> It's supposed to be a limit function, right? Payout will be ever-decreasing, and difficulty will adjust to keep mining modestly profitable forever. This onl

> It's supposed to be a limit function, right? Payout will be ever-decreasing, and difficulty will adjust to keep mining modestly profitable forever. This only works as long as bitcoin climbs in value vs the rest of the world, no? Wouldn't a long period of price stability break this down? > What I wonder about is the size of the blockchain. Bitcoin is young and fringe, and the blockchain is already several gigabytes. What happens when everyone and their brother uses Bitcoin, every day? How large will a few decades of frequent, widespread global usage make the blockchain? My theory is that it will force Bitcoin to slowly re-centralize, with people who provide web interfaces to wallets shouldering the majority of the burden.