It goes without saying there has been a lot of debates and discussions taking place in the world of Bitcoin and digital currency lately. However, various industry experts feel how everybody should calm down, as the situation is far less dire than imagined.There is no reason to think Bitcoin is losing momentum, let alone dying, simply because of a few misconceptions.
Also read: Host Card Emulation is a Prime Example Of Why Bitcoin is Better
Bitcoin Is Not Your Average Payment Platform
Many people have been comparing Bitcoin with other established payment services all over the world, such as PayPal, Western Union, and even Neteller. Doing so does not only limit the imaginative possibilities of the popular digital currency, but it also shows that people give Bitcoin far less credit than it deserves. People see Bitcoin as an answer to certain questions, but are those the right questions to ask? For instance, do we even need instant transaction confirmations? In fairness, the system works – in this regard – fine the way it is, and it has been doing so for several years.
Another interesting topic of debate that sprouted on the Internet a few weeks ago is whether or not Bitcoin should remove the transaction fees altogether in the future. These fees are an incentive for the miners to include that specific transaction in the next network block, assuming the transaction is a valid one. Bitcoin without a fee model would do the digital currency – and underlying blockchain – a lot more harm than good in the long run.
Maintaining a high level of network security comes at a cost, and those costs have to be recouped from somewhere. Transaction fees does not mean digital currency is no longer suitable for cheap value transfer either, although the fee model is evolving to satisfy the market-based margins. Potential solutions are already in the works, such as sidechains and the Lightning network.
Last but not least, the mining process is far more decentralized than most people give it credit for. With nearly every existing mining pool being public, there are users from all over the world dedicated computational power to mine digital currency and secure the network. Plus, not every Bitcoin node is controlled by miners, and these nodes will still keep a watchful eye on the Bitcoin ecosystem. This is also where the Bitcoin block size debate comes into effect, as a large bump in block size could end up putting a lot of nodes out of business due to insufficient hardware capabilities.
BitFury Co-founder Valery Vavilov outlined all of these topics on a broader scale – as well as other points of interest – in a post on Medium. Anyone who claims to have the best interests of the digital currency ecosystem at heart needs to read through that entire post, as well as the other documents provided as reference material. Bitcoin is in far better shape than certain people want us to believe.
Source: Medium
If you liked this article follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin and altcoin price analysis and the latest cryptocurrency news.
No Responses