Is Bitcoin designed to last forever?

[OmegaStarScream]

Bitcoin is getting developed more and more , It takes time but we are getting there so I personally wouldn't be worried about transaction speed etc... we will get to Lightning network , eventually.
the only issue I can think of is the ability to crack the private keys easily If computers keep getting more powerful with time but If the algorithms could be changed , I don't think It's going be a big issue.
I personally like to think that It could survive forever If the development stays active, because with more  altcoins with new features keep popping up , Bitcoin has no chance unless they continue to develop it.

[dunfida]

I dont think allot of people will stay for the rest of their lifes into the bitcoin because one day he will drop down that much and rebuild all of it again so that makes very many people sad.

The bitcoin price is volatile. But as long as it is under good development, the price will rise in the long term.

of course it is volatile because it depends only on people and nothing else and i think it is a really good thing

Its volatile because there are lots of  people who uses it thats why  its  keeps moving its price and thats a normal thing for bitcoin. In fact bitcoin was created  for many reasons it may not last forever but we could somehow assure that it would last for a long time as long there are people who still uses and  buy it.

[haankoammu]

One day all bitcoins will be mined.
That means no transactions will be confirmed anymore.
I think that coins can still be sent, but without the confirmation, I don't think that people will still use it.
So no, I don't think bitcoin will last forever.
Besides, I think that the confirmation times will become so slow that long before the last coin will be mined nobody will use bitcoin anymore.

I don't think this is accurate when you consider the halving time, it would happen eventually but it would take a very very long time with the halving occurring gradually, also BTC is not set in stone, at that time I am sure there would be a solution.

[jayce]

A new technology will change the old one, thats a common thing in this world. Well I think we dont need to worry for now since there is still no other cryptocurrency who really can beat bitcoin.

[Daniel91]

What is designed to last forever?
Technology we have around us now, our buildings and houses, countries, banks, our current money or even this planet earth?
Nothing will last forever.
Realistically, in 100 000 or 1 000 000 years we can't be sure that even Internet will exist.
So, enjoy current ride with Bitcoin and don't think so much about the future.
We can't even predict what will happen tomorrow, in one month or year.
I will be personally very happy if value of Bitcoin increase 10-20 times in  next 5-10 years.
It will be enough for me to get rid of my current job and start enjoying life.
For rest I don't care really (since I can't influence it).

[lienfaye]

Bitcoin will be around for years but it wont last forever as there is no permanent in this world. the important thing is now, many are using it and what matters is the present.

[Red-Apple]

any kind of technology will die some day in the future but that future is not near at all. and also you should know that technologies like bitcoin are always evolving and matching the new world as we move forward so this future is pushed a bit more forward again.

[Tyrantt]

No in my opinion. There are simply too much issues with it at the moment.

For instance, block times are way too long for instant transactions. The blockchain is getting too bloated. It's using up energy inefficiently.
One day, bitcoin will fall.

Maybe but bitcoin is an open source and it can/will be improved in time greatly. But you can never know, bitcoin will probably (surely) outlive you, so for you it will last for ever but I see the bitcoin as a side option in the future, probably will never get into the mainstream or will take pretty long time.

[Foref1982]

Bitcoin is going to facilitate us all for decades from now on wards. It is very difficult to say anything whether it will last forever or there will be some other thing more advanced and usable than blockchain in far future. We can not even imagine how the world will look like after 100 years as science and technology is at full speed even now.

The halving speed is estimated to be 3 years now, maybe more in the moment when I'm writing this post. You don't need 100 years to see the whole computing technology at an unimagineably different level. But bitcoin is a virtual technology that USES computing technology and as a virtual technology, it can adapt to the development of the computing. However, as hard it's to predict the future of computing, it's hard to predict the future of bitcoin, but I think it'll change and - I hope - survive in the end.

[Hugroll]

I guess its designed to stay alive forever because the miner fee is adjustable and that will jsut take over when the block reward becomes too low for the miners. Atleast i hope it stays alive forever.

