The problem of reaching 21 million Bitcoins

[Elwar]

We will reach 21 million bitcoins around 2140.

More than likely by then we will have colonies on Mars.

So the big problem before the need to worry about fees or reaching the maximum amount of bitcoins is.

How do we deal with people on Mars using Bitcoin?


(This question is as legitimately discussed now in 2013 as discussing how to handle mining in 2140.)

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[cbeast]

It's likely you would use the nTimeLock feature to hold funds until they are signed. Mars would probably have their own cryptocurrency backed by Earth-based Bitcoin securities.

[qxzn]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

[zeroday]

Don't forget about quantum communications. Ping=0ms

[str4wm4n]

Don't forget about quantum communications. Ping=0ms

^ this

[herzmeister]

what's wrong about a separate Marscoin?

[shibaji]

Ahhh .. no no - all will be through virtual time warp - you will not be able to distinguish between Mars and Earth establishments - Mt.Gox or alike will have distributed computing, and likely most will get done in Mars.

Oh - and most likely scammers will get transported to Moon.

[hak8or]

Since mars varies in distance to earth wildly, ping times take between 3 to 30 minutes. I would imagine that a connection between earth and mars would be slow compared to what will be available by the time, not to mention it will also be extremely contested and probably expensive to use that link. I think it would make more sense for mars to have a large cache for internet access, much like ISP's do these days, but on a planetary stage. This means that it would also make sense that mars would have its own coin, possibly just a simple fork like what happened a few weeks ago.

[Elwar]

Hmm, I wonder if the new Marscoin can be uploaded to those rovers to get it started so they have a currency when they get there.

[mjc]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

This is considering that we use today's technology.  The technology of the future provides great compression and a gravitational messaging infrastructure which pulls the to endpoints together such that the space left to communicate is a mere meters in distance.  This will allow for faster times than you see using the ancient fiber optics of today.

I don't see where there is a problem. 

The real problem is that the Mars underground civilization uses a similar currency that is used across the Galaxy and we will have to convert it to Bitcoin.  At that point we will need more decimal points to accommodate the large value of a single Bitcoin.

so every should buy a single Bitcoin now and will to the future generations and only allow them to spend it once each Bitcoin exceeds 100 Trillion USD of current value.

[dree12]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

This is considering that we use today's technology.  The technology of the future provides great compression and a gravitational messaging infrastructure which pulls the to endpoints together such that the space left to communicate is a mere meters in distance.  This will allow for faster times than you see using the ancient fiber optics of today.

I don't see where there is a problem. 

The real problem is that the Mars underground civilization uses a similar currency that is used across the Galaxy and we will have to convert it to Bitcoin.  At that point we will need more decimal points to accommodate the large value of a single Bitcoin.

so every should buy a single Bitcoin now and will to the future generations and only allow them to spend it once each Bitcoin exceeds 100 Trillion USD of current value.

The problem: this allows for faster-than-light travel.

Imagine a faster-than-light information tube. One could encode an arbitrary object at one end, send the stream over the information tube, and the object could be reconstructed at the other end. The object has travelled faster than light, which is impossible in Einstein's mechanics.

[Elwar]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

This is considering that we use today's technology.  The technology of the future provides great compression and a gravitational messaging infrastructure which pulls the to endpoints together such that the space left to communicate is a mere meters in distance.  This will allow for faster times than you see using the ancient fiber optics of today.

I don't see where there is a problem. 

The real problem is that the Mars underground civilization uses a similar currency that is used across the Galaxy and we will have to convert it to Bitcoin.  At that point we will need more decimal points to accommodate the large value of a single Bitcoin.

so every should buy a single Bitcoin now and will to the future generations and only allow them to spend it once each Bitcoin exceeds 100 Trillion USD of current value.

Maybe we should instead be focussed on starting to use the Mars underground currency.

[Deafboy]

I've read similar discussions many times, and still don't understand why would Mars need it's own blockchain. Imagine yourself as a part of colony on foreign planet with very limited resources. Isn't it easier to use light client like electrum communicating with random node running on earth? Transactions could still be localy broadcasted to the mars-net so the nodes on Mars could see the transaction even before it's in the blockahin on Earth.

