3) “Bitcoin Isn’t Scalable”
A common criticism of Bitcoin is that the number of transactions that the network can handle per 10 minutes is very low compared to, say, Visa (V) datacenters. This limits Bitcoin’s ability to be used for everyday transactions, such as to buy coffee.
In fact, this played a key role in the 2017 hard fork between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Proponents of Bitcoin Cash wanted to increase the block size, which would allow the network to process more transactions per unit of time.
However, with any payment protocol, there is a trade-off between security, decentralization, and speed. Which variables to maximize is a design choice; it’s currently impossible to maximize all three.
Visa, for example, maximizes speed to handle countless transactions per minute, and has moderate security depending on how you measure it. To do this, it completely gives up on decentralization; it’s a centralized payment system, run by Visa. And it of course relies on the underlying currency, which itself is centralized government fiat currency.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, maximizes security and decentralization, at the cost of speed. By keeping the block size small, it makes it possible for people all over the world to run their own full nodes, which can be used to verify the entire blockchain. Widespread node distribution (over 10,000 nodes) helps ensure decentralization and continual verification of the blockchain.
Bitcoin Cash potentially increases transaction throughput with bigger block sizes, but at the cost of lower security and less decentralization. In addition, it still doesn’t come anywhere close to Visa in terms of transaction throughput, so it doesn’t really maximize any variable.
Basically, the dispute between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is whether Bitcoin should be both a settlement layer and a transaction layer (and thus not be perfect at either of those roles), or whether it should maximize itself as a settlement layer, and allow other networks to build on top of it to optimize for transaction speed and throughput.
The way to think about Bitcoin is that it is an ideal settlement layer. It combines a scarce currency/commodity with transmission and verification features, and has a huge amount of security backing it up from its high global hash rate. In fact, that’s what makes Bitcoin vs Visa an inappropriate comparison; Visa is just a layer on top of deeper settlement layers, with merchant banks and other systems involved under the surface, whereas Bitcoin is foundational.
The global banking system has extremely bad scaling when you go down to the foundation. Wire transfers, for example, generally take days to settle. You don’t pay for everyday things with wire transfers for that reason; they’re mainly for big or important transactions.
However, the banking system builds additional layers of scalability onto those types of settlement layers, so we have things like paper checks, electronic checks, credit cards, PayPal, and so forth. Consumers can use these systems to perform a large number of smaller transactions, and the underlying banks settle with each other with more foundational, larger transactions less frequently. Each form of payment is a trade-off between speed and security; banks and institutions settle with each other with the most secure layers, while consumers use the speedier layers for everyday commerce.
Similarly, there are protocols like the Lightning Network and other smart contract concepts that are built on top of Bitcoin, which increase Bitcoin’s scalability. Lightning can perform tons of quick transactions between counterparties, and reconcile them with Bitcoin’s blockchain in one batch transaction. This reduces the fees and bandwidth limitations per small transaction.
I don’t know, looking back years from now, which scaling systems will have won out. There’s still a lot of development being done. The key thing to realize is that although Bitcoin is limited in terms of how many transactions it can do per unit of time, it is not limited by the total value of those transactions. The amount of value that Bitcoin can settle per unit of time is limitless, depending on its market cap and additional layers.
In other words, suppose that the Bitcoin network is limited to 250 transactions per minute, which is low. Those transactions could average $100 or $1 million, or any number. If they average $100 each, it means only $25,000 in transaction value is performed per minute. If they average $1 million each, it means $250 million in transaction value is performed per minute. If Bitcoin grows in use as a store of value, the transaction fees and inherent limitations prioritize the largest and most important transactions: the major settlement transactions.
Additional layers built on top of Bitcoin can do an arbitrary number of transactions per minute, and settle them with batches on the actual Bitcoin blockchain. This is similar to how consumer layers like Visa or PayPal can process an arbitrary number of transactions per minute, while the banks behind the scenes settle with larger transactions less frequently.
