Bitcoin Forum

Sorry if it's already been discussed, but I couldn't find any source regarding this issue.

How would it be if the spam transactions are prevented not by transaction fees but by a method like Hashcash's e-mail spam prevention? Then the transaction fees may be set to zero. Isn't it possible?

Why don't we just track the fuckers down with Roger Ver's new system and then just beat the holy shit out of them until they can no longer operate a computer?

The problem (and also the problem with using Hashcash for email spam) is that attackers are always willing to invest more on dishonest behaviour than honest users are willing to invest on honest behaviour. They can buy dedicated hardware, use botnets, etc., meanwhile honest users will be trying to build transactions on slow devices with low battery capacity.

Also, unlike email "spam" in Bitcoin can be produced by honest users simply because there are so many of them relative to the limited blocksize. So for a hashcash-like system to actually filter transactions to the degree necessary, it would need to be turned up so high that users could not do the computation on their own devices. So then they'd pay some third party and you're back to the fee situation, except now the people choosing the transactions aren't the ones receiving the fees, so you have an incentive mismatch.

Please take this garbage elsewhere.

I see that. Thank you, andytoshi.