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Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#31

Post by snodnipper »

badminton1 wrote: post #16

The idea is that bitcoin is decentralized. But common sense tells you that by having an append only system, eventually you will need a supercomputer to deal with the blockchain. Naturally, the blockchain will have to be hierarchical, or find ways to compact it.

pretty sure there are parallels with DNS. If BTC is the root of trust networks then that is probably enough for one protocol - and good enough to survive.

Root node back others networks (think top level domains and delegated subdomains). IMO, it needs to be _very_ expensive to keep minimal blockchain size and avoid spam.

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#32

Post by freekh »

My view of BTC is as digital gold, in that, it is the standard to which other easier-to-trade (digital or fiat or not) currencies are anchored in (so like gold standard). Ever since I started reading about it, this was how it was sold. The new gold standard. In this regard, high transaction fees/times was expected. POW is a feature, not a bug.

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#34

Post by snodnipper »

moondev wrote: post #30
badminton1 wrote: post #16

The idea is that bitcoin is decentralized. But common sense tells you that by having an append only system, eventually you will need a supercomputer to deal with the blockchain. Naturally, the blockchain will have to be hierarchical, or find ways to compact it.

Dosen't the blockchain already compact? Correct me if i'm wrong but once a block is hashed and confirmed as the most recent block, why would you need to store the previous blocks?

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Full_node

"Full nodes are the most secure way to use Bitcoin, they do not suffer from many attacks that affect lightweight wallets...[a]s explained previously, full nodes enforce the consensus rules no matter what. However, lightweight nodes do not do this."

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#35

Post by MikeTheGreat »

jen729w wrote: post #22
soyboysam wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hn started getting interested in bitcoin the same time as my parents.

Demonstrably incorrect. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=bitcoin+site:news.ycombin...

Sorry to nitpick, but -

Your link shows some early posts on HN about BitCoin

How do you know when his parents got interested in BitCoin?

(Otherwise, how can you demonstrate his statement is incorrect?)

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#36

Post by barnacs »

> How is this expected to work with 7 billion people using it for every tiny financial transaction?

https://lightning.network/

tl;dr: a network of off-chain, transitive payment channels. two on-chain transactions (to fund and settle channel) allow for ~unlimited, ~free, ~instant transactions across a p2p network of nodes off-chain

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#37

Post by snodnipper »

sdwisely wrote: post #28
cwyers wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a thread on the site with the original Bitcoin paper right now. The first sentence of the abstract: > A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. A peer-to-peer network without going through a financial institution. The design was certainly intended to scale up to large numbers of sma…

it would and it will imo. I just don't think bitcoin is it. It has however bootstrapped a few potentials. Until its decided which that might be, bitcoin kinda serves its purpose.

root DNS services do not service _every_ lookup _but_ they back delegated authorities, which does scale. Same for blockchain tech.

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#38

Post by rdiddly »

soyboysam wrote: post #15
coolio2657 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You clearly failed to understand what 'hacker' means in this site's context, which is here a general term for a tech-savvy, overall outside-of-the-box thinker that desires to read a variety of interesting things (and maybe discuss them).

hn started getting interested in bitcoin the same time as my parents.

I stopped mentioning my parents the same time I moved out of my childhood room.

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#39

Post by gt_ »

zhte415 wrote: post #25
badminton1 wrote: post #16

The idea is that bitcoin is decentralized. But common sense tells you that by having an append only system, eventually you will need a supercomputer to deal with the blockchain. Naturally, the blockchain will have to be hierarchical, or find ways to compact it.

Cash is decentralised.

In America, cash production is only legally done by one centralized entity, and it is done by them on a regular basis. As far as I know, this holds true in all developed nations.

Re: Did Bitcoin just prove it can't scale?

#40

Post by foxhedgehog »

jen729w wrote: post #4

IMHO (because to claim to "know" anything about how this is all going to turn out is to be a fraud), Bitcoin is the proof of concept for this whole crypto thing. It was the first. It was the genesis idea. But good lord, do we think it's the actual solution? What would be the odds? I imagine that Bitcoin will play its part as the public face of the blockchain revolution, but something else - or many other somethings -…

I see this as the 1.0 era of blockchain. There may yet be an amazon or a google lurking amidst all of the pets.com ICOs out there. If I had to guess who would survive, I would say SAFE.
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