Thank you for answering my earlier questions. One thing that struck me in an earlier post (and having listened to podcasts), was the fact that some other alt-coins ride the block-chain. I assume by using it, they enlarge it, making it harder to d/l and store. Isn't this a "tragedy of the commons" scenario?
.....cut for brevity......
While services that attempt to build on top of the blockchain may add a few more transaction to a block, they also increase the utility and therefore the value of bitcoin. Furthermore, to get those transactions confirmed quickly they need to pay transaction fees in bitcoins. This adds to the bitcoin economy and increases the revenue for the miners.
won't get out of hand. I just bought a couple BTC for offline storage and this makes me feel better about the future.