Quote from: jbreher on February 18, 2017, 12:19:25 AM

Yes, that's the one. Years ago, I shouted down bitcoin disbelievers telling them that 'of course the block size will be increased by the time they get full'. I didn't dream that there would be others who would resist this idea. Mea culpa.

If you accept my thesis that bitcoin is not a store of value, any block size in which the function of bitcoin is to act as a settlement network is useless because:

1) the main point of a settlement network is acting as a store of value

2) precious metals function as a store of value far superior than bitcoin does

This means there is virtually zero difference between 1 MB and 10 MB blocks. I did some calculations to try and quantify how much TPS bitcoin needs in order to not be a settlement network (since it has no value as a settlement network), and came up with the number 5000. I then looked up how much TPS Visa pushes and...low and behold, peaks at 4000 TPS a day.

So my general conclusion on this entire mess is, bitcoin has no value without a functioning lightning network type of system that allows it to expand beyond a settlement network into the neighborhood of something like 5000 TPS. This means arguing over 1 MB, 2 MB, and 4 MB blocks has no relevance to anything. However, someone would need to figure out a safe base block size in order to support 5000 TPS for when numerous people all close channels simultaneously.