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Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2015 18:11:40 +0200
Message-ID: <CA+w+GKQP=-g4ed5Nk9dQH67f=SpxiVRE3O6QE5_9g87CPem-hA@mail.gmail.com>
From: Mike Hearn <hearn@vinumeris.com>
To: Gavin Andresen <gavinandresen@gmail.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=001a1140ebae585238051ca6c61d
Cc: Bitcoin Dev <bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Block size following technological growth
Precedence: list

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Whilst 1mb to 8mb might seem irrelevant from a pure computer science
perspective payment demand is not really infinite, at least not if by
"payment" we mean something resembling how current Bitcoin users use the
network.

If we define "payment" to mean the kind of thing that Bitcoin users and
enthusiasts have been doing up until now, then suddenly 1mb to 8mb makes a
ton of sense and doesn't really seem that small: we'd have to increase
usage by nearly an order of magnitude before it becomes an issue again!

If we think of Bitcoin as a business that serves customers, growing our
user base by an order of magnitude would be a great and celebration worthy
achievement! Not at all a small constant factor :)

And keeping the current user base happy and buying things is extremely
interesting, both to me and Gavin. Without users Bitcoin is nothing at all.
Not a settlement network, not anything.

It's actually going to be quite hard to grow that much. As the white paper
says, "the system works well enough for most transactions". And despite a
lot of effort by many people, killer apps that use Bitcoin's unique
features are still hit and miss. Perhaps Streamium, Lighthouse, ChangeTip,
some distributed exchange or something else will stimulate huge new demand
for transactions in future ..... but if so we're not there yet.

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Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_extra">Whilst 1mb to 8mb might seem ir=
relevant from a pure computer science perspective payment demand is not rea=
lly infinite, at least not if by &quot;payment&quot; we mean something rese=
mbling how current Bitcoin users use the network.</div><div class=3D"gmail_=
extra"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_extra">If we define &quot;payment&quot=
; to mean the kind of thing that Bitcoin users and enthusiasts have been do=
ing up until now, then suddenly 1mb to 8mb makes a ton of sense and doesn&#=
39;t really seem that small: we&#39;d have to increase usage by nearly an o=
rder of magnitude before it becomes an issue again!</div><div class=3D"gmai=
l_extra"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_extra">If we think of Bitcoin as a b=
usiness that serves customers, growing our user base by an order of magnitu=
de would be a great and celebration worthy achievement! Not at all a small =
constant factor :)=C2=A0</div><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br></div><div cla=
ss=3D"gmail_extra"><div class=3D"gmail_extra">And keeping the current user =
base happy and buying things is extremely interesting, both to me and Gavin=
. Without users Bitcoin is nothing at all. Not a settlement network, not an=
ything.</div></div><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail=
_extra">It&#39;s actually going to be quite hard to grow that much. As the =
white paper says, &quot;the system works well enough for most transactions&=
quot;. And despite a lot of effort by many people, killer apps that use Bit=
coin&#39;s unique features are still hit and miss. Perhaps Streamium, Light=
house, ChangeTip, some distributed exchange or something else will stimulat=
e huge new demand for transactions in future ..... but if so we&#39;re not =
there yet.</div></div>

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