Incentive and computing power after 21 million is reached

[Ludicrous]

It will be interesting to see the days when fees consistently match or exceed the block rewards.

One would hope that Bitcoin has become so wide spread that transactions would be going through at an insane rate. This would allow miners to make a considerable amount from TX fee's.

It's definitely worrying though.

No worry here.  The mining pools and few people who decide things will find an optimal max block size/min tx fee to maximize incentives

[LTCMINER2013]

Hey if bitcoin takes off we can buy robot bodies or cloned organs and still be around then...  There has to be a decent amount of crossover between bitcoin enthusiasts and those who believe we're nearing the technological singularity.

What do you mean "if it takes off"?  at $130 per BTC and no real move yesterday when the new of LR hit , BTC has taken off, We missed that train newbie   As I read on another post -  "If you start running now, you might just catch the LTC train"

[klovishey]

I think about this a lot... what will happen to the network once close to 21m BTC have been mined. There is no reason to carry on mining and supporting the network.

There will be incentive to mine just to protect value of your Bitcoins. Many gold miners who just mine and convert to USD will be gone, but others will run miners just to protect Bitcoin network.

[LTCMINER2013]

I think about this a lot... what will happen to the network once close to 21m BTC have been mined. There is no reason to carry on mining and supporting the network.

I think in 127 years, processing power wont be an issue, just like ASIC are emerging now, new technologies will keep us up to speed so that it wont be a concern. Plus the transaction fee can be increased per transaction so there ill always be a way to make it worth someone's HR to do it.

[g8bluSti]

Hey if bitcoin takes off we can buy robot bodies or cloned organs and still be around then...  There has to be a decent amount of crossover between bitcoin enthusiasts and those who believe we're nearing the technological singularity.

What do you mean "if it takes off"?  at $130 per BTC and no real move yesterday when the new of LR hit , BTC has taken off, We missed that train newbie   As I read on another post -  "If you start running now, you might just catch the LTC train"

By 'if it takes off' I mean widespread adoption leading to another 100x increase in price over time.  It's only been 4 years, and we're talking about 127 years from now.  Even if bitcoin becomes the de facto internet currency for a decade or two it could still be a historical footnote in a century.

[beoswind]

Buy or mine Litecoins not BTC

Are you really advising a newbie to buy Litecoins? Stop your lame attempt to make him inflate this bubble even more.
The FIRST crypto-currency a newbie should be is Bitcoin. Period.

When Bitcoin start in 2009 nobody believe in it, year ago BTC was $10 now over $120

When Litecoin start in 2011 nobody believe in it and was worth 7 cents now about $3 (42 TIMES more!)

Do You see a pattern here or You are too blind?

Look at http://ltc.block-explorer.com/charts NUMBERS DON'T LIE

Look at this http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/06/22/the-bitcoin-richest-accumulating-large-balances/

When this smart guys sell BTC? Click on each to see!

For example: http://blockchain.info/address/13vJZKHKBirruXwmjMaRtakzPQRRHQit1S

50,180 BTC change owner at 2013-02-01 when price was right !!!

With 2Gh miner you can mine 2.5 BTC/month BUT over 3 LTC/day so it's WISE to mine LTC now and keep them till 2014 or 2015 or buy LTC if you can PERIOD.

[BurtW]

You are right, numbers do not lie.  It is the interpretation of the numbers that is suspect.  You look at the numbers and see what you want to see.  Others look at the numbers and see a bubble.  Only time will tell.

[JSMill]

Grunch.  Very tough to predict what will happen that far in the future, but likely transaction fees will gradually increase throughout the period... Or something will have replaced bitcoin by then.

[Malawi]

If BTC really takes off, you will have a hot-water-tank and space heaters using ASIC' as heatsource.

The transaction fees will become larger than the block-reward long before the last block is mined.

[jackjack]

I have a belief in reincarnation.  Not a very strong belief but there is some scientific evidence.

Please share