Quote from: Anders on October 03, 2014, 09:38:11 PM

But what about transaction speeds? Paying for a coffee at Starbucks should only take a few seconds at most. 0-confirmation transactions or...

Another of the key realizations to be had is that security can't actually be made to happen any faster. (Despite what most alts would have you believe.) There is no such thing as a secure "0-confirmation transaction" or "instant send" because it eliminates the very thing that creates security over the transaction, that being the passing of time.

It is easy for us to forget that Bitcoin is not really, at heart, a system of money. It is a system of measuring the time passed since "some event" was logged by the network. It is designed to measure a probabilistic hour in ten minute average increments.

Let's look at two hypothetical networks. Network A is like BTC, with 10 minute blocks and 6 confirmations recommended for maximum security. Network B is a "fast coin" with one minute blocks and 10 confirms.

Let's say both networks have exactly the same average hash-rate, the same number of identical processors hashing on each. The precise number chosen doesn't matter for the thought experiment, as long as the networks are physically equivalent.

I receive a coin on network A and a coin on network B. Then an hour passes. Which coin is more secured?

The answer is, of course, neither. They both have exactly the same amount of security behind them. The same amount of work was put behind both by now, that being whatever the network can provide in one hour. No more, no less, regardless of the block interval or "suggested" confirms

Satoshi et al advised 6 blocks of 10 minutes. One hour. Regardless of your alt-coin parameters you can't get this much security by any means that doesn't involve waiting, on average, one hour. You just simply can't magic the network into being able to add "an average hours' worth of security" in anything less than one hour.

The only amount of security that you can get from 0 time passing is none at all.