Been hodling and lurking in this sub since 2013. I'm a bitcoin maximalist. I only own bitcoin and fiat, no shitcoins. I'm against big blocks. Created this account just for this question/issue/concern.
I'm against bigger blocks because that is not a real solution to scaling (just 2x or 32x) and it harms decentralization. I foresee bitcoin being a settlement layer and not for everyday transactions. It makes no sense for your purchase of coffee to be broadcast around the world and recorded on tens of thousands of computers for all eternity.
I've been trying to envision what the world could eventually look like post-hyperbitcoinization. Let's assume bitcoin is the only form of money used on Earth due to it being superior to all other forms and the network effect. With the block size as it is, the bitcoin network can process at most about 500,000 transactions a day. If there are 8 billion people on Earth, then the average person will have an on-chain transaction about every 44 years, so at best about twice in their lives.
Obviously second-layer transactions are the solution here, but they still depend on the base layer. Each payment channel for lightning requires an opening transaction at the very least. Lightning requires eventual settlement as well, another transaction. Perhaps there will need to eventually be custodial bitcoin banks to move more transactions off-chain, but how could we keep them honest without the threat of a bank run which foreseeably would be impossible for the average person given that the average person would have two on-chain transactions in his life.
The fatal flaw of gold was that it was impractical for small purchases since it is so valuable per unit weight. This necessitated the creation of banks and gold-backed substitutes from banks. However that in turn created centralization and then government control with gold-backed national currency and then, when no one was looking, pure fiat currency divorced from gold. Can we avoid this outcome eventually occurring with bitcoin as well given that the average person in the future gets two on-chain transactions in his life?
I posted this before (https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/bhgh9m/what_could_the_longterm_future_look_like/), but for some reason it did not show up, so I have posted it again.
[link] [comments]
from Bitcoin - The Currency of the Internet http://bit.ly/2L4geZQ
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