Bitcoin is decentralized which provides it both safety, security and performance.

However Bitcoin is pretty simple. My question is: Could a programming language be created that is completely decentralized?

Necessary characteristics:
1. Each node must be unable to access at least some critical data.
2. Each nodes individual instruction execution must be verified to be correct as defined by the language.
3. Protocol enforcement must either be maintained cryptographically or via strong incentives - such as "program-runtime-points" for instance.

We know bitcoin is possible. Multi-sig txs are also at least theoretically possible, though I don't know much about it.

To what degree can we take it? My vision is like torrents but with programs.

I'm thinking data protection might be achieved by never executing subsequent instructions on the same node - context information is thus lost.
Maybe all types should be split up too so that one node never has a full variable... basically each node would emulate a small part of a micro processor getting some, but not all bits and would have no idea of what was going on.

Performance is a bitch though.

Bedtime for me I think...

Hey,

would it be possible to edit the source code so that more than 8 outbound connections were allowed?

(See this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=41726.msg507980#msg507980)

Could anyone point me to the part of the source code I need to edit?

I think this should be standard, at least until you have the block chain - this will decrease the annoyance experienced by new users.
(or people like me with multiple computers)

I don't want to trust an online wallet.

Is there any selfish thin clients out yet? Something I could easily put on new computers?

Lets say you are a bank and the world runs on BTC.

Could you loan out money? Could you even operate?

I'm thinking "no". Everyone would essentially hold their own wallet which they would use even if they had a little in a bank for spending.

This basically means all banks would at all times face a "bank run"-scenario.

Pause for a moment and consider the vastness of this; not only could BTC kill off MasterCard, Visa, WU and Paypal - it could kill off ALL banks.

Since BTC makes money very "real" and finite it is either spent or not spent. The closest to a bank you could run would be an investment firm.

You would have to provide yields above the rate of BTC deflation (I'm guessing 2-6% akin to gold after the adoption period) though.

You could also loan money against collateral - however you could only do so ONCE. Money is no longer just circling around bank databases so you can't loan out the same money 5-10 times as is done today.

However all core bank functions; card payment, ATMs, accounts and transfers would become irrelevant with BTC:

Selfish clients at retailers accept pure BTC cards, ATMs are not necessary as BTC payments can be made even with simple phones, wallets are the new accounts and transfers are as easy and cheap as email.


I'm sure the free market will still make mistakes, but in a BTC future they might well be smaller and much less catastrophic than today.

Obviously along with the anonymity this means BTC could change the entire world structure and I don't think many people fully realize this.
What are your thoughts on this hypothesis?


If I am right and bitcoin does not fail somehow - what will happen when the big banks discover this? Death penalties for any merchants revealed to be accepting BTC?

Will the most productive parts of the economy be using BTC slowly leaving the US, Greece and such behind?

I'm thinking only partially here, it cannot be denied that these places have workforce and natural resources and that BTC trade could to some extent be suppressed locally.

On the other hand it would be easy to hide on the internet even in the US and convert $ to BTC and back - essentially leading to de facto mass abandonment of the $ and thus rapid $ inflation as the market realizes no one wants to hold it and that everyone has the means to achieve just that.