Transactions average 1.4 seconds from anywhere to anywhere.  Transaction clearing is what blocks are doing.  Transaction clearance for credit cards take between 30 and 45 days.


Yes he did.  He chose the 10 minute interval because it was a long enough period to prevent orphaned blocks, most of the time, due to more than one node discovering a block solution within the time period it takes to propagate a block from one edge of the network to the other.  He was assuming that, in a future that Bitcoin was wildly successful, blocks would be very large data sets and the p2p network would be very large; both contributing to network delays that might extend the time for a block to propogate from edge to edge for up to a whole minute.  Therefore, in order to limit the risk of orphaned blocks (and the blockchain splits that often accompany them) the target interval had to be several times longer than the worst case scenario for block propogation delays.  He also wanted the interval to fit neatly into human time cycles for our mental convience.  He could have done a 6 min block interval, for 10 per hour, but he was concerned that wouldn't be enough.  His fears seem correct, because even with the 10 minute interval we average about 1.5% of blocks released onto the network are orphaned.  A 6 minute interval would make that much worse, and 2 minute interval would make that rate simply awful.

You didn't bother to read the links, did you?

This method of organizing societies is called a "phyle" and was well described in a science fiction book I read years ago called "The Diamond Age".

Just stupid.

Well, I asked about the decimal point, because Bitcoin technically doesn't even have one.  Satoshi decided to have the client display the wallet's total value to the user, with a decimal point exactly in the middle of the 64 bit integer (32 bits to the left, 32 bits to the right) but in the protocol all value is in satoshis.  Hindsight being 20/20, there is much merit in not matching that decision.  Perhaps having a coinbase reward that starts with 1776 of the atomic unit, and having the client display the decimal point to the hundredths, is a fair idea regarding a cryptocurrency that is designed without a maximum monetary base limit like Bitcoin.  This would grant much room for growth in the issued currency before the overflow of the value variable became a threat, as it would take centuries with a 64 bit integer.

That's 3 minutes of my lifespan I can never get back.

In practice, yes.  But only because common clients would have to be aware of colored coins that end up in their wallet, so that they didn't arbitrarily send them out in payment for a candy bar.  As I understand it, however, the colored coins proposal would require an external database to manage the titles & ties to particular coins.

Looking at BitcoinWatch.com and Bitcoinaverage.com regularly since the collapse of MtGox, I've come to question whether or not their reported trade volume was even real towards the end, or if they had done something underhanded to prop up their status as the 'premier' bitcoin currency exchange.  If so, for how long has this been going on?  I have long suspected that the role of speculation within the bitcoin economy isn't nearly as significant as it appeared, but now I suspect that it wasn't even real for some time.

Perhaps we can improve the security of an android based client by requiring the presence of an external device.  For example, a simple hardware wallet that keeps only the private keys, and communicates with the phone wallet via bluetooth; so that a thief would have to have both devices and the passcode to the hardware wallet device in order to steal the bitcoins on the phone (assuming the thief is capable of hacking past an android client passcode).  For a little less cost, and a little less security, a simple bluetooth dongle that the android client must ping before signing any transaction would be an improvement.  Particularly if the bluetooth dongle were some small, & unobtrusive device commonly found elsewhere on a user; like a ring or necklace, that a snatch-grab cell phone thief is unlikely to aquire in conjunction with the cell phone.  This still wouldn't protect the user from all threats, such as tire-iron negotiations.

There are some high tech forms of firearms that utilize the latter trick to electronicly identify the owner of the firearm, and prevent firing of the weapon if the identity ring is not within a few feet of the weapon.

So the coinbase reward will halve every four years, but (in effect) double roughly every 27 years?

What is the significance of starting the coinbase at 17.76?  It's obviously not arbitrary.  Also, is your decimal place going to be in the same place that Satoshi placed his?  That was an arbitrary choice on his part, and may not be what you wish to do. 

Upon further reflection (beyond our PM conversation) I think that a 5 day coinbase adjustment period might be too quick because it would significantly increase the odds that a blockchain split & realignment would occur during a coinbase change, and therefore result in greater numbers of orphaned blocks as a consequence of a miner releasing a block with the incorrect coinbase reward.  Furthermore, Bitcoin currently readjusts the difficulty target every 1024 blocks, or roughly every 2 weeks.  Perhaps this point would be a better shortened coinbase cycle as well? 

Very well done.

I've literally done this.  Useful android pohones without services are cheap on ebay, if all you need is to occasionally start up the wifi radio to upgrade or connect.  Getting the wallet app installed without the service (whihcis required for Google Play) is no small feat though.

This is a really old thread.  Strangely, the best ideas here still aren't implimented for most clients.

Documents released by, and interviews with, Ed Snowden strongly imply that Tor and/or VPNs can, in fact, help quite a bit.

I don't think that this is an answerable question.


I know of several off the top of my head, that were not only alluded to in the white paper, but not implimented in a single alt-coin that I've seen yet.



There is no feature, compelling or otherwise, that Bitcoin can't replicate.  The only question is whether or not the userbase considers your 'killer feature' as highly as you do.  If they do, then Bitcoin will steal your idea.  I'm still waiting for your grand announcement, BTW, and I'll be the first to point out if there is prior art within the bitcoin ecosystem.

    

I forgot to mention that the Apache were, once upon a time, a matriarchal society; at least by Zarathustra's definition of same.  (I would consider them to be a decentralized society, without a 'patriarchal' preference)  History doesn't exactly describe the Apache as a peaceful lot.  They gave the Spanish hell for centuries before the Americans entered into their region.

You don't really believe that crap, do you?  Conflict is a natural state of mankind, it's peace that requires the extra effort of education and negotiation; or in other words, civilization.