summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/bd/34c26fca71f2136cf7234129980ca5ead41a3c
blob: 079470feeccd6a9f4e8b07fef6f42bcb719c44ec (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
Received: from sog-mx-4.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com ([172.29.43.194]
	helo=mx.sourceforge.net)
	by sfs-ml-3.v29.ch3.sourceforge.com with esmtp (Exim 4.76)
	(envelope-from <christophe.biocca@gmail.com>) id 1WeE7V-00005M-27
	for bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net;
	Sun, 27 Apr 2014 01:43:05 +0000
Received-SPF: pass (sog-mx-4.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com: domain of gmail.com
	designates 209.85.223.180 as permitted sender)
	client-ip=209.85.223.180;
	envelope-from=christophe.biocca@gmail.com;
	helo=mail-ie0-f180.google.com; 
Received: from mail-ie0-f180.google.com ([209.85.223.180])
	by sog-mx-4.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com with esmtps (TLSv1:RC4-SHA:128)
	(Exim 4.76) id 1WeE7R-0005i2-F3
	for bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net;
	Sun, 27 Apr 2014 01:43:05 +0000
Received: by mail-ie0-f180.google.com with SMTP id at1so1861341iec.11
	for <bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net>;
	Sat, 26 Apr 2014 18:42:56 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Received: by 10.50.79.195 with SMTP id l3mr15066702igx.36.1398562976064;
	Sat, 26 Apr 2014 18:42:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.64.102.136 with HTTP; Sat, 26 Apr 2014 18:42:55 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <535BA357.6050607@gmail.com>
References: <CANEZrP0szimdFSk23aMfO8p2Xtgfbm6kZ=x3rmdPDFUD73xHMg@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAE28kUQ9WOnHuFR6WYeU6rep3b74zDweTPxffF0L6FjZObXE6A@mail.gmail.com>
	<CANEZrP3WBWi5h04yyQ115vXmVHupoj5MG+-8sx=2zEcCT5a9hg@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAC1+kJNE+k4kcTj3Ap0-A=PdD1=+-k5hN4431Z99A+S7M3=BoQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<CANEZrP3obO9rXKcX+G7bs2dd3AqEFOsO8pCUF6orrkGeZyr9Ew@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAC1+kJPxwTm6qvh2GYT2XMJAPD5O4WHLOGBTRmchRmZ2wS4MSg@mail.gmail.com>
	<CANEZrP2PZFVvH3oJyLW80e9W_Fa4bvqQ25E7T-ZFFuG9u-q1hQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<5359E509.4080907@gmail.com>
	<CANEZrP0bKe-=T5ps0myLZjo60tv2mkm3Bw0o4e-9y7zb1h5eDg@mail.gmail.com>
	<535A60FE.10209@gmail.com>
	<CANEZrP0y45eSVgbzXYmvYy1WEQNyd=tmC2EpZgGSB28poXSzDw@mail.gmail.com>
	<535BA357.6050607@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 21:42:55 -0400
Message-ID: <CANOOu=_T82zuV79DWZFGK0Nomhp-Y4tqOhw6ZHhCLb2uGtdR5w@mail.gmail.com>
From: Christophe Biocca <christophe.biocca@gmail.com>
To: Gareth Williams <gacrux@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
X-Spam-Score: -1.6 (-)
X-Spam-Report: Spam Filtering performed by mx.sourceforge.net.
	See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details.
	-1.5 SPF_CHECK_PASS SPF reports sender host as permitted sender for
	sender-domain
	0.0 FREEMAIL_FROM Sender email is commonly abused enduser mail provider
	(christophe.biocca[at]gmail.com)
	-0.0 SPF_PASS               SPF: sender matches SPF record
	-0.1 DKIM_VALID_AU Message has a valid DKIM or DK signature from
	author's domain
	0.1 DKIM_SIGNED            Message has a DKIM or DK signature,
	not necessarily valid
	-0.1 DKIM_VALID Message has at least one valid DKIM or DK signature
X-Headers-End: 1WeE7R-0005i2-F3
Cc: Bitcoin Dev <bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Coinbase reallocation to discourage
	Finney attacks
X-BeenThere: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: <bitcoin-development.lists.sourceforge.net>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development>,
	<mailto:bitcoin-development-request@lists.sourceforge.net?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=bitcoin-development>
List-Post: <mailto:bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net>
List-Help: <mailto:bitcoin-development-request@lists.sourceforge.net?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development>,
	<mailto:bitcoin-development-request@lists.sourceforge.net?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 01:43:05 -0000

This seems like splitting hairs, no? A block isn't a guarantee (it can
get orphaned). And as a user of bitcoin (as opposed to a miner), this
change cannot affect any payment you ever receive.

