5 ms·

I think given the prevailing network conditions of the past 6-12 months the statement that "Bitcoin is fast" needs a [citation needed] qualifier.

by Phlarp 10y ago

kneel 10y ago
'relative speed' Much faster than ACH payments, wire tranfers.
- notahacker 10y ago
  and much slower than Visa, never mind the sorts of transactions where there are algorithms earning big bucks profits from frontrunning trades with millisecond advantages....
  - kneel 10y ago
    Investment banks don't use Visa to transfer money and bitcoin isn't replacing electronic trading platforms.
    - notahacker 10y ago
      Sure, my point is that where systems are optimised for speed Bitcoin is miles behind the curve. If a distributed ledger is simply updating to reflect the authoritative accounts of a centralised authority I'm not really seeing what trustlessness is adding to the reconciliation process either.
      - kneel 10y ago
        In a trustless decentralized world (ie the web) more speed means less security. There is definitely an equilibrium between centralized and decentralized systems. I realize I'm starting to sound like a crackpot so I'll just recommend the writings of a more well-respected crackpot Dee Hock (founder of Visa Inc.) https://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/ChaordicOrg.pdf https://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/ChaordicOrg.pdf
    - occamrazor 10y ago
      TARGET2 settles within seconds.
- runeks 10y ago
  Depends on which metric you look at. While Bitcoin has much faster settlement time than international wire transfers, it has slower throughput (~7 TPS max currently).
  - Phlarp 10y ago
    7 TPS is theoretical and very optimistic. So far it's best day was just over 4. These numbers will not change until the blocksize is increased, which still looks unlikely. https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all
  - kneel 10y ago
    It's a tradeoff for security. It'll be interesting to see what happens when(if?) Bitcoin upgrades to SegWit. This infrastructure is designed to support off-chain transactions while settling on the chain.

I think given the prevailing network conditions of the past 6-12 months the statement that "Bitcoin is fast" needs a [citation needed] qualifier.

by Phlarp 10y ago

I think given the prevailing network conditions of the past 6-12 months the statement that "Bitcoin is fast" needs a [citation needed] qualifier.

kneel 10y ago

'relative speed' Much faster than ACH payments, wire tranfers.

notahacker 10y ago
and much slower than Visa, never mind the sorts of transactions where there are algorithms earning big bucks profits from frontrunning trades with millisecond advantages....
- kneel 10y ago
  Investment banks don't use Visa to transfer money and bitcoin isn't replacing electronic trading platforms.
  - notahacker 10y ago
    Sure, my point is that where systems are optimised for speed Bitcoin is miles behind the curve. If a distributed ledger is simply updating to reflect the authoritative accounts of a centralised authority I'm not really seeing what trustlessness is adding to the reconciliation process either.
    - kneel 10y ago
      In a trustless decentralized world (ie the web) more speed means less security. There is definitely an equilibrium between centralized and decentralized systems. I realize I'm starting to sound like a crackpot so I'll just recommend the writings of a more well-respected crackpot Dee Hock (founder of Visa Inc.) https://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/ChaordicOrg.pdf https://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/ChaordicOrg.pdf
  - occamrazor 10y ago
    TARGET2 settles within seconds.
runeks 10y ago
Depends on which metric you look at. While Bitcoin has much faster settlement time than international wire transfers, it has slower throughput (~7 TPS max currently).
- Phlarp 10y ago
  7 TPS is theoretical and very optimistic. So far it's best day was just over 4. These numbers will not change until the blocksize is increased, which still looks unlikely. https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all
- kneel 10y ago
  It's a tradeoff for security. It'll be interesting to see what happens when(if?) Bitcoin upgrades to SegWit. This infrastructure is designed to support off-chain transactions while settling on the chain.