Keep the blocksize at 1MB but allow dynamic block creation speed >10 minutes

[drawingthesun]

Ok, I am completely out of depth here and I am sure this has been answered before.

Instead of raising the 1MB block limit, why not unlock the 10 minute block creation limit instead?

The block creation limit allows a certain amount of Bitcoins to be "minted", but once the reward starts to become transaction fee dominated, then the time doesn't matter too much right?

Could a algorithm determine when a block is full and then complete the block and allow another new block to begin its creation?

This would allow transaction confirmations to be quicker and people would still pay a higher fee to get into the next block as quickly as possible. There could be a 10 minute max so if mining power is reduced the time goes to max 10 minutes and then the difficulty can adjust down like normal, but when you add mining power the difficulty will rise but the time to mine a block will be based on how full they get and at what speed.

? Ideas, this is just thinking out loud stuff.

[Piper67]

The problem with this is that it would screw up the reward structure. Right now, the computer that solves the block gets a fixed 25 BTC reward, plus whatever transaction fees were included in that block. If you end up with a variable number of blocks per hour, instead of the average 6 or so, you will have wild swings in the rewards. I also suspect it will make difficulty adjustment much more complicated.

[drawingthesun]

The problem with this is that it would screw up the reward structure. Right now, the computer that solves the block gets a fixed 25 BTC reward, plus whatever transaction fees were included in that block. If you end up with a variable number of blocks per hour, instead of the average 6 or so, you will have wild swings in the rewards. I also suspect it will make difficulty adjustment much more complicated.

This is true about the Bitcoins minted, but in looking ahead to a time where just the transactions are paying the bills, do you think this could work? Maybe a lower limit of maybe a minute and then the difficulty gets harder?

[Piper67]

The problem with this is that it would screw up the reward structure. Right now, the computer that solves the block gets a fixed 25 BTC reward, plus whatever transaction fees were included in that block. If you end up with a variable number of blocks per hour, instead of the average 6 or so, you will have wild swings in the rewards. I also suspect it will make difficulty adjustment much more complicated.

This is true about the Bitcoins minted, but in looking ahead to a time where just the transactions are paying the bills, do you think this could work? Maybe a lower limit of maybe a minute and then the difficulty gets harder?

Not sure, and also not sure if I'll be around to see it (last BTC is supposed to be mined in 2040, I think). But I am sure there will be heated debated with well supported arguments on both sides... 

[drawingthesun]

Not sure, and also not sure if I'll be around to see it (last BTC is supposed to be mined in 2040, I think). But I am sure there will be heated debated with well supported arguments on both sides... 

I think its actually the year 2140! However the vast majority will be minted in the next 10-20 years.

[tacotime]

The small block size is actually kind of nice for miners, since it forces clients to include bigger fees if they want their transactions to go through in a timely manner.  I'm not hugely opposed to it right now, the problem is moreso the SD spam that's been plaguing the network.

[Killdozer]

This is much harder to do architecturally, and still requires a hard fork, exactly like the rising the block size limit.