Topic: Last block was over 30 minutes ago, how does this work in the real world? (Read 388 times)

I am no longer in a hurry and a simple transaction is still taking a totally unbelievable amount of time..........LOL?

How many more threads are you going to create complaining about confirmations?

There are many, many ways to completely side-step Bitcoin's confirmations times in the "real world" but I feel like it would be a waste of time laying them all out for you. In a few weeks you will simply create another thread complaining about confirmation times.

I'll give you some anyway, use your imagination to figure out the rest.

1. Companies offer digital gift cards which can be topped up with bitcoins.
2. You pay with a credit card, just like you use in the "real world" now, except you pay off your monthly balance with bitcoin.
3. A brick and mortar store requires ID for 0 confirmation Bitcoin payments so they can find you should you attempt a double spend.
4. A company simply accepts 0 confirmation Bitcoin transactions and eats the risk of double spends, just like they do with bad checks, etc...
5. Most online shops selling physical goods will have plenty of time to wait for confirmations due to the shipping process, so it's a non-issue here.

Bitcoin doesn't shine as a daily use currency (although as I've shown, there are ways to skirt the issue). It's a decentralized, censorship-proof (some prefer censorship-resistant) currency, and that comes with some trade-offs. When you go to a tool box, you typically have many different tools which are each only good at specific jobs. The swiss army knife type tools are typically sub par at everything. Learn the limitations of Bitcoin and deal with it.

Well with the right precautions, a company can accept a 0-conf transaction. If you check that the transaction has no previous transactions, has a high enough fee, is considered standard, and is final, then they can reasonably assume that the transaction will confirm. The company can also continue to rebroadcast the transaction so that it remains on the network.

For digital goods, this isn't always an issue. If the transaction sending the digital goods can be reversed by the party that should be on the receiving end of the bitcoin transactions, a zero confirmation transaction wouldn't really be an issue. Reddit practices that for bitcoin payments and certain bitcoin payment processors allow it. I know that accepting zero confirmation transaction takes away the restlessness bitcoin can offer, but at least 30 minute block intervals aren't that frequent.

Unlucky block I guess.

The only issue I can see here is that it is taking a long time to get a confirmation on a block, aside from that I don't see much of an issue. As long as companies are receiving from (presumably) normal people, chances are they won't worry about a double-spend attack in the real world. That is, of course, if this was being used in the "real world" and not just online niche sites using Bitcoin.

I know the final confirmation on credit cards takes several months, but most BTC companies need 1 confirmation from a new block.
Last block was over 30 minutes ago, how does this work in the real world?