[Cryptography] Another Bitcoin issue (maybe)

[Guido Witmond]

On 02/14/14 01:17, Jeffrey I Schiller wrote:


> However when the block rewards go away (years from now) it doesn?t
> make sense to me to spend a lot of effort mining for the tiny
> transaction fees. 

> Here is what I fear may happen. When the reward goes away, so will the
> miners. So the protocol will adapt by reducing the work factor
> required to create a block. At some point it will stabilize. But what
> of all of that idle mining hardware? I wonder if someone could
> purchase enough of it to capture the blockchain and have their way
> with us? The security of Bitcoin is dependent on no one entity being
> able to do more work then the rest of the network... but will this
> remain a valid assumption?

Your fear can become reality if bitcoin is only used for speculation.

Currently the transaction fees are so low because everyone is hoarding
bitcoins. When there is sufficient transactions (for goods and services)
taking place, the fees will outweigh the mining-bonus making your
scenario less likely.

But it ultimately depends on Moore's Law. When there is no more increase
in efficiency in mining-hardware that obsoletes the old tech, the world
will be flooded with mining rigs, making your scenario possible again.

But still, I prefer to take the risk of your scenario over the eternal
growth fallacy of current economic belief.


Regards, Guido Witmond

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