If Satoshi was a "genius", then why do BTC transactions take so long?

[notbatman]

Bitcoin was designed as an Internet currency; it takes 24/h or more to ship a product so a 10 minute confirmation delay is irrelevant. Bitcoin wasn't intended to replace fiat as the new global currency IMO.
 

[BCEmporium]

What was expected? An "instant currency"?! How about creating a "IWillGuessWhatYouWillDoCoin" alt-coin? A coin that even before you know, spends itself by buying random stuff out of the web and go ahead with the payment?

[Lethn]

The reason transactions take so 'long' is because it's checking whether or not the transaction is real, transactions in a banking system are done quickly because it's done by a human being but of course human beings can easily make mistakes and they have fucked up peoples transactions in the past or caused problems, they can also interfere with your banking if they find anything or just block you based on country. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are indiscriminate, automated and decentralised so everything is a little slow but in return for this there's no interference in any transactions and nobody can stop anything.

[Dabs]

BTC Transactions are near instant, and if nothing bad has happened 10 seconds after you've sent your transaction, (or received it) then you know with a certain level of confidence that it is good.

When you are shipping physical products, you can wait for the time it takes a block to confirm before doing anything, or you can immediately start packing it as soon as you get the transaction.

By the time you are finished applying the shipping label, you would know if you had been paid or not.

Digital downloads, well, it depends on what the product or service is (gambling games, ebooks, etc.) and how expensive the item is, to decide on whether to give instant access to a buyer or to let them wait a few minutes.

If, for example, I pay for software, I can wait 10 minutes to receive the unlock code while I have already or still am downloading the archive.

When the day comes that I can pay for my electricity, my newspaper subscription, my cable TV, my internet service, my water utility and my credit cards with bitcoin, I certainly will not mind that I had to send the transaction 1 hour ago.

In fact, I will just send the payment, then go to the gym or take a walk outside. By the time I get back, I have an email that says "Thank you for paying your electricity. The lineman outside your house will now leave without incident." Then the dude in the orange uniform just around the corner gets a message on his phone or tablet and leaves.

I would love to pay for movie tickets with bitcoin, get a ticket or stub, and watch it an hour or two later. Usually, the shortest wait in most modern cinemas are at least 10 minutes (where they don't allow viewers to enter in the middle of the movie.)

If you do a local trade with me for a suitcase of cash, I'll give it to you once I see the transaction on the network that you just broadcasted from your phone, and walk away after a handshake. I wouldn't even count the seconds.

I'm sure I can run after you if I see a double-spend attempt and my .45 ACP JHP travels only a bit slower than the speed of sound.

[BitOnyx]

International transactions taking 10 minutes, I'm not sure if it is long time to get proper confirmation. Also it is hard to tell if there were any alternative to solutions he had to use.

[Kazimir]

I Love BTC, but any honest look has to reveal that the transactions take WAY to long.

Transactions take 1-2 sec.

I recently posted this explicitly for people who still don't understand:
Please, newbiews, stop saying Bitcoin transactions take 10 mins. It's 1 sec!

[Jace]

When the day comes that I can pay for my electricity,

Already possible here in the Netherlands

[EvilPanda]

The internet is too slow, still not ready for this ingenious invention

[bg002h]

If Bit_Happy was a 490 activity user then why hasn't he seen the endless topics and pages written on this? Especially a LTC user... why the sudden curiosity i wonder...

Sold credentials to highest bidder?

[fr4nkthetank]

Around ten minutes to be basically "written in stone" is too long?

Sheesh...

uhmmmmm

YES THATS WAY TOO FUCKING LONG


Jesus

Jesus

10 minutes

maybe in 1994 that was cool

[Klestin]

I think you're confusing transactions with confirmations. The former is almost instant.

Can we get this in a freaking sticky?

[lumierre]

Bitcoin is a prototype, an experiment in beta. Let's not expect too much of Satoshi. Some altcoins who improve in confirmation time are already out there doing their own experiment. If extremely successful, it's possible Bitcoin will adopt those features. I'm sure the 10 min confirmation time can be updated in the future. We will have to wait for new and convincing ideas to come up and test it thoroughly.

[Beliathon]

If Michael Jordan was a "great basketball player", then why did he only score 30 points per game?

Thread has been won.

[bl0ckchain]

Thread has been won.

This is another thing that makes Bitcoin so strong. Even when its most important member (Satoshi) abandons the coin mid-stream, the coin keeps growing like wildfire. Now that's true decentralization. Yes, the blockchain can talk too.

[Predatorian]

The reason transactions take so 'long' is because it's checking whether or not the transaction is real, transactions in a banking system are done quickly because it's done by a human being but of course human beings can easily make mistakes and they have fucked up peoples transactions in the past or caused problems, they can also interfere with your banking if they find anything or just block you based on country. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are indiscriminate, automated and decentralised so everything is a little slow but in return for this there's no interference in any transactions and nobody can stop anything.

This.
Totally agree, one time payment in bank took like 2 days because guy in bank did something wrong.

[jonald_fyookball]

If Michael Jordan was a "great basketball player", then why did he only score 30 points per game?

Thread has been won.

Insert cool dr evil air quotes meme here.   

[mecoin]

I Love BTC, but any honest look has to reveal that the transactions take WAY to long.
Did Satoshi ever comment on why he used ~10 minutes per block and/or did he consider a much lower number?
If he did, I haven't seen it before.



Edit:
<off topic>
Almost everything related to BTC transaction times, but discuss it if you wish.
</off topic>

<On Topic>
I wanted to learn what Satoshi said about it, and someone did answer, thanks
Also interested in more related Satosho quotes if you have any.

because our computers are currently too slow to make it faster?

[BCB]

because that is how an eventually consistent distributed consensus system works

[greatlife]

Also, even a 1 minute delay would be too long to wait in many situations. Especially as that would be the average and some confirmations would take longer. When I'm paying by credit card at a supermarket, if it takes as much as 10 seconds it annoys me. When I've finished and paid I don't want to hang around, waiting. So faster confirmation times don't really help unless they are a lot faster, like 50 times faster.

(I don't know whether Satoshi made this point, and don't much care.)

i agree. why we stay with a bitcoin if other coins are quicker and even safer. Nextcoin is faster than Litecoin. pos coins , they seem more eficient to me.

[tzortz]

For god shake, bitcoin is fast enough for any kind of transaction.