For fcks sake. Whoever it was up thread who said that bitcoin payments were instant anyway was so full of shit.
I've been waiting 20 minutes for 1 confirmation of a BTC transaction. Its like watching paint dry.
To be fair, he didn't say that they were instant, just that for a small purchase it didn't matter because merchants could afford not to wait for confirmations due to the low risk of somebody trying a double spend attack on small amounts.
He is right that for most of the small things it doesn't make sense to wait, but it is undeniable that having instant transactions is way better than not having them! At this moment people don't do double spend attacks to avoid paying for coffee, but if somehow it became easier to do them (maybe a new wallet designed for that? I'm no expert, just a quick thought, the ease of attacking could come from many places) then it would break many things apart.
You're right. My mistake. Half an hour on one of these BTC transactions and I'm still waiting for 1 confirmation though!
I've made quite a few DRK payments today and have noticed that 6 confirmations seems to be happening a bit quicker than it recently used to. I wonder if more people have wallets open now days?