You can argue that with limited resources there is no need for high hashrate to protect the network up there, but if the connection with earth is possible, someone with ASIC farm on Earth could attempt to 51% the mars blockchain.

[medicine]

The problem isn't going to be exchanging the Marscoin between Mars and Earth, the problem is going to be how does the Mars Postal Service (MPS) deliver packages to and from Mars.  Shipping times will be a bitch.

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

The distance between Earth and Mars is probably around 100,000,000 million kilometers at worst times. Provided a Radio Signal travels at nearly or at the speed of light in vacuum, it will only take a few seconds to transmit data back and forth.

By 2140, we will have satellite checkpoints which will act as relays for internet and stuff. With a small delay of a few seconds, it won't be a problem to have Martians connected to the Earth internet.

[tclo]

It will be so hot on earth in 2140 that Bitcoins will melt before you can use them.   So yes maybe they will be of better use on Mars.

[Peter Lambert]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

This is considering that we use today's technology.  The technology of the future provides great compression and a gravitational messaging infrastructure which pulls the to endpoints together such that the space left to communicate is a mere meters in distance.  This will allow for faster times than you see using the ancient fiber optics of today.

I don't see where there is a problem. 

The real problem is that the Mars underground civilization uses a similar currency that is used across the Galaxy and we will have to convert it to Bitcoin.  At that point we will need more decimal points to accommodate the large value of a single Bitcoin.

so every should buy a single Bitcoin now and will to the future generations and only allow them to spend it once each Bitcoin exceeds 100 Trillion USD of current value.

The problem: this allows for faster-than-light travel.

Imagine a faster-than-light information tube. One could encode an arbitrary object at one end, send the stream over the information tube, and the object could be reconstructed at the other end. The object has travelled faster than light, which is impossible in Einstein's mechanics.

Faster than light travel is a benefit, not a flaw.

Einsteins theories broke the rules as set out by Newton. We changed our understanding rather than reject new ideas just because they did not fit old models. That is the way of scientific progress.

The distance between Earth and Mars is probably around 100,000,000 million kilometers at worst times. Provided a Radio Signal travels at nearly or at the speed of light in vacuum, it will only take a few seconds to transmit data back and forth.

The speed of light is about 300,000,000 meters per second. To go 100,000,000 million kilometers would take more than a few seconds.

[repentance]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

MtGox already has lag that bad so people are already used to dealing with it.

[dree12]

ping times back to earth are gonna vary between 6 and 40 minutes, which should make for some interesting tcp connections.

space is big.

This is considering that we use today's technology.  The technology of the future provides great compression and a gravitational messaging infrastructure which pulls the to endpoints together such that the space left to communicate is a mere meters in distance.  This will allow for faster times than you see using the ancient fiber optics of today.

I don't see where there is a problem. 

The real problem is that the Mars underground civilization uses a similar currency that is used across the Galaxy and we will have to convert it to Bitcoin.  At that point we will need more decimal points to accommodate the large value of a single Bitcoin.

so every should buy a single Bitcoin now and will to the future generations and only allow them to spend it once each Bitcoin exceeds 100 Trillion USD of current value.

The problem: this allows for faster-than-light travel.

Imagine a faster-than-light information tube. One could encode an arbitrary object at one end, send the stream over the information tube, and the object could be reconstructed at the other end. The object has travelled faster than light, which is impossible in Einstein's mechanics.

Faster than light travel is a benefit, not a flaw.

Einsteins theories broke the rules as set out by Newton. We changed our understanding rather than reject new ideas just because they did not fit old models. That is the way of scientific progress.

The distance between Earth and Mars is probably around 100,000,000 million kilometers at worst times. Provided a Radio Signal travels at nearly or at the speed of light in vacuum, it will only take a few seconds to transmit data back and forth.

The speed of light is about 300,000,000 meters per second. To go 100,000,000 million kilometers would take more than a few seconds.

But we must not rely on future changes in understanding until they occur.

[keatonatron]

The sun is 149,600,000 km away, and it takes about 8 minutes for light to travel that far.

At least that's what I remember from 4th grade science.