Just bought an AK-47!!

Has anybody ever considered some clever way for the protocol to reward those running the full client? Maybe this what "minting" is all about in Peercoin. I don't think it is, because as I understand it, minting just pays interest on coins you already have. What I mean is some kind of consolation prize for those of us who support the network for free.

Maybe the reward grows with the blockchain size. Then the blockchain size is no longer an ugly wart but a source of BTCBTC

I don't know where the coins would come from. Maybe a percentage of new coins mined, a percentage of transaction fees, an additional transaction fee, donations, something else?

This has probably already been discussed but I didn't see it.

Thanks. I am glad though that you pointed out an address is not a public key. I think it is a common confusion and I should have mentioned it.

The main thing I can see wrong with my analogy is that the "vault" does not actually contain money since nobody actually "has" Bitcoins. They just have the secret code needed to send from an entry in the public ledger. The analogy falsely implies that your "vault", or wallet as it might be interpreted, contains coins, when in reality it just contains the private key necessary to update the ledger.

I know you know that because I read a lot of your posts and have learned much from you! I only write this for the benefit of others who might know these things.

Right. And the private key is not the combination to the lock on a vault. As I said it is a stupid oversimplification. Since the address is based on the public key, I stand by my "Bitcoin For Dummies in 100 Words Or Less" 

Imagine a whole bunch of uniquely numbered vaults with a slot that anybody can drop money in. The vaults are clear so you can see how much money is in them but the only way to get the money out is by knowing the combination to it's lock. The public key is the number of the vault and the private key is the combination for it's lock.

That is a stupid oversimplification but it is the way I think about it.

If they read that far and still don't get that it is a joke then they are already lost. The Ponzi Scheme was pretty funny too. I just love uncyclopedia :-)

-1

It's a joke people. Maybe not funny to you, everyone has their own sense of humor, but I didn't expect anybody to think it was serious. Miners are trying to fill in missing pixels in a booby picture? Really...

This article was written a long time ago, back when Bitcoins were trading for $10.00. Nevertheless it is a really good one that even your grandmother could understand.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Bitcoin

The blockchain will be terrabytes and terrabytes

What if the transaction volume is 100 or 1000 times greater in five years than it is now?

And this is the problem. Eventually nobody except large centralized servers will store the blockchain. This will lead to issues with security if the owners of those large centralized servers experience "issues" like MtGox did.

I think you are absolutely correct. The size of the blockchain is the most significant obstacle preventing Bitcoin from going mainstream. Cryptocurrency is the future. Bitcoin is not it, IMO.

Does anyone feel sorry for or have any sympathy for Mark? He is in such a difficult and stressful situation.

Nope. It's all true. I read it on the Internet. But seriously... who knows for sure outside of MtGox.... I have heard differing estimates on the number of coins missing. I don't buy the stolen through malleability excuse. Lost due to fucked up programming and business process is the most realistic explanation. So what do you think happened? Stolen?

Faulty software in MtGox's custom cold storage has resulted in 1.75 million inaccessible coins. Probably they will never be recovered but people are working very hard on this. This one of the reasons you will see the price surge. Of course, if the lost coins are recovered, that will cause a correction.

I don't speak German but google does http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.bitcoin.de%2Fthreads%2F2921-Bitcoin-als-Papiergeld

When there was a USD crisis they just printed some more. Can't Bitcoin just do the same?  

The same has been said about paper http://ledracapital.com/blog/2014/2/17/bitcoin-series-19-bizarre-shadowy-paper-based-payment-system-being-rolled-out-worldwide

When the price gets back above 1,200 and continues towards $10,000, they will stop laughing. But then when it "crashes" to only $6,000 they will laugh once again.