[2016-02-29] Bitcoin’s ‘New Normal’ Is Slow and Frustrating

[crossabdd]

On Monday, bitcoin users were up in arms about their transactions taking a long time to be processed by the network, potentially foreshadowing dark, deeply annoying times for the cryptocurrency.

In the past, network slowdowns were the work of hackers or other malicious actors. But this time, the reason for the frustration appears to be much more unsettling and banal. In the absence of any obvious spam transactions or attackers claiming responsibility, some users complained that the bitcoin network is slowing down simply because people are using it the way it’s meant to be used.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/bitcoin-new-normal-slow-confirmation-block-size-debate

[aso118]

On Monday, bitcoin users were up in arms about their transactions taking a long time to be processed by the network, potentially foreshadowing dark, deeply annoying times for the cryptocurrency.

In the past, network slowdowns were the work of hackers or other malicious actors. But this time, the reason for the frustration appears to be much more unsettling and banal. In the absence of any obvious spam transactions or attackers claiming responsibility, some users complained that the bitcoin network is slowing down simply because people are using it the way it’s meant to be used.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/bitcoin-new-normal-slow-confirmation-block-size-debate

If this situation persists, it is only going to result in consensus for a higher block size (maybe 2 MB).
It might not be such a bad thing after all.