Author: Will Madden 2015-08-21 18:07:56
Published on: 2015-08-21T18:07:56+00:00
The conversation is about the block size of Bitcoin and how it affects the number of active users. The writer argues that capping the block size at 1MB restricts the number of users who can access bitcoin and directly cuts demand, which kills the price and mining, ultimately leading to the fall of Rome. They believe that the number of shareholders is determined by many parameters, mainly by the decreasing-supply algorithm, which was chosen because it approximates the rate at which commodities like gold are mined. However, the algorithm makes it hard to believe that the blockchain will ever reach mass adoption since only a few people own Bitcoins. The other person in the conversation disagrees with the writer's opinion and thinks that a relative tight block size could not harm Bitcoin middle-term. Only experienced users "penetrate" the blockchain directly, and they know what they are doing and deal with problems. The writer finds this idea insane and believes that capping the block size at 1MB does not just cause fees to rise but also caps transactions that can be performed. This means that the number of users who can access bitcoin is limited, demand is cut, and the price is hurt. The writer uses the example of TCP/IP, which was declared as a standard by the US Military in 1982 and became a public standard in 1985. Normal people didn't start using TCP/IP until much later when Mark Andreessen created the Mosaic internet browser, the precursor to Netscape. It was released in 1993, and widespread use didn't kick in until the second half of that decade. The reference bitcoin client was released in January 2009, so it's basically 1988 for bitcoin, if we use the internet as a proxy. The telephone even took 50 years to become widespread.In summary, the conversation is about the implications of capping the block size of Bitcoin at 1MB. The writer believes that it restricts the number of active users and ultimately leads to the fall of Rome. The other person in the conversation disagrees with this opinion and thinks that a relative tight block size could not harm Bitcoin middle-term.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T20:27:10.987970+00:00