Bitcoin conquered millions of people with promises of fast peer-to-peer transactions with reduced commissions. But as the popularity of this crypto currency grows , bitcoin users are constantly faced with delays in transfers and increased transaction costs.

Reddit has long been discussing the many hack-related around bitcoin technical problems that cast doubt on the initial promises of developers. The wave of discussions forced the development community to correct the information presented on the Bitcoin.org website (do not confuse Bitcoin.com with Bitcoin Cash ) with information on key characteristics of bitcoin.

Instead of fast transactions and low commissions, the site now advertises the technology of peer-to-peer transactions, limitless payments and protection from scammers.

Adjustments may seem insignificant, but they indicate the possibility of switching bitcoin from the category of crypto-currency to the category of digital assets.

None of the technical proposals received to improve the bitcoin network to increase the speed and profitability of transactions has received full approval from the crypto community. In fact, some proposals divided the community into two camps.

One of the most anticipated solutions is the Lightning Network system. Unfortunately, the technology seems to be not yet ready for implementation at the commercial level:

Now we do not recommend using any Lightning development in the main bitcoin network. – the representative of Lightning Network reports. – We are in vain distracted by this. It is strongly recommended that you wait for the beta version of the Lightning Network protocol with additional security features.

In the meantime, it’s better for users to think carefully before making a commission of $ 20 for a 10-dollar transaction. Bitcoin is not the most suitable crypto currency for making small transfers.”

Is centralization the future of bitcoin?

Let’s imagine what happened unthinkable: bitcoin has become a currency that people around the world pay for purchases.

Imagine that in this beautiful world all non-cash payments are made in bitcoins. In cafes and beauty salons of the whole planet, people get not credit cards, but their favorite hardware or mobile bitcoins- purses. Just think how many such payments will be made in this ideal world!

Now the total amount of annual non-cash transactions around the world is about 522 billion. Given that this number is growing continuously, by the time we find ourselves in our fabulous crypto future, this amount will be much larger. One can not accurately predict when it will come – so let’s imagine that bitcoin has become the world’s main currency today.

How big is the block?

Now we will find out by simple calculations how big our block will be.

522 billion transactions per year are 1.4 billion transactions per day, which in turn corresponds to 9,722,220 transactions for every 10 minutes. It is with such a periodicity that the blocks are added to the blockhouse.

If the transactions are approximately the same and occupy 250 bytes, then each block will contain approximately 2.4 gigabytes of information.

The daily volume of data entered into the block is 350 gigabytes per day and, correspondingly, 127 terabytes a year.