Author: Pieter Wuille 2015-08-10 22:52:23
Published on: 2015-08-10T22:52:23+00:00
In a forum discussion, Thomas Zander raised the issue of concert-goers waiting for shuttles or taxis to get back into town after an event. He compared this situation to Bitcoin transactions that require a fee to be confirmed in the blockchain. However, another participant argued against this analogy, saying that taxi drivers cannot pick higher-paying customers in advance, unlike Bitcoin fees that offer higher priority for those who pay more. The participant then suggested that Uber would be a better comparison as they charge more in high-demand areas and allow customers to accept or refuse these rates in advance. The discussion then moved on to the issue of transaction reliability in regards to fees. Pieter, another participant, explained that whether confirmation at a particular price point is reliable depends on how much demand there is at that point. If there are less than 2500 transactions per hour that pay at least 0.001 BTC in fee, then any transaction which pays more than 0.001 BTC will have a high chance of getting in a small multiple of one hour. However, if there are 5000 transactions per hour that pay less, then they need to compete for the remaining space and their confirmation will be unreliable. He emphasized the need for an ecosystem that accepts that there is never a guarantee for reliability unless one is willing to pay more than everyone else.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T21:22:16.864096+00:00