Author: Elliot Olds 2015-08-12 03:35:43
Published on: 2015-08-12T03:35:43+00:00
The discussion is about the reliability of Bitcoin as a payment mechanism. Pieter Wuille argues that if something is less expensive, it is harder to be reliable and therefore less useful for payment mechanisms. However, this statement only applies to a specific use case. For any given use case, it will be more reliable with a larger block size. The reliability of a use case is determined by the fees people are willing to pay, not the actual fees paid. Larger block sizes increase reliability for any given use case because it ensures that a user will never be priced out of blocks by a use case that is only willing to pay lower fees than them. Additionally, if a use case is willing to pay higher fees, they are stepping ahead of the user in line for block space, which pushes the user closer to the edge of not being included in blocks. Therefore, the more space that exists between the user's use case and the marginal use cases, the less vulnerable they are to getting pushed out of blocks by new use cases. An example is provided to clarify this point. In conclusion, the best chance for a service to remain viable is with larger blocks.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T18:34:48.068951+00:00