Author: Tom Harding 2014-04-23 22:29:33
Published on: 2014-04-23T22:29:33+00:00
In an email exchange between Matt Whitlock and Tom Harding, the latter suggests that a network in which transaction submitters consider their transactions to be unchangeable upon transmission and whose goal is to confirm only transactions with unseen UTXOs in final transactions' inputs has a chance to work. However, Whitlock argues that miners' primary goal is to maximize profits above all else, and if enabling replace-by-fee would achieve this, then they will do so regardless of the consequences. The rational miner wants to be rewarded for their hard work with something that can be spent like cash on a 1-minute network rather than something spendable on a 15-minute network. There is a prisoner's dilemma involved, but Whitlock questions whether the fees gained from helping people double-spend their coffee supplier outweigh the benefits of ensuring that digital cash functions like traditional cash.
Updated on: 2023-06-08T20:41:07.286550+00:00