Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Floating fees and SPV clients

From: Peter Todd <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2013 07:07:34 -0500

On Tue, Dec 03, 2013 at 12:57:23PM +0100, Taylor Gerring wrote:
> 
> On Dec 3, 2013, at 12:29 PM, Mike Hearn <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> > It may be acceptable that receivers don't always receive exactly what they requested, at least for person-to-business transactions.  For person-to-person transactions of course any fee at all is confusing because you intuitively expect that if you send 1 mBTC, then 1 mBTC will arrive the other end. I wonder if we'll end up in a world where buying things from shops involves paying fees, and (more occasional?) person-to-person transactions tend to be free and people just understand that the money isn't going to be spendable for a while.
> 
> 
> > person-to-business transactions.  For person-to-person transactions
> Why should there be two classes of transactions? Where does paying a local business at a farmer’s stand lie in that realm? Transactions should work the same regardless of who is on the receiving end.
> 
> > any fee at all is confusing because you intuitively expect that if you send 1 mBTC, then 1 mBTC will arrive the other end
> The paradigm of sending money has an explicit cost is not new... I think people are used to Western Union/PayPal and associated fees, no?  It’s okay to have a fee if it’s reasonable, so let’s inform the user what the estimated cost is to send a transaction in a reasonable amount of time.

Indeed.

Transparency on fees is going to be good from a marketing point of view
as well: fact is, Bitcoin transations have fees involved, and if we're
up-front and honest about those fees and what they are and why, we
demystify the system and give people the confidence to tell others about
the cost-advantages of Bitcoin, and at the same time, combat fud about
fees with accurate and honest information.

-- 
'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org
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