Fastcoin: a hypothetical hyperinflationary coin with fast transaction speed

[LurbQBurdock]

The way I understand it, miners add transactions to the blockchain in exchange for a fee and for newly minted coins.  The rate of newly minted coins was determined by the early adopters of bitcoin and cannot be changed unless 51% of the miners decide to fork the blockchain.

If this is correct, then in theory, a cryptocurrency can be made with the inflation rate determined by the number of transactions included in a new block.  If many people adopted this currency, it would achieve transaction speeds far greater than any other cryptocurrency.

I believe that such a currency, made for fast trading rather than holding value, could be a good complement to Bitcoin.  It isn't feasible to buy a cup of coffee with bitcoin and wait see to confirmations of the transaction before you drink the coffee -- however, this would be entirely possible with Fastcoin.

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[Rodyland]

The way I understand it, miners add transactions to the blockchain in exchange for a fee and for newly minted coins.  The rate of newly minted coins was determined by the early adopters of bitcoin and cannot be changed unless 51% of the miners decide to fork the blockchain.

If this is correct, then in theory, a cryptocurrency can be made with the inflation rate determined by the number of transactions included in a new block.  If many people adopted this currency, it would achieve transaction speeds far greater than any other cryptocurrency.

I believe that such a currency, made for fast trading rather than holding value, could be a good complement to Bitcoin.  It isn't feasible to buy a cup of coffee with bitcoin and wait see to confirmations of the transaction before you drink the coffee -- however, this would be entirely possible with Fastcoin.

One of the problems with quick blocks is more chances of forks and orphaned blocks.  The quicker the blocks are discovered, the more chances there are for parts of the network to be out of sync with other parts of the network.

[LurbQBurdock]

Rather than quick blocks, can't we have large blocks?

What is the main limitation on confirmation speed?

[chriswen]

That's the thing.  Faster block speeds might means that each block gives less security and you'll need more confirmations.

[dree12]

That's the thing.  Faster block speeds might means that each block gives less security and you'll need more confirmations.

It also means that these orphans are resolved quicker. Instead of 6 confirmations, you might want 7, which at a block per minute is still faster than an hour.

[Rodyland]

This obsession with block speed confuses me.  There is nothing wrong with accepting a zero-confirmation transaction after, say, 10 seconds, for a low-value transaction.   This is little different to the amount of time it would take to fish out cash and pocket the change.

And for a large value transaction, I don't think speed is the issue.

[LurbQBurdock]

I agree that speed isn't an issue for large transactions.  However, for small transactions, I still don't want to accept 0 confirmation transactions.  It's super easy to post a fake transaction that will never be confirmed.  I want at least 1 confirmation before I give away any merchandise.

[gmaxwell]

The rate of newly minted coins was determined by the early adopters of bitcoin and cannot be changed unless 51% of the miners decide to fork the blockchain.

The rate was determined by Satoshi prior to the system's release. The rate cannot be increased unless 100% of the post-change surviving users agree to it.  Rules like anti-inflation are imposed by all the users of the system, mining has nothing to do with enforcing it.

[sangaman]

I don't see any problem with 0-confirmation transactions for buying coffee and other relatively inexpensive things in person.