Hi all,
I did a (quick I admit) search but didn't find any solid answer, so I'm posting as a new thread, apologising if this is mentioned somewhere else.
Since every transaction that has ever been made, is kept in the BlockChain and new transactions add up all the time, doesn't that mean that at some point in the future, the BlockChain will be too large to operate?
I understand that as more people join in, they add-up in the "capacity" of the network, but that would mean a lot more transactions as well.
If I'm not mistaken, the current size of the BlockChain is about 1,5Gbytes, and the network is in operation for 3 years. How big will the BlockChain be in say 20 years, if Bitcoin succeeds and continues to expand? Will that size be manageable?
Thank you for your answers.
I don't think the block chain will ever be to large to operate but it will become quite hefty to download - by that time, available bandwidth for your average bitcoin user may have also increased. However, do some research on 'thin clients' and you will see one of the solutions on handling the growing block chain