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But transfering bitcoin is not instant and not free is it? Please correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I understood you will have to wait for your transaction

by gnyman 13y ago

But transfering bitcoin is not instant and not free is it? Please correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I understood you will have to wait for your transaction to be included in a (few steps of the?) chain, and unless you pay a fee you might not get included for a while? And is there not possible that in the future, if the amount of transaction increase as bitcoin becomes more popular, and the money you get from mining goes to zero, that transactions with fees will be the only ones accepted (at a reasonable rate)?

clarkmoody 13y ago
The transaction is propagated through the network in a few seconds. The bitcoin wallet will allow you to spend the funds received, even if they are not confirmed by the network[1]. You simply add the risk of a double-spend attack against your balance, if an attacker also sent coins to someone else. It is up to miner discretion which transactions to include in blocks. If the fee included is zero, then many miners will pass on your transaction, and it may take longer to confirm the original transaction. [1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/3288#issuecomment-28923237 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/3288#issuecomment-...
scott_karana 13y ago
> But transfering bitcoin is not instant and not free is it? Please correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I understood you will have to wait for your transaction to be included in a (few steps of the?) chain, and unless you pay a fee you might not get included for a while? Well, it's free to the transferers, because new coins are issued for work performed, and likewise, the new bitcoin compensates and incentivizes the efforts of the blockchain verification, so that balance should be even as well. Sounds zero-sum to me. > And is there not possible that in the future, if the amount of transaction increase as bitcoin becomes more popular, and the money you get from mining goes to zero, that transactions with fees will be the only ones accepted (at a reasonable rate)? Yes, this is an ongoing potential problem with bitcoin: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will-transaction-fees-eventually-be/895#895 http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will...

by gnyman 13y ago

clarkmoody 13y ago

The transaction is propagated through the network in a few seconds. The bitcoin wallet will allow you to spend the funds received, even if they are not confirmed by the network[1]. You simply add the risk of a double-spend attack against your balance, if an attacker also sent coins to someone else. It is up to miner discretion which transactions to include in blocks. If the fee included is zero, then many miners will pass on your transaction, and it may take longer to confirm the original transaction. [1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/3288#issuecomment-28923237 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/3288#issuecomment-...

scott_karana 13y ago

> But transfering bitcoin is not instant and not free is it? Please correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I understood you will have to wait for your transaction to be included in a (few steps of the?) chain, and unless you pay a fee you might not get included for a while? Well, it's free to the transferers, because new coins are issued for work performed, and likewise, the new bitcoin compensates and incentivizes the efforts of the blockchain verification, so that balance should be even as well. Sounds zero-sum to me. > And is there not possible that in the future, if the amount of transaction increase as bitcoin becomes more popular, and the money you get from mining goes to zero, that transactions with fees will be the only ones accepted (at a reasonable rate)? Yes, this is an ongoing potential problem with bitcoin: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will-transaction-fees-eventually-be/895#895 http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will...