[Cryptography] Electronic currency revived after 20-year hiatus

[Ray Dillinger]

On 08/16/2016 04:49 PM, Allen wrote:

> Blockchains that can handle 20 billion transaction a day will be here
> within a year.

That is an interesting assertion.  I do not believe it.

20G transactions.  Assume 100 bytes per, and that's terribly generous
in terms of how small you think you can get them.  2T bytes per day.
You have a data plan that will allow you to download 2T bytes daily?
You think you'll have one by the end of a year? You have a hard drive
that can store 700 Tbytes for even one year's worth of block chain
history? You think you'll have one by the end of a year?

The only parties with that kind of connection and storage will
perforce act as Trusted Parties to all other users.  That means
they'll either Gox the users over and over, or they'll become
just as heavily regulated, insured, and monitored as any
conventional bank.  A banker is a banker is a banker.

The vast majority of people are already letting strangers hold
their keys and trusting that they'll get their bitcoins back.
That means the online-wallet people and the exchanges function
as banks.  And these banks are Trusted. When they embezzle
(or even if they just get robbed), it leaves people broke.

Ending the existence of Trusted parties and their ability to Gox
people, if you recall, was sort of the point of the block chain.

It failed.

				Bear


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