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The current bitcoin core team is optimizing for tiny blocks which means less space for transactions. They are doing this for reasons that don't hold up well if
by ericb 9y ago
The current bitcoin core team is optimizing for tiny blocks which means less space for transactions. They are doing this for reasons that don't hold up well if you examine them compared to other solutions (a whole nother ball of wax).
Tiny blocks means higher fees, which is a disincentive to use bitcoin as currency (it still works as a store of value). Bitcoin core is trying to solve this with a centralized layer 2 lightening network, which sort of defeats the point of a decentralized currency.
Bitcoin cash, however, is a fork that is planning on scaling on layer 1 with bigger blocks and smaller fees. I would keep an eye on how adoption goes for bitcoin cash in the next year or so. I would also watch Monero usage in actual cash transactions, as it is the most fungible.
- corford 9y ago>Monero usage in actual cash transactions Monero is even worse than Bitcoin when it comes to scaling issues. Quite a few projects are working on strong privacy/fungability coins without the scaling problems but it's hard. Zencash is the one I'm watching.
- ericb 9y ago> Monero is even worse than Bitcoin when it comes to scaling issues. True, and fees are higher because of it, but they are working on that. I should have explained why I mentioned it. I list it mainly because it wins on fungibility, so I can see where it might follow a similar adoption pattern to bitcoin, where it becomes the darknet currency of choice, then expands outward. I think this is more likely if either the traceability of bitcoin becomes an issue, or if bitcoins with "tainted history" become harder to spend.