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A comment on Bitcoin and the Byzantine Generals Problem. Parent comment

Re:Bitcoin and the Byzantine Generals Problem by jackgavigan on Monday December 16, 2013 @06:34AM (#6914118)
Bitcoin payment fees may be close to zero at the moment but that's only because miners get paid with newly-minted bitcoins.

As I write this, there are 12,130,075 bitcoins in existence[1]. Over the coming year, approximately 1,314,000 bitcoins will be "minted" (25 new bitcoins every ten minutes). If Bitcoin were a real currency, that would equate to an inflation rate in excess of 10%. So, in effect, every bitcoin owner would be paying 10% of their Bitcoin wealth for "free" payments, whether or not they actually make/receive any payments or not.

[1]: http://blockexplorer.com/q/totalbc

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Re:Bitcoin and the Byzantine Generals Problem by Gurkenglas on Monday December 16, 2013 @07:15AM (#6914275)
1. Those 10% are per year, not per transaction. 2. This kind of inflation is one of many factors that is already incorporated into the market value of Bitcoins.
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