Received-SPF: pass (sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com: domain of gmail.com
	designates 209.85.220.169 as permitted sender)
	client-ip=209.85.220.169; envelope-from=etotheipi@gmail.com;
	helo=mail-qk0-f169.google.com; 
Message-ID: <554CD4EC.8020105@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 08 May 2015 11:23:24 -0400
From: Alan Reiner <etotheipi@gmail.com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686 on x86_64;
	rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.5.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
References: <554A91BE.6060105@bluematt.me>	<CANEZrP3wGWHdz+ut6pvke5TJJsc1rTFt8sn2KziX35oL5LAsyg@mail.gmail.com>	<CABm2gDpDvk2VsQ+mJ-BoeBKmvu9jBXNujZEFKuCStRNjFL6VOA@mail.gmail.com>	<CANEZrP2zAGCCBhNa4=9yw+A_Dn5o4SQXoPTE_qcJzZ1dFuF2tw@mail.gmail.com>	<CABm2gDqd6iHRUDKZWWTudcC1QkYa+rCuHjz7pMC2K1Db8wpgfA@mail.gmail.com>	<CANEZrP1CU0kB0vXeXUX1L8byaT-Zf2xg+3N+GeNthi_i6bn1qw@mail.gmail.com>	<CABsx9T2Nxvr4fqREMw3_LXftzsxrUAR1+9sVMa8_EpTnH1nN1Q@mail.gmail.com>	<554BA032.4040405@bluematt.me>	<CANEZrP3yM9wsSPNgpOsXDk-DjUy5PW2XuRTvK2AyCNbVJ5hZHw@mail.gmail.com>	<CADJgMzti7ROH90APiwg4NOAT5+Av=4i295b8VN0sbSLr4+WWRw@mail.gmail.com>	<CANEZrP39jWHLF02z-81Z4+9X1vH5+hMuS=-3ED81=Q1o9U=DKw@mail.gmail.com>	<554BBDA2.7040508@gmail.com>	<CAJHLa0NcxOHkrtW2=-JgfsXQJkCO8Ym7icBwMx_2RsaWcPBnTw@mail.gmail.com>	<554C1410.7050406@thinlink.com>	<CAJHLa0PeEd19ooHbOHUMxX9-5=iyUng-9GWnQFOn_F3aXxVWLQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<554C45E4.1020208@thinlink.com>
In-Reply-To: <554C45E4.1020208@thinlink.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Block Size Increase
Precedence: list

On 05/08/2015 01:13 AM, Tom Harding wrote:
> On 5/7/2015 7:09 PM, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>> G proposed 20MB blocks, AFAIK - 140 tps
>> A proposed 100MB blocks - 700 tps
>> For ref,
>> Paypal is around 115 tps
>> VISA is around 2000 tps (perhaps 4000 tps peak)
>>

For reference, I'm not "proposing" 100 MB blocks right now.  I was
simply suggesting that if Bitcoin is to *ultimately* achieve the goal of
being a globally useful payment rails, 7tps is embarrassingly small. 
Even with off-chain transactions.  It should be a no-brainer that block
size has to go up.

My goal was to bring some long-term perspective into the discussion.  I
don't know if 100 MB blocks will *actually* be necessary for Bitcoin in
20 years, but it's feasible that it will be.  It's an open, global
payments system.  Therefore, we shouldn't be arguing about whether 1 MB
blocks is sufficient--it's very clearly not.  And admitting this as a
valid point is also an admission that not everyone in the world will be
able to run a full node in 20 years.

I don't think there's a solution that can accommodate all future
scenarios, nor that we can even find a solution right now that avoids
more hard forks in the future.   But the goal of "everyone should be
able to download and verify the world's global transactions on a
smartphone" is a non-starter and should not drive decisions.