What's with this odd generation?

[theymos]

I thought BitCoin only generated in 50 coin increments, but I got 50.44 here.

[SmokeTooMuch]

had the same a while ago with 50.26

[BitcoinFX]

That is odd !?! I've currently only had 50.00 generations myself. 

[satoshi]

There's a small transaction fee for very large transactions.  The node that generates the block that contains the transaction gets the fee.

If the same money gets sent again, it won't incur the fee again.  If all you have is generated coins in your wallet, if you send them all in one huge transaction, it has to bundle hundreds of 50 bc coins together.  After that it's just one line to send the combined unit.

[theymos]

There's a small transaction fee for very large transactions.  (usually over 10,000 bc)  The node that generates the block that contains the transaction gets the fee.

The fee is based on the KB size of the transaction and intended to compensate the network for the resources used to process it.

If the same money gets sent again, it won't incur the fee again because it'll be small.  The first time they're bundling hundreds of 50 bc coins together.  After that it's just one line to send the combined unit.

Does the sending client send more BitCoins to account for the fee (so the recipient gets what he's expecting)? Why couldn't someone just send 1000 small transactions to bypass fees?

[SmokeTooMuch]

why do we even need fees ? i thougt the no-fees-feature was one of the advantages of bitcoin ?!

[riX]

Does the sending client send more BitCoins to account for the fee (so the recipient gets what he's expecting)? Why couldn't someone just send 1000 small transactions to bypass fees?

You could, but you'd have to wait for one block to be generated between each one of them.

[satoshi]

Does the sending client send more BitCoins to account for the fee (so the recipient gets what he's expecting)?

Yes.

why do we even need fees ? i thougt the no-fees-feature was one of the advantages of bitcoin ?!

Almost all transactions are free.  A transaction is over the maximum size limit if it has to add up more than 500 of the largest payments you've received to make up the amount.  A transaction over the size limit can still be sent if a small fee is added.

The average transaction, and anything up to 500 times bigger than average, is free.

It's only when you're sending a really huge transaction that the transaction fee ever comes into play, and even then it only works out to something like 0.002% of the amount.  It's not money sucked out of the system, it just goes to other nodes.  If you're sad about paying the fee, you could always turn the tables and run a node yourself and maybe someday rake in a 0.44 fee yourself.

[theymos]

Is the fee enough to always ensure the profitability of running a node, even when BitCoin generation stops being profitable?

[satoshi]

Right.  Otherwise we couldn't have a finite limit of 21 million coins, because there would always need to be some minimum reward for generating.  In a few decades when the reward gets too small, the transaction fee will become the main compensation for nodes.  I'm sure that in 20 years there will either be very large transaction volume or no volume.

[theymos]

What property guarantees the continuing profitability? If the cost of electricity triples in 20 years, the number and size of transactions wouldn't change (as far as I know), but running a node would become more expensive and possibly unprofitable.

What stops someone from creating a client that will send repeated transactions just below the fee maximum when it has to in order to avoid fees? Or from many different identities to the same one (if this is possible)? I can see there being a great demand for such a client if BitCoin becomes very popular.

[The Madhatter]

You could always generate your own electricity. I have successfully built large clusters that are nothing more than a stack of motherboards with low power (consumption) CPUs.

These systems are all DC (every computer is DC under the hood) and can be powered easily 12VDC with some 5v regulators in there. Systems like these can be easily powered with arrays of batteries with solar or wind generation to trickle charge the batteries during the day/windy periods.

Essentially I could generate/participate cheaper (in the long run of course) with a setup like this one. Assuming that electricity prices will climb over the next 10 years and that I'd only have to change out the obsolete systems every 4 or so I could possibly come out ahead.

Still haven't ran all of the math yet. Also predicting future electricity costs is a hard thing to do.

[QuestionAuthority]

Is the fee enough to always ensure the profitability of running a node, even when BitCoin generation stops being profitable?

BitCoin lol

What's this funny extra stuff attached to my 50 coins? rofl

Theymos, you gotta have so many frigin coins stashed that you're worth two regular rich people. Paying for college is no problem, huh.