Re: Reminder: zero-conf is not safe; $500USD reward posted for replace-by-fee patch
There's no guarantee, but Satoshi's paper addresses the dynamics of this - rational miners shouldn't want to undermine the validity of their own wealth.
But they wouldn't be undermining their own wealth, I'd say the contrary actually.
Doing things that significantly reduce the utility of the system is self-defeating even over the medium term because it'd lead people to just give up on the system in disgust and sell their coins, driving down the price.
You're being overly dramatic here, admit it. Being able to replace 0-conf tx would not be such a bad thing.
I'd say that "selling" a false impression of security could actually do more damage. And the fact is that 0-conf are, by definition, replaceable.
I think it's fair to say that being unable to buy basic things like food or drinks in person would reduce the utility of Bitcoin for a lot of people.
But they'd still be able to do it.
First, if the merchant knows his/her customer, no major problem in accepting 0-conf.
If he doesn't, still, he can rely on insurance contracts that will on their turn have miners committing to mine a particular transaction instead of any replacement.
Besides that, merchants could also collectively - and voluntarily - try to blacklist double-spenders.
Sums all that, and you'll have very little fraud, if any.
Actually, why am I telling all these things to you? All these ideas are yours after all... hum... Friday evening, you're already drinking or something?
