Re: [Bitcoin-development] replace-by-fee v0.10.0rc4

[Mike Hearn <mike@plan99.net>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2784 bytes --]

>
> > So you're just arguing that a notary is different to a miner, without
> spelling out exactly why.
>
I'm afraid I still don't understand why you think notaries would build long
term businesses but miners wouldn't, in this model.

I think you are saying because notaries have identity, brand awareness and
because they have big up front bonds, that means they will be trustworthy.

Well, sure. It's the same model governments use and is why being a money
transmitter in the USA is so difficult: you need to put up large sums of
money as collateral and have your fingerprints taken 48 times. *Then* you
can start advertising to get customers!

The reason mining is such a nice model is it doesn't have these sorts of
requirements.

> As notaries can be small operations ..... [snip] ...... (almost every
> large organization in the world have some unallocated funds somewhere).
>
Which is it? Are notaries small operations or large operations?

I think exploring new consensus models with semi-trusted notaries is
interesting, but it's not Bitcoin.

> Depending on that which isn't guaranteed is baaaad, and breaking other
> people's assumptions is by itself NOT an attack if there never was a
> guarantee or even as little as an implicit understanding it is safe.
>
Please don't try and apply this logic in the real world :( Rephrased:

"*That's a nice house. I noticed it's made of wood. I'm going to start
fires until it burns down, because there is no guarantee your house won't
burn down in future and it's important you understand that wooden houses
aren't safe. Really I'm just doing you a favour*."

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for what *you're* doing - please do continue to
research and explore alternative trust configurations! This is helpful and
useful work. Perhaps we will find something that solves the burger problem
in a way that satisfies everyone.

I'm really not a fan of Peter's approach, which is "hey let's try and cause
as many problems as possible to try and prove a point, without having
created any solutions". Replace-by-fee-scorched-earth doesn't work and
isn't a solution. Miners can easily cut payment fraudsters in on the stolen
money, and as they'd need to distribute custom double-spending wallets to
make the scheme work it'd be very easy to do.

> Your also ssume people will expect the Bitcoin network to keep zero-conf
> safe forever and that Bitcoin valuation is tied to that. Given the options
> available and current state of things, I'm assuming that's wrong.
>
Why? You think ability to make payments in a few seconds is some irrelevant
curiousity?

Let's put it this way. If BitPay's business model evaporates tomorrow,
along with all the merchants they support, do you think that'd have any
effect on Bitcoin's value? If not, why not?

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3817 bytes --]