and storage, including RAM for the mempool.
brasky 11y ago
zcash looks promising.
perfectfire 11y ago
So, I looked up Ethereum hoping to find a dencentralized digital cryptocurrency with transaction times comparable to credit/debit card transactions, but instead I found..I found..what did I find? WTH is Ethereum?

by yxitcti 11y ago

snitko 11y ago

Why is it a sinking ship? I can still send money to anyone anywhere in the world for a very low fee relatively fast, without any restrictions, long forms or questions asked. I don't know what do you think Bitcoin's value is to people, but I surely know what value it has for me personally.

yxitcti 11y ago
Sinking doesn't imply fully sunk. Yes, bitcoin is still semi-useable but it's becoming less and less so. Meanwhile businesses are chomping at the bit to bring it fully under their control so they can profit more from it. There are much better alternatives.
- NhanH 11y ago
  How financially invested are you in Ethereum?
  - yxitcti 11y ago
    Not at all. I hold about $5 worth of bitcoin, but that's it.
- snitko 11y ago
  Semi-usable? How so? I regularly buy things with Bitcoin and I haven't noticed any decline in products and services being offered for Bitcoin. Expedia still accepts it. Cheapair still accepts it. Dell still accepts it. Many other large and small businesses accept it. Yes, it's not the same level of penetration as credit cards, but CC have been around since when? And Bitcoin? Have a sense of proportion.
- 0xADADA 11y ago
  1) What are the "much better alternatives"? 2) I've made 4 transactions in bitcoin this week, none of which had any problem being confirmed. 3) If people switch to alternatives, don't you think people will be incentivized to decentralize them for their own benefit just like bitcoin?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

lvs 11y ago

I suspect you have a horse in this race, but it is certainly true that a lot of investors -- both in the currency and in the companies -- are now in too deep, and they know it. That goes for all your alternatives as well.

reitzensteinm 11y ago

It seems to me that you have it completely backwards. Smaller block sizes are better for Coinbase, all else equal, because that means transactions on the blockchain are more expensive. Which makes sending payments on third party services more attractive, and long term they can flip bits around in their database while taking a cut, ala PayPal. Except the backing currency is BTC, not USD et al. I think that Coinbase is primarily interested here in shepherding the Bitcoin ecosystem as a whole towards success, because it doesn't want the pool it's swimming in to dry up. Sometimes selfless and selfish motivations align.

sanswork 11y ago
You're thinking of coinbase. Coindesk is s blog
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- reitzensteinm 11y ago
  Oops, thanks.

buttershakes 11y ago

I'm really not sure where people are getting this. All companies with the exception of Blockstream want Bitcoin to scale so that it can aquire more users. More users is instrumental to the growth of new companies. Not scaling the network means we will cease to aquire active users, and the entire ecosystem will possibly stall. While that happens we will have capital outflow to other coins. Ethereum has been a beneficiary of that outflow, but is a significantly less tested code base, with much less hashing power, and significantly fewer users. Its still a very early product with its own vested interests. The two networks aren't even comparable at the moment in terms of capability and ecosystem.

CyberDildonics 11y ago

> Coinbase has an interest to increase the block size so that the protocol can be further centralized, making people more reliant on their centralized bitcoin as a service business. This is fundamentally not at all how bitcoin works. Nobody relies on coinbase to actually use bitcoin. A bigger -maximum- block size won't increase centralization since 1 MB every 10 minutes is so far from stressing even modest resources. Anyone who can watch netflix can download at least 200 times faster than they need to keep up with the blockchain.

ikeboy 11y ago
It's also verification and storage, including RAM for the mempool.

brasky 11y ago

zcash looks promising.

perfectfire 11y ago

So, I looked up Ethereum hoping to find a dencentralized digital cryptocurrency with transaction times comparable to credit/debit card transactions, but instead I found..I found..what did I find? WTH is Ethereum?