Size of BTC blockchain centuries from now... - page 5.

SgtSpike

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Quote from: nebulus on September 14, 2012, 01:41:26 PM

Quote from: Gavin Andresen on September 14, 2012, 01:35:59 PM

I expect that in 200 years 10 terabytes of storage will cost a few pennies.

Okay, I should have been more accurate in forming my thought.
Besides, just storage... there is bandwidth, HD (device speed), probably RAM is somehow also intertwined to search the transaction history, etc...

Then there's the option of a lite client that doesn't require downloading the blockchain.

nebulus

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... it only gets better...

Quote from: Gavin Andresen on September 14, 2012, 01:35:59 PM

I expect that in 200 years 10 terabytes of storage will cost a few pennies.

Okay, I should have been more accurate in forming my thought.
Besides, just storage... there is bandwidth, HD (device speed), probably RAM is somehow also intertwined to search the transaction history, etc...

Gavin Andresen

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Chief Scientist

Right now, there is a hard-coded limit of 1 megabyte per block.

If we assume that limit never changes, that gives:
1MB per block * 6 blocks per hour * 24*365.25*200 = 10,519,200 MB

... or 10.5 terabytes for the maximum size of the entire blockchain over the next 200 years (somebody check my math, I'm really good at dropping zeroes).

I expect that in 200 years 10 terabytes of storage will cost a few pennies.

Now whether or not that 1 megabyte per block limit should go away is hotly debated, and will be debated more and more as transaction volume increases.

nebulus

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Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on September 14, 2012, 01:17:51 PM

In 1980 a 26 MB hard drive cost ~$5,000 (or $193,000,000 per TB).
Obviously angry birds isn't viable. I mean who is going to spend a couple hundred dollars in storage on a free game.

Well, you are assuming here that storage space/bandwidth will increase at the same rate as the number of transactions. I guess there is an equilibrium point somewhere here. Bitcoin just have to wait until better tech comes around. So technically, if there is no better tech, Bitcoins fucked.

flatfly

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090930

Other clients than Bitcoin-Qt are available, not all of which require the full blockchain: dre.redmartian.org/compare.htm

DeathAndTaxes

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Gerald Davis

In 1980 a 26 MB hard drive cost ~$5,000 (or $193,000,000 per TB).
Obviously angry birds isn't viable. I mean who is going to spend a couple hundred dollars in storage on a free game.

nebulus

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Hello, I am sitting here and downloading the transaction history in order to test the wallet I had backed up months ago. Let me tell you, it's been two days already and a major pain in the ass. But anyway, this got me thinking if we approach the future where BTC transaction are going to increase (exponetionally or not) does the blockchain size eventually become infinite? Also, how in the world people who can't afford equipment that can process large data, would benefit from BTC?

Thanks for answers!

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