Published on: 2015-07-25T15:04:41+00:00
Vincent Truong, a member of the bitcoin-dev mailing list, suggests redefining the terminology used in Bitcoin transactions to improve understanding and perception. He proposes replacing "confirmations" with "settlements" to align with finance terminology and convey finality and safety. Truong also recommends using a percentage-based system or "confidence" instead of displaying a meaningless number of confirmations. He emphasizes that wallets send notifications when transactions are first seen, not when they go into a block, highlighting Bitcoin's speed compared to traditional payment methods like Visa.In a 2015 email thread, the question of how to explain to end users that a "validated" transaction can become unspendable by a mined block was raised. This concern relates to potential Finney attacks, where a miner could double-spend a transaction before it gets confirmed on the blockchain. The email emphasizes the importance of educating users about the risks associated with different validation stages and the need for continued development in the Bitcoin ecosystem to enhance security measures against such attacks.Bitcoin transactions are often labeled as "fast," but they are slower than instant Visa transactions. However, wallets send notifications when transactions are first seen, making Bitcoin still very fast. To better align with finance terminology and improve understanding, Truong suggests redefining Bitcoin terminology. The term "confirmations" could be replaced with "settlements" to indicate finality, while a percentage or "confidence" could represent the likelihood of double spending. While Bitcoin transactions may take longer than Visa, misleading language that implies a ten-minute global travel time should be avoided.The Bitcoin community is discussing the misleading nature of terms like "free," "instant," and "zero or low fees" used to describe the cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin transactions are relatively quick, these terms create unrealistic expectations. Irreversible transactions made in a peer-to-peer network do not require proportional fees due to the lack of a central authority verifying transactions. Therefore, while low fees may be acceptable, free and instant transactions are not accurate descriptors for Bitcoin. The Lightning Network is mentioned as a potential solution that could provide free and instant transactions in the future.A pull request has been made to remove misleading phrases from Bitcoin.org, such as "zero or low fees," "fast international payments," and "instant peer-to-peer transactions." Some users argue that this change breaks the social contract of what Bitcoin is intended to be, while others believe it should reflect the current system rather than past or future possibilities. The concept of free transactions does not align with the current system, making it misleading to advertise Bitcoin as such. This change has sparked discussions on platforms like Reddit, and its implementation and impact on user perception remain to be seen.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T14:36:05.211867+00:00