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In 2012 or so, the block size limit was 500 KB and blocks weren't close to being full; towards the end of 2012 they were approaching 100 KB each. The current bl

by makomk 9y ago

In 2012 or so, the block size limit was 500 KB and blocks weren't close to being full; towards the end of 2012 they were approaching 100 KB each. The current block size limit is 1MB+ and almost every block is stuffed to the limit. It's easy to lose track of the fact that the reason fees are high is because there's a lot more on-chain activity than back in 2012. What's more interesting is that, for example, Bitcoin Cash has a similar level of on-chain activity to 2012-era Bitcoin without the interesting shops accepting it, but its price is about a hundred times higher than 2012-era Bitcoin.

habosa 9y ago
All true but that's just proof that BTC doesn't really scale to the point where it's a useful global medium of exchange. That's an interesting way to think about BCH. Some of the price increase is justified due to the increasing legitimization of all crypto currencies but definitely not 100x.
- bobcat9 9y ago
  Some believe that it can easily scale to the that point, but there are corrupt and powerful people who are stifling that effort.
  - xapata 9y ago
    Some people believe the earth is flat, too. I'd rather hear a detailed discussion than a summary.
DSingularity 9y ago
There is criminal level fraud occurring. I am not going to throw allegations out, but I believe there will be a day in the coming years where we read stories about organized crime and pump and dumps in this space. I believe the bitcoin forks will be at the heart of this all. Everybody is happily singing the song of crypto while the music is going. Not sure how long it will last.
- StanislavPetrov 9y ago
  In other words, you're saying bitcoin is the stock market.
- mavdi 9y ago
  Same doom story I've been hearing since it all started. Bitcoin is real, get used to it.
- cryptodogemoon 9y ago
  Why Bitcoin forks? Exchanges would be where the fraud happens. MtGOX was insolvent and yet they inflated the price of Bitcoin across all exchanges. Bitfinex is alleged to be engaging in the same market manipulation through margin wash trades and their central bank scheme of free Tether minting. Bitcoin forks are funny because it's decentralized software with a shared database history from the time of the fork. After an update, users can choose to use one or the other. Unfortunately the incentives are warped for miners and devs, so users might not have the best possible design. There's an excessive amount of propaganda surrounding cryptocoins because "investors" need to psychologically lure you in to buy their supply, which they've acquired for significantly lower value, lower capital, and lower computational work then you if you're starting after them. [0] https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest
  - pmorici 9y ago
    Because supporters of Bitcoin Core want to dis-credit Bitcoin Cash and the way they are doing it is by promoting a bunch of increasingly scummy Bitcoin forks. Then they say hey look these forks are all scams. Bitcoin Cash is a fork there for it too is a scam. Nothing could be further from the truth though.
    - tradersam 9y ago
      Ver rode the Cash band-wagon to help his position of control over the ecosystem, as did many others. Hundreds of millions of value was created — and a lot instantly lost — in a day. It's been pumped over and over again by mining pools looking to make a quick buck while the difficulty is low as well. That is where the "scam" lies. It isn't discrediting BCH — BCH already did that to itself.
DennisP 9y ago
True but Bitcoin can't just blame its activity level for the high fees, since Ethereum does twice as many transactions per day and charges under a penny for a simple coin transfer.

by makomk 9y ago

habosa 9y ago

All true but that's just proof that BTC doesn't really scale to the point where it's a useful global medium of exchange. That's an interesting way to think about BCH. Some of the price increase is justified due to the increasing legitimization of all crypto currencies but definitely not 100x.

bobcat9 9y ago
Some believe that it can easily scale to the that point, but there are corrupt and powerful people who are stifling that effort.
- xapata 9y ago
  Some people believe the earth is flat, too. I'd rather hear a detailed discussion than a summary.

DSingularity 9y ago

There is criminal level fraud occurring. I am not going to throw allegations out, but I believe there will be a day in the coming years where we read stories about organized crime and pump and dumps in this space. I believe the bitcoin forks will be at the heart of this all. Everybody is happily singing the song of crypto while the music is going. Not sure how long it will last.

StanislavPetrov 9y ago
In other words, you're saying bitcoin is the stock market.
mavdi 9y ago
Same doom story I've been hearing since it all started. Bitcoin is real, get used to it.
cryptodogemoon 9y ago
Why Bitcoin forks? Exchanges would be where the fraud happens. MtGOX was insolvent and yet they inflated the price of Bitcoin across all exchanges. Bitfinex is alleged to be engaging in the same market manipulation through margin wash trades and their central bank scheme of free Tether minting. Bitcoin forks are funny because it's decentralized software with a shared database history from the time of the fork. After an update, users can choose to use one or the other. Unfortunately the incentives are warped for miners and devs, so users might not have the best possible design. There's an excessive amount of propaganda surrounding cryptocoins because "investors" need to psychologically lure you in to buy their supply, which they've acquired for significantly lower value, lower capital, and lower computational work then you if you're starting after them. [0] https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest
- pmorici 9y ago
  Because supporters of Bitcoin Core want to dis-credit Bitcoin Cash and the way they are doing it is by promoting a bunch of increasingly scummy Bitcoin forks. Then they say hey look these forks are all scams. Bitcoin Cash is a fork there for it too is a scam. Nothing could be further from the truth though.
  - tradersam 9y ago
    Ver rode the Cash band-wagon to help his position of control over the ecosystem, as did many others. Hundreds of millions of value was created — and a lot instantly lost — in a day. It's been pumped over and over again by mining pools looking to make a quick buck while the difficulty is low as well. That is where the "scam" lies. It isn't discrediting BCH — BCH already did that to itself.

DennisP 9y ago

True but Bitcoin can't just blame its activity level for the high fees, since Ethereum does twice as many transactions per day and charges under a penny for a simple coin transfer.