[coin_gambler]

I don't think that Bitcoin designed to last forever. There are several scenarios in the future, which can spell doom to Bitcoin. For example, if a supercomputer which can crack Bitcoin private keys are invented, then it will become impossible to safely store Bitcoin. Another scenario is the 51% attack. What will happen if someone invents a mining rig, which is 1 million times more efficient than the others?

in my opinion it actually is designed to last forever and it will because bitcoin is a perfect currency

[Yakamoto]

I don't think that Bitcoin designed to last forever. There are several scenarios in the future, which can spell doom to Bitcoin. For example, if a supercomputer which can crack Bitcoin private keys are invented, then it will become impossible to safely store Bitcoin. Another scenario is the 51% attack. What will happen if someone invents a mining rig, which is 1 million times more efficient than the others?

in my opinion it actually is designed to last forever and it will because bitcoin is a perfect currency

Bitcoin was designed to last forever, however it is far from being a perfect currency. While there are a ton of great things about the Bitcoin protocol that can be applied to other currencies (or just overall for that matter), the confirmation times take too long and there is always the risk of someone controlling the blockchain.

Solve the confirmation length, get faster wallet syncing and get rid of the potential for someone to control the network with 50%+1 of the network, and you will have basically the perfect currency.

[boyptc]

I guess its designed to stay alive forever because the miner fee is adjustable and that will jsut take over when the block reward becomes too low for the miners. Atleast i hope it stays alive forever.

I guess so too, because as long as there are users all over the world it is going to remain alive. And the designed of having 21,000,000 in the circulation once was this already reached. For sure the cycle is just going to keep on working and moving because that is going to make the price of bitcoin unstable and fluctuating.

[Hazir]

I want to clear some misconception here - please don't use term 'forever' most people by forever means a lifetime of a man - which is totally inappropriate use for this word.

And now stop and ponder for moment about human inventions and development of our tech. Have you seen atomic shelters from cold war era? With big computers with processing power lesser that current watches?

Do you see how Moore's law is affecting our progress? And now apply all this to bitcoin - it might last for 10, 20, 100 years - who knows. But I am sure that in the future something else will take its place.

[mamichula]

It might be over a hundred years from now, but I assume it will die and something else will take its place. I don't think Satoshi anticipated Alt coins when he created Bitcoin, or even volatility. He was probably thinking of an alternative currency that everyone can use and be happy with, and when the time came people would just continue mining because it's a good currency.

[Foref1982]

I want to clear some misconception here - please don't use term 'forever' most people by forever means a lifetime of a man - which is totally inappropriate use for this word.

And now stop and ponder for moment about human inventions and development of our tech. Have you seen atomic shelters from cold war era? With big computers with processing power lesser that current watches?

Do you see how Moore's law is affecting our progress? And now apply all this to bitcoin - it might last for 10, 20, 100 years - who knows. But I am sure that in the future something else will take its place.

Even if something replaced bitcoin in the future, bitcoin's advantage would be that you could easily exchange it to that new currency. Bitcoin was and is a milestone. The new milestone should keep the advantages of bitcoin so exchanging from bitcoin to the new milestone should be easy, quick and cheap like exchanging between cryptocurrencies.

[calkob]

I've been thinking about it since last night and I couldn't find an answer to myself.
I know that there's a 21 million block cap and we wouldn't actually be here to see that time it comes to that point.
But assuming that we have reached reward era 34, what happens then? Miners wouldn't have any rewards from mining then.

Anyone care to help explain a few things for me?

The fee is ment to be the reward by then.  think about it if it lasts that long and everyone is usuing it the fees will be massive.

[20kevin20]

The creator of Bitcoin has to be very smart. He had to calculate everything with care, predicting the hash speed and the user number and all the others.. It's been 7 years since Bitcoin has been published and we've still got a lot of Bitcoin left to be mined. But the big question is.. When will the mining reach its end and what will happen? What happens when we will reach 21 million Bitcoin mined, will the price go up to millions or even billions?! In four years, the halving will take place again. That means 6.25BTC per block, and by 2024 we will have 2.1275BTC per block. The price HAS to go very fast up until then, because people will have to continue to invest in mining rigs to make profit. And to make profit, you need to earn more than you paid for your mining hardware. It's a very interesting question. It's not going to really last forever, but it will last long for sure.

[greatr]

I dont think allot of people will stay for the rest of their lifes into the bitcoin because one day he will drop down that much and rebuild all of it again so that makes very many people sad.

The bitcoin price is volatile. But as long as it is under good development, the price will rise in the long term.

of course it is volatile because it depends only on people and nothing else and i think it is a really good thing

yeah bitcoin is one of the most volatile cryptocurrencies but it isnt a bad thing because it can make us money

[dharkmadder]

it's designed to last forever for the current system, just hundreds of years or so with the halving taking place every while then it's eventually going to be few satoshi's per block and these satoshi's would have a significant total all value at that time.