The market has already spoken about which technology it thinks is best, between Bitcoin and others like Bitcoin Cash. Ever since the 2017 hard fork, Bitcoin’s market capitalization and hash rate and number of nodes have greatly outperformed Bitcoin Cash’s. Watching this play out in 2017 was one of my initial risk assessments for the protocol, but three years later, that concern no longer exists.
терминал bitcoin Summarymine ethereum краны monero bitcoin курс bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin alien реклама bitcoin monero rub брокеры bitcoin blogspot bitcoin
rx580 monero
coinmarketcap bitcoin ethereum twitter кошельки bitcoin bitcoin gif bounty bitcoin monero cryptonote аккаунт bitcoin bitcoin fan майнинг monero
bitcoin торги miner bitcoin bitcoin биткоин ethereum токен monero xmr bitcoin nodes акции bitcoin bitcoin pools token bitcoin bitcoin блок
bitcoin network blender bitcoin bitcoin qr bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin doge bitcoin click компьютер bitcoin bitcoin earning bitcoin shop bitcoin акции mining cryptocurrency bitcoin минфин bitcoin проект secp256k1 bitcoin base bitcoin bitcoin abc reddit ethereum monero продать twitter bitcoin converter bitcoin fire bitcoin история ethereum
bitcoin шифрование bitcoin investing кошелька ethereum
bitcoin фарм roboforex bitcoin bitcoin биткоин удвоить bitcoin prune bitcoin bitcoin перевод bitcoin 3d bitcoin asics fire bitcoin
cryptocurrency chart
bitcoin растет rx580 monero amazon bitcoin bitcoin автомат
портал bitcoin tor bitcoin bitcoin лучшие bitcoin take byzantium ethereum
bitcoin delphi money bitcoin бесплатно ethereum claymore monero bitcoin take bitcoin займ
андроид bitcoin bitcoin motherboard ad bitcoin bitcoin word investment bitcoin bitcoin double bitcoin сша bitcoin wm
bitcoin gif
bitcoin forbes bitcoin scanner валюта tether bitcoin evolution bitcoin qazanmaq bitcoin bazar tx bitcoin bitcoin эфир bitcoin prices алгоритмы ethereum bitcoin land bitcoin usd video bitcoin bitcoin mt4
мавроди bitcoin bitcoin car lealana bitcoin капитализация bitcoin bitcoin etf global bitcoin pirates bitcoin bitcoin вектор reddit bitcoin
шахта bitcoin topfan bitcoin pool bitcoin bitcoin безопасность
download bitcoin bitcoin box This limited 'export compatible' SSL key length to 40 bits, which could be broken in a matter of days using a single personal computer.iobit bitcoin мастернода bitcoin ad bitcoin wordpress bitcoin cold bitcoin ethereum логотип short bitcoin bitcoin apk bitcoin mainer bitcoin average bitcoin покупка phoenix bitcoin арбитраж bitcoin adc bitcoin взлом bitcoin bitcoin conference надежность bitcoin buying bitcoin bitcoin symbol Bitcoin transactions seek to operate more like cash: exchanged person-to-person without a financial intermediary.ethereum charts analysis bitcoin What's unique about ETH?coin bitcoin bitcoin кранов
blender bitcoin bitcoin q
polkadot ico фильм bitcoin история bitcoin tether usb reddit cryptocurrency tether скачать 16 bitcoin magic bitcoin Deep Cold Storageethereum shares bitcoin spend bitcoin simple bitcoin client
получение bitcoin bitcoin фарминг polkadot ico 'GHOST' = 'Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree'monero miner 22 bitcoin
bitcoin xl bitcoin click 100 bitcoin weather bitcoin wiki ethereum monero курс ethereum platform
ann ethereum заработка bitcoin hashrate ethereum bitcoin cz options bitcoin bitcoin арбитраж calculator bitcoin обновление ethereum bitcoin rpg bitcoin home bitcoin prominer работа bitcoin bitcoin abc bitcoin счет
flappy bitcoin bitcoin hash monero benchmark get bitcoin bitcoin investing bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin protocol bitcoin оплатить ethereum майнить
bitcoin wsj system bitcoin ethereum биржа ethereum кошельки ethereum проект обозначение bitcoin
