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Topic: Bitcoin halving, does it have to be like this? (Read 1959 times)

legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 2965
Terminated.
November 28, 2013, 03:18:53 PM
#20
I wonder what the price will be by then.
donator
Activity: 994
Merit: 1000
predictable events like that will be correctly priced by the market.

Easy answer, but just how will the market price it in?  Will it ubruptly increase the price of a Bitcoin to allow the miners margins to persist, or will they have to increase fees to cover?  At the rate things are going mining will probably rely on fees to cover costs anyway.
In the time before the drop inefficient mining equipment will change hands and be relocated to areas with low or no power costs. This will be a rather smooth transition, since people have different ideas on when the optimal time for liquidation is.
sr. member
Activity: 320
Merit: 250
Economics 101.. if there is less supply, the price goes up.  So eventually the price just adjusts itself (read: doubles)
Ah theoretically that's what happens. The last time the blockchain reward got halved, the price didn't exactly double.
legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 2965
Terminated.
But could somebody change the rules? Is it even possible??
Yes it is possible, but the majority of investors/consumers would probably lose their trust in BTC.
legendary
Activity: 896
Merit: 1006
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But could somebody change the rules? Is it even possible??
Miners can adopt any changes they want.  However if not all miners agree then welcome to hard fork.
sr. member
Activity: 543
Merit: 250
But could somebody change the rules? Is it even possible??
sr. member
Activity: 245
Merit: 250
predictable events like that will be correctly priced by the market.

Easy answer, but just how will the market price it in?  Will it ubruptly increase the price of a Bitcoin to allow the miners margins to persist, or will they have to increase fees to cover?  At the rate things are going mining will probably rely on fees to cover costs anyway.
legendary
Activity: 2674
Merit: 2965
Terminated.
Every 4 years the Bitcoin reward halves, this creates a significant event in the mining community where people's operation suddenly becoming unprofitable, this may cause some unpredictability and instability in the bitcoin ecosystem.

Why isn't this reward smoothed so it is a function of the block number, no major jumps, just a slow decrease in the bitcoins mined each block?

predictable events like that will be correctly priced by the market.
This always happens in the altcoin market and they've stayed profitable.
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 501
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If we start changing the rules , one thing could lead to another.
Bitcoin is a success based on how it is designed and the protocol rules.
If we change the rewards or the timing , the next step will be chaos.
full member
Activity: 152
Merit: 100
Just wondering, when is the next halving going to be?

http://bitcoinclock.com/
hero member
Activity: 750
Merit: 601
Yes, you guys are right, its priced into an efficient market, and its anticipated by the miners.
But I can't see a positive reason for it being like this, but the negative implications of it, can probably be dealt with.

There is no compelling reason to change, but if we could do it all again, perhaps it would be a better way.



full member
Activity: 182
Merit: 100
Just wondering, when is the next halving going to be?
hero member
Activity: 546
Merit: 500
hm
Every 4 years the Bitcoin reward halves, this creates a significant event in the mining community where people's operation suddenly becoming unprofitable, this may cause some unpredictability and instability in the bitcoin ecosystem.

Why isn't this reward smoothed so it is a function of the block number, no major jumps, just a slow decrease in the bitcoins mined each block?


Every miner knows about this halving and calculates with it. It is not that it suddendly halves and the miner just bought expensive hardware and is now surprised. It ist different with the difficulty. I don't know how high it will be in 3 years. How high the block reward will be, I know. But not, how high in dollars.

There is no need for change!
member
Activity: 102
Merit: 10
Economics 101.. if there is less supply, the price goes up.  So eventually the price just adjusts itself (read: doubles)
legendary
Activity: 1386
Merit: 1004
Every 4 years the Bitcoin reward halves, this creates a significant event in the mining community where people's operation suddenly becoming unprofitable, this may cause some unpredictability and instability in the bitcoin ecosystem.

Why isn't this reward smoothed so it is a function of the block number, no major jumps, just a slow decrease in the bitcoins mined each block?

predictable events like that will be correctly priced by the market.

+1

I didn't believe it either and thought it was harsh until I experienced the first one. The next one is less of an issue due to experience. 
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
agree with Jutarul.

as the miners know it's going to happen they can make an economic calculation before they invest.
donator
Activity: 994
Merit: 1000
Every 4 years the Bitcoin reward halves, this creates a significant event in the mining community where people's operation suddenly becoming unprofitable, this may cause some unpredictability and instability in the bitcoin ecosystem.

Why isn't this reward smoothed so it is a function of the block number, no major jumps, just a slow decrease in the bitcoins mined each block?

predictable events like that will be correctly priced by the market.
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1003
We are the champions of the night
Not a bad idea, but it also makes it harder to time when to enter mining.  If it just steadily went down, would make it a lot harder to decide when it would be a good time to buy a rig.  The way it is now, mining hardware prices decrease right after the block reward goes down.  That's the only reason I can really think of why it wouldn't be a good idea..  Then again, with the way difficulty is right now, the block reward is almost a moot point
hero member
Activity: 980
Merit: 500
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Every 4 years the Bitcoin reward halves, this creates a significant event in the mining community where people's operation suddenly becoming unprofitable, this may cause some unpredictability and instability in the bitcoin ecosystem.

Why isn't this reward smoothed so it is a function of the block number, no major jumps, just a slow decrease in the bitcoins mined each block?


Every difficulty jump is your "smoothing" basically. But you make an interesting point.
hero member
Activity: 750
Merit: 601
Every 4 years the Bitcoin reward halves, this creates a significant event in the mining community where people's operation suddenly becoming unprofitable, this may cause some unpredictability and instability in the bitcoin ecosystem.

Why isn't this reward smoothed so it is a function of the block number, no major jumps, just a slow decrease in the bitcoins mined each block?
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