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Bitcoin cannot become "widely used money". It is technically impossible. It is transaction rate limited to 6 txn/sec. Worldwide. Even band-aids such as incr

by rmah 9y ago

Bitcoin cannot become "widely used money". It is technically impossible. It is transaction rate limited to 6 txn/sec. Worldwide. Even band-aids such as increasing the block size won't help enough. I'm not saying bitcoin prices will crash anytime soon. Simply that the dream of bitcoin replacing fiat currencies in daily commerce is just that: a dream.

ericb 9y ago
It was once impossible to stream movies over the internet because modem technology was limited to 1200 bits per second. Even band-aids like doubling capacity wouldn't help enough. Technically. Impossible.
- take4 9y ago
  Streaming movies was impossible over dial-up, and still is. But you can if you have different internet connections like DSL, Cable, Fiber, etc. For the original bitcoin that is currently being priced at $13,000 it is indeed technically impossible to exceed 6 transactions per second. Sure you could make a new crypto protocol, but it's not "bitcoin".
  - ericb 9y ago
    The protocol (proof of work based system using wallets and addresses) doesn't define the implementation and the implementation defines limits. The protocol especially does not define the implementation of other layers built alongside it, so this is a straw man. If your argument is "any improvement to the current system" "isn't bitcoin" then that's a no true scotsman sort of argument and I don't think it holds much water.
captainmuon 9y ago
What will likely happen is that bitcoin will only be used to transfer large sums between exchanges. Day-to-day payments will be handled off-chain. Another option is to use lighter alt-coins in parallel to bitcoin, again using bitcoin for long-term storage or larger transactions. You are right that the current bitcoin as-is is not suited for many small everyday transactions, as envisioned by many. The transaction rate and fees are just too high. This is actually - besides governmental bans - the one thing I think could take bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general down.

by rmah 9y ago

ericb 9y ago

It was once impossible to stream movies over the internet because modem technology was limited to 1200 bits per second. Even band-aids like doubling capacity wouldn't help enough. Technically. Impossible.

take4 9y ago
Streaming movies was impossible over dial-up, and still is. But you can if you have different internet connections like DSL, Cable, Fiber, etc. For the original bitcoin that is currently being priced at $13,000 it is indeed technically impossible to exceed 6 transactions per second. Sure you could make a new crypto protocol, but it's not "bitcoin".
- ericb 9y ago
  The protocol (proof of work based system using wallets and addresses) doesn't define the implementation and the implementation defines limits. The protocol especially does not define the implementation of other layers built alongside it, so this is a straw man. If your argument is "any improvement to the current system" "isn't bitcoin" then that's a no true scotsman sort of argument and I don't think it holds much water.

captainmuon 9y ago

What will likely happen is that bitcoin will only be used to transfer large sums between exchanges. Day-to-day payments will be handled off-chain. Another option is to use lighter alt-coins in parallel to bitcoin, again using bitcoin for long-term storage or larger transactions. You are right that the current bitcoin as-is is not suited for many small everyday transactions, as envisioned by many. The transaction rate and fees are just too high. This is actually - besides governmental bans - the one thing I think could take bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general down.