Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early adopters

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by jstanley on Thursday July 13, 2017 @05:21PM (#14765354)

> doing useless computations at the cost of enormous electricity.

The "cost of enormous electricity" is important - this is proportional to the amount it will cost to reverse transactions or double spend.

> It seems we'll replace bankers and oil millionaires with miners and early adopters... and the average Joe is where it was always.

Miners and early adopters don't get to create coins out of thin air. That's the key difference.

EDIT: And furthermore, there's absolutely nothing stopping the "Average Joe" from becoming an early adopter. Bitcoin is open to everyone.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by tboyd47 on Thursday July 13, 2017 @05:41PM (#14765520)

Or, technically, they do, but only according to a predetermined schedule.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by jstanley on Thursday July 13, 2017 @05:45PM (#14765553)

Sure, but not for free :). Having social status as a "miner" doesn't grant you any privileges.

Expending time, effort, and money on mining gives you a chance of mining blocks.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by omarchowdhury on Thursday July 13, 2017 @07:10PM (#14766082)

There was a point made that 4 groups of mining pools can perform a 51% attack if they were orchestrated. That's not really decentralization is it if such a thing is possible already?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by Frogolocalypse on Friday July 14, 2017 @02:56AM (#14768066)

Nodes control consensus in bitcoin. If miners attempt to circumvent the will of the users, the Proof-of-work algorithm can be changed, making useless all of the miner hardware. They know this, which is why they can't force the issue.

Decentralization of mining is an issue, but decentralization of nodes is a far more important thing to maintain.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by jstanley on Friday July 14, 2017 @02:54AM (#14768059)

People often make observations like this, about lots of things. "It's not 100% perfect so what's the point?".

The point is it's closer to 100% perfect than any other system we have. Incremental improvements are still improvements even if they aren't all things to all men.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by Nursie on Friday July 14, 2017 @03:26AM (#14768170)

Many see it as a step backwards, not closer to perfect. Irreversible transactions with huge associated energy costs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by omarchowdhury on Friday July 14, 2017 @04:06PM (#14772745)

I never said, "what's the point?" I asked, is it really decentralization?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin study: Period of exclusivity encourages early ado... by jstanley on Sunday July 16, 2017 @07:27AM (#14781555)

Decentralisation isn't black and white, it's all relative. Bitcoin is more decentralised than fiat currencies and traditional banking. Isn't that obvious?

[ Parent | on HN ]