On Fri, 18 Aug 2017 14:40:20 -0500 Steven Schear <schear.steve@gmail.com> wrote:

Agreed. Atm its almost all gambling. I'm hoping BTC crashes because L2 scaling is not tested and ready but L2 8MB blocks seem to be solid.

well, I don't know how far development of the lightning network has gone, but there's no reason why it can't be further developed to make it "production ready" I would assume. On the other hand, it seem kinda obvious that bitcoin can't handle a lot of small transactions. And it's true that the bigger the blocks get, the more hardware you need to run a validating node and the more centralized the network becomes. Centralization is already pretty bad as far as miners and exchanges are concerned.

A currency can't just be used for gambling and have any lasting value. Fees are so high on BTC as preclude any use BUT gambling whereas BCCs are back where BTC was 2 years+ ago. Imagine if USD could only be used for bank wires and SWIFT settlement. How useful would it be to most people?

Yes, limiting bitcoin to high value transactions, digital gold style, would limit its utility as 'currency'. So the second layer approach can make sense after all... Disclaimer : I don't necessarily trust blockstream either...

On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 2:21 PM, juan <juan.g71@gmail.com> wrote:

...

On Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:40:24 -0500 Steven Schear <schear.steve@gmail.com> wrote:

...

On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 12:30 PM, juan <juan.g71@gmail.com> wrote:

...

On Fri, 18 Aug 2017 09:29:54 -0500 Steven Schear <schear.steve@gmail.com> wrote:

...

[Disclosure: I am a strong supporter of L1 (Blockchain scaling) occurring before any L2 (e.g., Segwit, Blockstream, Lightening Network, etc.) is attempted. And even then all L2 must be thoroughly examined not only for technical flaws but for possible misuses

misuses such as? And who is going to do the examination?

For example, Lightning Networks, due to the methods of "channel" controls, can enable fractional reserve of the blockchain assets.

As far as I know payment channels only allow you to use the amount of btc you transferred to the channel.

OK, maybe it's possible to explicitly create a 'fractional' system but that's not how the lightning network protocol is supposed to operate.

...

Members of the community with the technical chops do the exams. However, politics and self-interest being what they are I have little doubt the debates will be 'lively' and degenerate into the usual ad hominem as occurred in the lead up to the current fork.

I guess it's a matter of "wait and see". Oh, so BCH price has doubled in a couple of days....but I don't think that means much since a lot of what's going on in cryptocurrency 'markets' is just gambling.

...

...

....

...