Some of the interpretation is already different for coinbase UTXO's
(need a valid height, locked for 100 blocks). Anyone expecting them to
behave like any other UTXO will get bitten by one of those subtleties
(MtGox's withdrawals had issues with exactly this, IIRC).

On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 8:15 AM, Gareth Williams <gacrux@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 26/04/14 01:28, Mike Hearn wrote:
>>     When you have a *bitcoin* TXn buried under 100 blocks you can be damn
>>
>>     sure that money is yours - but only because the rules for interpreting
>>     data in the blockchain are publicly documented and (hopefully)
>>     immutable. If they're mutable then the PoW alone gives me no confidence
>>     that the money is really mine, and we're left with a much less useful
>>     system. This should be more sacred than the 21m limit.
>>
>>
>> Well, I think we should avoid the term "sacred" - nothing is sacred
>> because we're not building a religion here, we're engineering a tool.
>
> Are you sure there isn't room for just a touch of "religion"? :) As you
> state below, all that protects my money from confiscation is strong
> group consensus that it's mine - "a social rule, not a mathematical one."
>
> Everything ultimately balances on that. People being a little bit
> "religious" about following the protocol faithfully are the linchpin of
> Bitcoin security, not PoW.
>
>
>> Consider a world in which 1 satoshi is too valuable to represent some
>> kinds of transactions, so those transactions stop happening even though
>> we all agree they're useful. The obvious solution is to change the rules
>> so there can be 210 million coins and 10x everyones UTXOs at some
>> pre-agreed flag day. We probably wouldn't phrase it like that, it's
>> easier for people to imagine what's happening if it's phrased as "adding
>> more places after the decimal point" or something, but at the protocol
>> level coins are represented using integers, so it'd have to be
>> implemented as a multiply.
>
> Agree.
>
>
>> Would this be a violation of the social contract? A violation of all
>> that is sacred? I don't think so, it'd just be sensible engineering and
>> there'd be strong consensus for that exactly because 21 million /is/ so
>> arbitrary. If all balances and prices multiply 100-fold overnight, no
>> wealth is reallocated which would be the /actual/ violation of the
>> social contract: we just get more resolution for setting prices.
>
> Wholeheartedly agree. "21 million" is just shorthand for the
> preservation of artificial scarcity. No rational person could argue that
> what you described violates the social contract.
>
> I do see what you're driving at - that there exists a situation where it
> would be justified to change the interpretation of data in existing blocks.
>
> But, please consider: if I controlled a single UTXO worth 1% of the
> total money supply before your change, the network would still recognise
> that I control a single UTXO worth 1% of the total money supply after
> your change. So you haven't really changed the interpretation of
> existing blocks at all there. It's just semantics :)
>
> Contrast this with invalidating a coinbase before maturity, which
> clearly has a very real impact. At the point the vote passes, you're ***
> sidestepping the PoW mechanism and rewriting the meaning of an existing,
> validated block ***.
>
>
>> So. The thing that protects your money from confiscation is not proof of
>> work. PoW is just a database synchronisation mechanism. The thing that
>> protects your money from confiscation is a strong group consensus that
>> theft is bad. But that's a social rule, not a mathematical rule.
>
> Agree. That's my whole point :)
>
> I recognise my security is in the hands of the users (the economic
> majority.) Tomorrow they could all decide to patch their nodes to
> reallocate my UTXOs, and there's not a damn thing I could do about it,
> PoW and private keys notwithstanding. I must simply trust that they will
> not do this.
>
> So we can have:
> 1. "Neutral Bitcoin", where everyone is committed to prevention of theft
> by following a simple set of mathematical rules which treat all
> validated blocks as equal.
> Or:
> 2. "Political Bitcoin", where everyone is committed to prevention of
> theft based on human judgements, and the contents of some validated
> blocks are more equal than others.
>
> I recognise that the latter allows for a lot of flexibility in combating
> fraud, but with (substantial) due respect, it isn't Bitcoin.
>
> -Gareth
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Start Your Social Network Today - Download eXo Platform
> Build your Enterprise Intranet with eXo Platform Software
> Java Based Open Source Intranet - Social, Extensible, Cloud Ready
> Get Started Now And Turn Your Intranet Into A Collaboration Platform
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/ExoPlatform
> _______________________________________________
> Bitcoin-development mailing list
> Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
>