Topic: Poll: What happens when the blockchain size gets too big? (Read 2015 times)
It looked like this was going to be a problem in 2012-2013, when growth in transaction volume was expected. Then the growth in transaction rate slowed down.. The current system can handle about 600K transactions per day, and the current rate is around 75K per day. We're years away from problems. Bitcoin will probably be over before this becomes a problem.
At some point wouldn't it make sense to cull some of the very old data in the blockchain? Why not get rid of transactions that are like 100 transactions ago? I'm not saying to use a time based limit (because people could have BTC stored and not use it for years) but transactions that were hundreds of transactions ago, why not?
First of all, there are on the order of 500 transactions in a typical block (currently at https://blockchain.info/), so "hundreds of transactions" is not nearly old enough - maybe instead, you can store the balance of ~3 million (current) addresses with their balances in a ledger.Second, it reduces the security. E.g. what if someone created a ledger (via 51% attack) that says that they have every bitcoin in circulation? How would we know that's the true result of the chain of transactions, and not fictional? The cryptographic signatures authorizing each transaction are the only thing preventing a 51% attack from stealing all bitcoins (instead of just doing other disruptive things).
At some point wouldn't it make sense to cull some of the very old data in the blockchain? Why not get rid of transactions that are like 100 transactions ago? I'm not saying to use a time based limit (because people could have BTC stored and not use it for years) but transactions that were hundreds of transactions ago, why not?
When it becomes too big the world will end.
Seriously, nothing will happen. Regular people don't need the entire thing anyway.
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Seriously, nothing will happen. Regular people don't need the entire thing anyway.
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Either it'll become centralized with only a handful of people having the Blockchain, or if the currency stays legitimate, the developers will figure out a way to condense old transactions. For instance, you could stop confirmations at a point where it's obviously safe. Therefore, creating a break in the blockchain. How you'd pull this off is beyond me, though.
What happens when the blockchain gets bigger? we will all be rich with Bitcoin so will be able to afford the new technology obviously.
When I realized that poll options are being added from comments on the thread, this thread lost all semblance of sanity. Or, it tries to represent the ever-growing blockchain as an ever-growing poll. New thread idea: What happens when the poll in this thread gets too big?
Oh yes just realised it, it won't work because there are too many options and the quality of the responses is not taken enough into account
i think it will crack down
When I realized that poll options are being added from comments on the thread, this thread lost all semblance of sanity. Or, it tries to represent the ever-growing blockchain as an ever-growing poll. New thread idea: What happens when the poll in this thread gets too big?
Blockchain getting big; quantum computers; power grid failure are not as potentially harmfull than a government ban for the price because they are problems that can be dealt with with a long term solution
Many people have discussed this recently and what do you think will happen? (comments added to the poll)
You can get hosting on websites that let you create a username and they give you 50 gigabytes of data to store for free. These websites use whatever you upload like most websites do. But if it doesn't matter than you get unlmiited storage lol. I store tons of stuff on free websites.
If it will ever became a problem you should just use a lightweight wallet like Electrum / Armory / Multibit, but there's no reason to worry about it.
What I worry is there is less people to use bitcoin qt and download the whole blockchain. The number of nodes is not increasing much. Even the existing nodes may quit. It is bad for the wealth and security of BTC network.
It's a mixture of options, it wont matter because of lightweight clients and tehcnology will become bigger and cheaper so things like 1tb flash drives wont be uncommon (or something similar).
If it will ever became a problem you should just use a lightweight wallet like Electrum / Armory / Multibit, but there's no reason to worry about it.
Nothing will happen. Most wallets won't even download the blockchain so it doesn't matter.
Blockchain size? I'd be way more worried about a division of the NSA cleverly implanting snippets of tracking code covertly into every form of the Bitcoin protocol in all the various mirrors that house the protocol, through covert hacking.
this wont be an issue for some time and perhaps never because, as others have stated the growth in storage space far exceeds the growth of the block chain.
even if the size does become a problem there are various pruning and compression techniques that could be applied to shrink the block chain so I doubt it will ever get "too big"
even if the size does become a problem there are various pruning and compression techniques that could be applied to shrink the block chain so I doubt it will ever get "too big"
It won't be a big problem since the storage cost is decreasing every year more, with 60$ you can buy a 1tb external hd...
We'll I for one don't think it's a necessarily good aspect of Bitcoin if you have to download 1 TB of data before vein able to try it out. Sure, regular people use light-clients. But that doesn't mean the underlying technology can't evolve to become better and more scalable!
It won't be a big problem since the storage cost is decreasing every year more, with 60$ you can buy a 1tb external hd...
It's simple. First of all regular users will more than ever use light clients. But there will be an increased pressure on developers to make a solution to breaking the Blockchain up into subsequent "frozen states" every n Blocks. These snapshots will feature the balance of the latest chain state and can be validated whether they're "legit"
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