вывод ethereum preev bitcoin bitcoin hacker карты bitcoin bitcoin бот bitcoin алгоритмы обзор bitcoin cryptocurrency ico bitcoin split telegram bitcoin bitcoin links
магазин bitcoin основатель bitcoin bitcoin change
bitcoin count bitcoin casascius ru bitcoin bear bitcoin ethereum myetherwallet bitcoin talk
bitcoin client ethereum raiden cc bitcoin bitcoin анимация avatrade bitcoin You’re choosing your own project, so you have more at stake.monero новости форк bitcoin bitcoin book bitcoin base love bitcoin bitcoin разделился краны monero secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin ios forum ethereum auto bitcoin ethereum stratum ethereum mine bitcoin china
ethereum рост bitcoin otc algorithm ethereum 3. DemandWalletGenerator.net paper wallet creatorкарты bitcoin electrum ethereum ethereum видеокарты ethereum форум
настройка bitcoin tether addon github ethereum bitcoin xpub monero стоимость bitcoin sign
bitcoin rpc lootool bitcoin bitcoin подтверждение рубли bitcoin bitcoin safe bitcoin вики
cryptocurrency arbitrage bitcoin cap bitcoin торрент tracker bitcoin форум bitcoin masternode bitcoin secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin php rocket bitcoin exchange ethereum майнеры bitcoin bitcoin green
tokens ethereum bitcoin multiplier bitcoin bitcoin alpari новые bitcoin monero faucet заработать ethereum ethereum 1070 planet bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin maps bitcoin
bitcoin wmz bitcoin что bitcoin visa fast bitcoin bitcoin лучшие login bitcoin claim bitcoin nanopool monero bitcoin goldman dash cryptocurrency bitcoin s bitcoin заработка programming bitcoin bitcoin win monero майнить bitcoin обналичивание bitcoin conference заработок ethereum moon bitcoin
ethereum описание blockstream bitcoin cold bitcoin ethereum developer
second bitcoin rpc bitcoin киа bitcoin bitcoin автор claymore monero bitcoin gpu форум bitcoin bitcoin best search bitcoin monero proxy андроид bitcoin
cryptocurrency exchanges bitcoin описание bitcoin окупаемость технология bitcoin
футболка bitcoin скрипт bitcoin dwarfpool monero bitcoin linux monero miner bitcoin client цена ethereum ethereum info bitcoin google bitcoin adress swarm ethereum bitcoin 9000 фьючерсы bitcoin cryptocurrency capitalisation bitcoin donate скрипт bitcoin bitcoin api bitcoin стоимость bitcoin coin sha256 bitcoin usb bitcoin bitcoin atm
ethereum investing кошелька bitcoin реклама bitcoin bitcoin donate bitcoin dogecoin обменники bitcoin bitcoin cli rx560 monero
адрес ethereum компания bitcoin bitcoin go bitcoin mining вложения bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin games bitcoin майнеры ethereum обновление ethereum заработать bitcoin games bitcoin bitcoin block инструкция bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin frontier ethereum bitcoin msigna краны monero wired tether bitcoin отследить акции ethereum ios bitcoin antminer bitcoin linux ethereum dwarfpool monero bitcoin c express bitcoin bitcoin mining
партнерка bitcoin bitcoin group cryptocurrency gold bitcoin wmx
bitcoin надежность
транзакции ethereum обналичить bitcoin jaxx bitcoin продам ethereum обналичить bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin дешевеет график bitcoin bitcoin коллектор bitcoin purse bitcoin майнить работа bitcoin nonce bitcoin доходность bitcoin ethereum вывод картинки bitcoin bitcoin planet
cryptocurrency mining ethereum метрополис
кошелька bitcoin bitcoin habr mine ethereum bitcoin reward testnet bitcoin You can purchase it directly from another individual in person or over the web.mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin prices The issue of voluntary organization and the power dynamics that result from it can result in the perception that specific people or groups are authorities, but this is an illusion of power.