Topic: Blocks are still taking way too long. - page 4. (Read 5929 times)

That's complete BULLSHIT, 20 confirmation in a fast block system, would be vastly more secure than a 0/unconfirmed TX in a slow block system.

The vast majority of double spend attack are by using 0 confirmation because there's no cost to try double spend a 0 confirmation.

With 20 confirmation, the attack difficulty/cost is immediately skyrocketing, because then it requires actual mining power to attack.

Websites have had problems with accepting unconfirmed transactions though. There have been double spends before. BitPay and Coinbase have their own technology I believe that monitors the network for attempted double spends I think. Not sure about Coinbase but people have mentioned that about BitPay before.

too long for what

That's the problem of that particular website for not accepting your transaction when BitPay or Coinbase will accept it within seconds. Lots of businesses can accept Bitcoin on their own and not pay processing fees and still proceed with your transaction within seconds, but they chose not to.

I've used lots of websites that wait on at least one confirmation. The only exceptions seem to be when someone uses BitPay ot Coinbase. But lots of business would rather accept Bitcoin on their own and not pay processing fees.

We will see how greenaddress.it ends up working out. It could be quite good if people use it.

But orphans don't affect the people who really matter: the users of the currency. Sure some hash gets wasted. But if usability increases don't you think it's worth it?

Just one confirmation eliminates a whole category of unconfirmed transaction double spend attacks that are possible. Having that one confirmation 5-10 times quicker on average would be a big benefit. Even if the total time you would need to wait to reach full double spend security remains the same. For some transactions like a coffee, unconfirmed might be fine. But for others 1 confirmation is enough. Having that one confirmation come fast enough that you rarely if ever need to wait a very long time is an improvement. And when you're buying a house or something, you end up waiting the same amount of time anyway, so in that case it's a wash.

I'm surprised that more people in Bitcoin aren't trying to get them to change the block target time next time a hard fork gets done(which sounds like one will be happening in the near future anyway according to Gavin). If the only downside of faster blocks is wasted hash, why does anyone care? These hundred million dollar mining corporations shouldn't be a concern to you. The people who actually want to use Bitcoin as their daily use currency and have it work as best as it can should be the ones you're concerned with.

In your personal experience, which merchants are insisting on confirmation ?

A credit card transaction takes months to be confirmed. Accepting a bitcoin transaction with 0 confirmations is safer than accepting a credit card transaction.

I have waited over 30 minutes for a NXt block, so it's not always faster than bitcoin. Most of the time it's faster but not always.

Namecheap doesn't require a single confirmation when you make a Bitcoin deposit.

It will post instantly and show up in your balance. They use BitPay as payment processor.

If Namecheap can do this other businesses can do it as well. Only not sure if they also accept large deposits without confirmations to post instantly.

Unless you're talking about unconfirmed transaction propegation I find it hard to beleive that you've never been the victim of a 30 minute plus wait time for blocks. Especially considering 30 minute blocks are not even that rare at all, and 1 hour+ blocks have been observed often enough.

Just look at https://blockchain.info/ once in a while and you'll constantly see long block times. Just now I clicked in and we see this:

325004   2 minutes   990   13,547.15 BTC   GHash.IO   340.81
325003   27 minutes   105   1,036.64 BTC   Unknown with 1AcAj9p Address   58.93
325002   29 minutes   403   2,056.85 BTC   KnCMiner   239.75
325001   36 minutes   1127   5,914.54 BTC   Discus Fish   593.95
325000   1 hour 2 minutes   620   4,158.71 BTC   Eligius   290.01
324999   1 hour 17 minutes

I bolded long block gaps. First one is 25 minutes and the second one is 26 minutes. Everyone I know who's used Bitcoin knows about the long block times, so I don't understand where you're coming from unless you're talking about unconfirmed tx.

Obviously the block time target is 10 minutes. But variance dictates that we often see block times much shorter and much longer than that. With the long ones being the issue of course.

It is a serious concern and one I hope the great bitcoin minds can resolve.

Yeah, this. I've had a free (no fee) transaction take several hours, but that's my fault for not including a fee.

sure it is.  daily latte = 0 confirmation transaction

Can somebody please post a transaction to demonstrate this long verification time? I'm just not seeing it.

I don't think the hashrate is even decreasing, it seems to be increasing fast and it wouldn't make alot of difference in the confirmation time. The main factor is variance and at time, it takes more time than usual. There are ways to avoid the double spending attack. Even though it may not be recommended, offchain transaction can be made for instant and safe transaction. If you wait a few seconds and take some safety measures, you may be safe enough to accept smaller payments.

I think it's because of the mining power decrease  Hopefully confirm time will be shorter soon when price rises.

Yeah people like me will do that..

If we had shorter block times then we would see more orphaned blocks and more orphaned chains. If we had a 30 second block time then 20 confirmations would be less secure then one confirmation as it is now. 20 confirmations would be less secure then a 0/unconfirmed TX as it is now.

The higher level of orphans would also cause the miners to have less earnings potential which means they would want to spend less resources mining which means the network would be less secure.