Researchers Find Problems With Rules of Bitcoin

holy_calamity (872269) writes "Using game theory to analyze the rules of cryptocurrency Bitcoin suggests some changes are needed to make the currency sustainable in the long term, reports MIT Technology Review. Studies from Princeton and Cornell found that current rules governing the mining of bitcoins leave room for cheats or encourage behavior that could destabilize the currency. Such changes could be difficult to implement, given the fact Bitcoin — by design — lacks any central authority." The main problem discovered is that transaction fees do not provide enough incentive to continue operating as "miner" after there are no more bitcoins left to be mined.

Comments

Re:main issue is the whole system

[JaredOfEuropa]

everyone just needs to accept this: BITCOIN IS A SCAM

We all "just" need to take your word for it, or did you have anything to substantiate this claim?

Bitcoin is just a mechanism to transfer tokens ("coins") securely from one wallet to another, and gradually add tokens to the available pool by letting anyone who wants to mine them. There's no scam in the design; the scammy part is in the way we attached value to those tokens, and the way exchanges manipulate that value (or just take off with our coins). Calling Bitcoin a scam is a bit like calling tulip bulbs evil by design because at some point in history silly people paid fortunes for them. Or calling the dollar scammy by design because Motherf..ing Guido just made off with the wad of cash you gave him for safekeeping.