bitcoin wallet intertrading platform

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

In the future, people will carry out transactions primarily via Paypal / Google checkout style services (eg Blockchain.info). The value of bitcoin also is expected to increase, and this will result in transactions becoming smaller. Fees would also be a problem.

There needs to be a platform for trade between the services. For example, someone using Myblock wants to play SatoshiDice for 0.00001 BTC (where in the future that amount is someone's hourly wage), and SatoshiDICE uses the merchant services provided by Crappywallet. Myblock needs to trade with Crappywallet without using the bitcoin network. A platform (basically some APIs) could help with this -

Myblock deposits a bitcoin into the platform. Myblock now has 1 BTC in it.

Myblock uses the API to send 0.00001 BTC to Crappywallet. Crappywallet's balance gets increased.

In the future, trades will probably go back on and forth - the blockchain will be pretty massive, and it'll generally be used for large orders (like buying a car), or platform trades.

[Stephen Gornick]

In the future, trades will probably go back on and forth - the blockchain will be pretty massive,

Not relative to even today's computing, communications and storage capacities -- nonetheless those we'll see in the future.

and it'll generally be used for large orders (like buying a car), or platform trades.

Or a donut, soda or candy bar.

Here's the recently-updated Scalability page on the Bitcoin wiki:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Scalability

Now granted, we aren't there today and could easily run into problems with the current Bitcoin network if SatoshiDICE were to triple its transaction levels.

[killerstorm]

If future we'll also have good pruning, so transactions which do not create new transaction outputs are essentially free in terms of space (in a long term). You still need to verify and send them, but costs of verification and networking will likely be very small.

If there is a need for a lots of small scale transactions, there are approaches like that: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts#Example_7:_Rapidly-adjusted_.28micro.29payments_to_a_pre-determined_party

[davout]

I'm kind of agreeing with OP, this has been in discussion for a long long time. See the whole account hubs discussion that took place ages ago.

and it'll generally be used for large orders (like buying a car), or platform trades.

Or a donut, soda or candy bar.

It isn't about whether we can, it's about whether we should, what's more efficient in economical terms, what's simpler for the mass, what gives the merchant a contractual guarantee to get paid.

Yes, technically we all agree that it is possible, that the network can or will be able to take it, but that's not necessarily what makes the most sense.

I have no crystall ball but I'm pretty sure that in the future a good share of the actual payments and transactions won't ever hit the blockchain.

[BlackHeartFund]

I am missing something here... why not just use bitcoin addresses?