From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (smtp1.linux-foundation.org [172.17.192.35]) by mail.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0D05913CC for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2015 08:48:22 +0000 (UTC) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.6 Received: from smtp1.hushmail.com (smtp1.hushmail.com [65.39.178.135]) by smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id AB7A28B for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2015 08:48:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtp1.hushmail.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smtp1.hushmail.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 69317401B6 for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2015 08:48:21 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed; d=hush.com; h=date:to:subject:from; s=hush; bh=uA6zyzcLktDmnPojt/KU6nY2vP2uiNjkPYsYN2CXdDo=; b=d1peJ6I1DVGetmHlw0WrlfLY/0NI5K9gxALdqL4cacAtedItzzhtcwpdUIREduQYo8hqpok7bzHvpOgCp/9kXkUX1hgzCTzOpiHnw9cIujrA/BvNZzlfikBtD505ie6uq76I4kkBx5wvfuQP99YGoqiXKbq0hQxrAKZtD1/NVFVj/6PVDCTiFL6Hhcij8qKNGdFDJx6KVb6xJkohtONiXoBxe7Ri1d0hYlwbN4/+upL9IB/hyWcmhgULlKHTXo3Y2XB/wilG53jVHO/qAcH6dBt862acomnV3q9mcIK9agxZoyAdG2kfH+io+e8dcB3tjAFHI2pd5ob6dhMPKhQIQw== Received: from smtp.hushmail.com (w7.hushmail.com [65.39.178.32]) by smtp1.hushmail.com (Postfix) with ESMTP; Mon, 21 Sep 2015 08:48:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: by smtp.hushmail.com (Postfix, from userid 99) id 24D1E404BA; Mon, 21 Sep 2015 08:48:21 +0000 (UTC) MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2015 11:48:20 +0300 To: "Eric Lombrozo" , s7r@sky-ip.org, bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org From: "NxtChg" In-Reply-To: References: <55FF2632.2010804@sky-ip.org> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Message-Id: <20150921084821.24D1E404BA@smtp.hushmail.com> X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.7 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU, FREEMAIL_FROM, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW autolearn=ham version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on smtp1.linux-foundation.org Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Scaling Bitcoin conference micro-report X-BeenThere: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12 Precedence: list List-Id: Bitcoin Development Discussion List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2015 08:48:22 -0000 >Larger user base won't necessarily protect against governments if >we still have chokepoints they can go after. This is the critical confusion about Bitcoin decentralization, which leads to this whole recent mess of shouting at each other. Decentralization is _not_ a way to withstand an attack, if the government "goes after you". Many people got this idea drilled into their heads in the previous years, that Bitcoin is a "movement" to fight governments, and decentralization is its main weapon. They confuse Bitcoin and Anonymous. >What we really need to grow is the number of nodes on the network >that participate in its basic infrastructure - namely: miners, validators, etc... Absolutely. Nobody argues that we shouldn't care about decentralization. But who's gonna pay for all this? What are the incentives? We need Bitcoin to get much more popular for this to happen.