For the new Alice's and Bob's amongs us (like me): a clear but comprehensible technical explanation on BTC

in #bitcoin7 years ago (edited)

How to check if someone is allowed to transfer an amount of BTC from one account to another?

How was the BTC technology designed to prevent against double spends and all kinds of other questions?

What is it that miners do exactly?

..and several other questions are explained in a clear way in this very informative video.

One question that remains (for myself), is why people say that the value of BTC will increase because there is a finite amount of BTC, while you can do transactions up to something like 9 decimals?

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As to your last question, IMO it comes down to simple supply and demand. Miner reward (supply) is limited and trending down over time, while demand is going up, and expenses (energy+hardware+labor) relatively fixed. Miners get paid in bitcoins--not satoshis--so that is the unit that is valued because it has actual cost to it.

I think a more interesting value argument regarding the dilution of Bitcoin value is from the entire altcoin financial ecosystem, rather than using its tiny denominations as value transfers (i.e. colored coins I suppose). There seems to be infinite competition and dilution potential there. Typically, a handful of winners emerge and the rest fade into obscurity.

Bitcoin has the most experienced devs and brand recognition and of course the most secure blockchain, so it isn't losing dominance anytime soon, regardless of the market cap 'dominance ratings'. Its real ace in the hole is the fact that Satoshi isn't going to be arrested for trumped up financial charges. I can't think of another project with this advantage.

Good points, thanks for the explanation. In regards to your last point, do you think all other cryptocurrencies with a similar purpose as BTC were designed by people who might be vulnerable to criminal/financial charges?