Quote from: Ytterbium on July 23, 2013, 04:21:24 PM

I don't understand what you're talking about. If everyone switched off half their equipment, they would all still make the same amount of money, 25BTC per block, and the difficulty would be 1/2 what it is now. The problem is there would be no way to coordinate everything. A miner who cheats would get 2x as many blocks.

The block reward is going to drop to 12.5, and then 6.75, then 3.375, etc over time anyway. It's already dropped from 50 to 25.

The point is that not everyone would switch off at the same time. Furthermore, those who accept a lower fee only have to do half the work, so they are 2x as likely to win the block. No need to coordinate anything, each player could choose which is better for them: reduced inflation or increased mining payout. Those with large holdings and small hash power would want reduced inflation. Everyone else would want increased mining payout.