Hacker News Reader

Comment by repomies69 | Hacker News Reader

Bitcoin is never going to change from PoW... That's the point of the system, Bitcoin is unchangable, unlike Ethereum.

But you are free to create your own PoS cryptocurrency. If some PoS system offers the same security features as Bitcoin, people will just switch from Bitcoin to that.

View on HN

Security is not the main reason for Bitcoin's success within the cryptocurrency scene, it's that it's the first and most recognizable name. But because its creator is AWOL it's incredibly difficult to push for any fundamental change to the protocol without creating huge divisions and probably a very controversial fork (of which there already have been a few). Unless Satoshi themselves decides to make a comeback, I don't think it'll ever happen.

People are not using Bitcoin because it's the most advanced or secure cryptocurrency, they use bitcoin because it was the first and will probably be the last to go whenever that whole flaming garbage bag of a "technology" hits the bin.

> Security is not the main reason

Wrong. Bitcoin has the most security because it has network effect. Most people hop onto the most secure chain, which is Bitcoin, which increases its security. That's what network effect in this context means.

There are only a handful of cryptocurrencies that have the same properties as Bitcoin. While being first sure is a factor, that's at least not how Bitcoin maxis argue.

- Permissionless chain. Anyone can join by just downloading software and start mining. Tbf it has moved beyond this quite a bit with ASICs but you can still validate.

- Fair launch (just filtering all cryptocurrencies on this criteria will result in ~10 or so)

- Devs, anyone can make a PR or write BIPs.

- No foundation/community/devs that extract a fee from the operation of the chain. Communities and companies operate outside of the Bitcoin network. - Hard cap on 21m coins.

Most others compromise on some of these to use less energy, be faster, enrich themselves, or all.

Bitcoin has changed in the past. The block size, for example, is something that was modified a few years ago.

See also the "block size controversy" [0]

[0]: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Block_size_limit_controversy

Bitcoin will either die or will eventually have much higher transaction fees compared to Ethereum. Because somebody's gotta pay that power bill.

Maybe that won't matter, but I hope it will.

https://www.konstantinschubert.com/2018/11/28/proof-of-stake...

Bitcoin is still software. Software can change. It's the people who refuse to change it

A huge chunk of the miners fought tooth-and-nail to not increase the maximum block size. The chance of them agreeing to something like this seems very low indeed.

Doesn't actually need the miner's consent, only needs the market to agree. Problem is there isn't really any entity with sufficient authority for the market to follow, so it will tent to bias towards the status quo, and miners tend to have a lot of money and so influence in the market (both hard and soft).

Yes, other way to put it is that the incentives for the software are designed in a way which makes certain changes extremely unlikely. However some changes are happening all the time (features added via a soft fork)

>> Bitcoin is unchangable

Bitcoin can and does change. Some aspects, such as the supply cap, are unlikely to change any time soon but are certainly not bounded by physics.

What about bitcoin makes it unchangeable other than the culture of the people who run it? Culture can be subject to change.

Ignoring network effects.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com