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0 pointsAmincd14y ago0 comments

He's studying the protocol yet doesn't know when generation ends or that each coin can be divided down to the eight decimal place. It doesn't give me confidence he has done a thorough job.

The author also writes:

-- Due to the cryptographic nature of transactions, it's simply not possible to have realtime transactions with bitcoin as the network scales (it already take 5-10 mins on average for the network to see a single transaction). --

When transactions were never meant to be real-time.

The only criticism that is valid IMO is this:

-- Having the ability to upgrade algos is really, really important IMO. As it stands, the entire bitcoin economy would go to zero, nearly instantaneously, if SHA-256 is broken. There MUST be a way for the network stay ahead of crypto changes and improve security over time. Rotation of currency, as in the real world, must be designed in. --

But he offers no means of doing this while maintaining a decentralized network.

0 comments

antiscam14y ago

I think you've misunderstood his focus. He's describing the network protocol, not the overall "Bitcoin system" that's sometimes called the "Bitcoin protocol." He explicitly points out that the economic details are beyond the scope of his argument.

You could tie an upgrade of the protocol to a consensus by a majority (or perhaps supermajority, if you're clever) of mining strength. Or you could try to give up the total decentralization of Bitcoin, given that it's an illusion anyway and the source of most of the expense, security problems, and unwieldiness that will come to haunt the protocol.

AmincdOP14y ago

That's a good point, but if he studied the protocol, he should still know when bitcoins stop being generated and how divisible they are.

---You could tie an upgrade of the protocol to a consensus by a majority (or perhaps supermajority, if you're clever) of mining strength.---

The problem then would be that a >50% attack could overtake the entire network by inserting malicious code in the upgrade.

As it is now, the damage that a >50% attack could do is somewhat limited as long as it doesn't persist for too long.

---Or you could try to give up the total decentralization of Bitcoin, given that it's an illusion anyway and the source of most of the expense, security problems, and unwieldiness that will come to haunt the protocol.---

Decentralization is the only way a program that would be as targeted by law enforcement as bitcoin can survive.

antiscam14y ago

Bitcoin's not at all resilient in the face of an attack by a government.

You're right about limiting damage from a 50% attack, however. Of course, you could agree in advance on an amount of time the majority of hashing power would have to assert that an upgrade was needed, but it's possible that would raise other problems. It may be that there's no good way to handle upgrades without an out-of-band mechanism, but if so, that counts as a strike against Bitcoin, not one in its favor.

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0 pointsAmincd14y ago0 comments

He's studying the protocol yet doesn't know when generation ends or that each coin can be divided down to the eight decimal place. It doesn't give me confidence he has done a thorough job.

The author also writes:

When transactions were never meant to be real-time.

The only criticism that is valid IMO is this:

But he offers no means of doing this while maintaining a decentralized network.

0 comments

antiscam14y ago

AmincdOP14y ago

That's a good point, but if he studied the protocol, he should still know when bitcoins stop being generated and how divisible they are.

---You could tie an upgrade of the protocol to a consensus by a majority (or perhaps supermajority, if you're clever) of mining strength.---

The problem then would be that a >50% attack could overtake the entire network by inserting malicious code in the upgrade.

As it is now, the damage that a >50% attack could do is somewhat limited as long as it doesn't persist for too long.

Decentralization is the only way a program that would be as targeted by law enforcement as bitcoin can survive.

antiscam14y ago

Bitcoin's not at all resilient in the face of an attack by a government.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse