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Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:46:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matthew Bagazinski <matthew.bagazinski@gmail.com>
To: Bitcoin Development Mailing List <bitcoindev@googlegroups.com>
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Subject: Re: [bitcoindev] The Future of Bitcoin Testnet
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Unfortunately, the current form of Testnet is doomed to have value, just 
like BTC. Its scarcity makes it a valuable asset. And no reset will change 
that. It will only result in repeated resets, multiple versions of testnet, 
and people never learning.

I have to agree with emsit here. Never underestimate the ability for people 
to ascribe value to something with provable scarcity.  I like Peter Todd's 
suggestion of removing the halving completely, so that plenty new coins are 
always coming into circulation, but it received pushback for removing the 
regular 210,000-block events. Here are a few dumb ideas to chew on to see 
if we can come up with something better:

   - Doubling every 210,000 blocks. This leads to the supply growing 
   exponentially; impossible to try to ascribe value to that.
   - Adding 1 to the subsidy every 210,000 blocks. Still an infinite 
   supply, closer to a standard subsidy, but there is still a change happening 
   every 210,000 blocks.
   - Subtracting 1 every 210,000 blocks. This is technically still scarce, 
   but a much gentler decline in admissions. Yes, it eventually drops to 0, 
   but after 50 events instead of the current 33 halvings.
   - Change "half" to some other fraction like "nine-tenths". Still 
   technically scarce, gentler decline in rewards, but still retains the 
   property of having a geometric sequence to the subsidies.

Like I said, dumb ideas, but I think there is a decision to be made between 
avoiding a future reset by mitigating reasons people add value to tBTC 
(such as scarcity) and expecting/planning for more regular resets when 
people start inevitably valuing tBTC.

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<div><blockquote style=3D"margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid=
 rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><p style=3D"border: 0px solid rgb(=
227, 227, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; color: rgb(=
13, 13, 13); font-family: S=C3=B6hne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-syst=
em, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Noto Sans&quot;,=
 sans-serif, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Arial, &quot;Apple Color Emoji&quo=
t;, &quot;Segoe UI Emoji&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Noto Col=
or Emoji&quot;; font-size: 16px;">Unfortunately, the current form of Testne=
t is doomed to have value, just like BTC. Its scarcity makes it a valuable =
asset. And no reset will change that. It will only result in repeated reset=
s, multiple versions of testnet, and people never learning.</p></blockquote=
><div>I have to agree with emsit here. Never underestimate the ability for =
people to ascribe value to something with provable scarcity.=C2=A0 I like P=
eter Todd's suggestion of removing the halving completely, so that plenty n=
ew coins are always coming into circulation, but it received pushback for r=
emoving the regular 210,000-block events. Here are a few dumb ideas to chew=
 on to see if we can come up with something better:</div><div><ul><li>Doubl=
ing every 210,000 blocks. This leads to the supply growing exponentially; i=
mpossible to try to ascribe value to that.</li><li>Adding 1 to the subsidy =
every 210,000 blocks. Still an infinite supply, closer to a standard subsid=
y, but there is still a change happening every 210,000 blocks.</li><li>Subt=
racting 1 every 210,000 blocks. This is technically still scarce, but a muc=
h gentler decline in admissions. Yes, it eventually drops to 0, but after 5=
0 events instead of the current 33 halvings.</li><li>Change "half" to some =
other fraction like "nine-tenths". Still technically scarce, gentler declin=
e in rewards, but still retains the property of having a geometric sequence=
 to the subsidies.</li></ul><div>Like I said, dumb ideas, but I think there=
 is a decision to be made between avoiding a future reset by mitigating rea=
sons people add value to tBTC (such as scarcity) and expecting/planning for=
 more regular resets when people start inevitably valuing tBTC.</div></div>=
</div>

<p></p>

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