Proof of Existence: Storing Hashed Files in the Bitcoin Block Chain

Post by anon_java_hater » Fri, Nov 29, 2013, 6:15 PM UTC

jawr wrote: post #9

Patient0 wrote: post #5

"This is why the bitcoins sent in this special transaction are unspendable, as the addresses are being generated from the document's hash fragments instead of from a private ECDSA key." I hadn't realised before that this means that you can provably "destroy" bitcoins. That is, you can "prove" that a certain bitcoin amount will never be spent again by anyone including yourself...

Yeah, the fact that bitcoins can be permanently destroyed is a little bit worrying, one of BTC's benefits is it's cap. What's the economical consequences of these coins being destroyed?

Post by drakaal » Fri, Nov 29, 2013, 6:54 PM UTC

drakaal wrote: post #36

alexwright wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin doesn't work by passing tokens around to represent the value. In a Bitcoin spend the value is simply added to the wallet/address's balance. Any further spend is deducted from the wallets balance. The "coin" is not a single token that lives on and is broken apart to be spent, so there's no way a coin could self destruct after being transferred.

You keep telling yourself that. I understand fractional coins. I was over simplifying for brevity. I'll give you a hint. You have to move the coins between two wallets you own before you create a coin that will "break" when it goes in to the third's wallet. The Third wallet accepts a coin that no one will take afterwards. The coin becomes undependable.