4 ms·

It's certainly slow at 3.3 to 7 transactions per second[1]. I could make a breadboard TTL chip computer that could do more transactions per second than the enti

It's certainly slow at 3.3 to 7 transactions per second[1]. I could make a breadboard TTL chip computer that could do more transactions per second than the entire bitcoin system. Visa does 50,000/second during the Christmas season. When you're 4 orders of magnitude away from the speed you need to be, you can't just tweak it a little to get it where you need to be, you need to start over on your architecture. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem

exdsq 5y ago
Sure, if the entire point of the blockchain was to be a database. But what about it's ability to run applications? I'd consider the idea of a blockchain closer to a computer than a database nowadays.
- ldiracdelta 5y ago
  If the idea is to be a computer.... then I'll still take my breadboard TTL chip computer or a $1, 8-bit PIC MCU. It certainly doesn't work as cash. For digital cash, you would at least need: 1. privacy 2. transaction speed 3. reasonable transaction settle rates of less than 1 minute 4. an easy way to do transactions. They can probably fix 3 and 4, but for privacy (2) bitcoin is a PUBLIC LEDGER by design. Buy a snickers bar -- everyone IN THE WORLD knows. Go to the strip club -- everyone IN THE WORLD knows. You can paper over the problem with "coin tumblers", which is the WORST name for it. Want to look _exactly_ like you're laundering money? Put your bitcoin in a "coin tumbler". For transaction speed, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem If it isn't cash, what is it? "A store of value"? Stores of value normally have _intrinsic_ value. What's the value of gold? Many women want it and many men will do anything up to and including murder to get access to women -- _that's_ a real store of value. What's the value of the US dollar? If a resident of the USA doesn't pay their taxes in it, the government takes away all their property and can put them in jail. -- Personally, I don't disbelieve in cryptocurrency as digital cash, I just disbelieve in bitcoin. Monero and the fork of it by signal known as mobilecoin are heading in the right direction. Privacy by default. Transaction speeds that are within 1-2 orders of magnitude of what is needed. Txn settling rates in the right direction. In the case of mobilecoin, a platform for easy transactions ( the signal app ).
carlosrg 5y ago
If Bitcoin did 50,000 transactions/second it would be impossible to keep it decentralized, since the size of the blockchain would be prohibitively large for most people to store/validate locally. So being slow is actually a good thing to keep it away from centralization. Things like Lightning on top of Bitcoin can manage day-to-day micro transactions.

exdsq 5y ago

Sure, if the entire point of the blockchain was to be a database. But what about it's ability to run applications? I'd consider the idea of a blockchain closer to a computer than a database nowadays.

ldiracdelta 5y ago
If the idea is to be a computer.... then I'll still take my breadboard TTL chip computer or a $1, 8-bit PIC MCU. It certainly doesn't work as cash. For digital cash, you would at least need: 1. privacy 2. transaction speed 3. reasonable transaction settle rates of less than 1 minute 4. an easy way to do transactions. They can probably fix 3 and 4, but for privacy (2) bitcoin is a PUBLIC LEDGER by design. Buy a snickers bar -- everyone IN THE WORLD knows. Go to the strip club -- everyone IN THE WORLD knows. You can paper over the problem with "coin tumblers", which is the WORST name for it. Want to look _exactly_ like you're laundering money? Put your bitcoin in a "coin tumbler". For transaction speed, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem If it isn't cash, what is it? "A store of value"? Stores of value normally have _intrinsic_ value. What's the value of gold? Many women want it and many men will do anything up to and including murder to get access to women -- _that's_ a real store of value. What's the value of the US dollar? If a resident of the USA doesn't pay their taxes in it, the government takes away all their property and can put them in jail. -- Personally, I don't disbelieve in cryptocurrency as digital cash, I just disbelieve in bitcoin. Monero and the fork of it by signal known as mobilecoin are heading in the right direction. Privacy by default. Transaction speeds that are within 1-2 orders of magnitude of what is needed. Txn settling rates in the right direction. In the case of mobilecoin, a platform for easy transactions ( the signal app ).

carlosrg 5y ago

If Bitcoin did 50,000 transactions/second it would be impossible to keep it decentralized, since the size of the blockchain would be prohibitively large for most people to store/validate locally. So being slow is actually a good thing to keep it away from centralization. Things like Lightning on top of Bitcoin can manage day-to-day micro transactions.