Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Hard fork proposal from last week's meeting

From: Natanael <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2017 15:26:35 +0200

Den 1 apr. 2017 01:13 skrev "Eric Voskuil via bitcoin-dev" <
[email-masked]>:

On 03/31/2017 02:23 PM, Rodney Morris via bitcoin-dev wrote:
> If the obsession with every personal computer being able to run a
> fill node continues then bitcoin will be consigned to the dustbin
> of history,

The cause of the block size debate is the failure to understand the
Bitcoin security model. This failure is perfectly exemplified by the
above statement. If a typical personal computer cannot run a node
there is no security.

If you're capable of running and trusting your own node chances are you
already have something better than a typical personal computer!

And those who don't have it themselves likely know where they can run or
access a node they can trust.

If you're expecting average joe to trust the likely not updated node on his
old unpatched computer full of viruses, you're going to have a bad time.

The real solution is to find ways to reduce the required trust in a
practical manner.

Using lightweight clients with multiple servers have already been
mentioned, Zero-knowledge proofs (if the can be made practical and stay
secure...) is another obvious future tool, and hardware wallets helps
against malware.

If you truly want everybody to run their own full nodes, the only plausible
solution is managed hardware in the style of Chromebooks, except that you
could pick your own distribution and software repository. Meaning you're
still trusting the exact same people whose nodes you would otherwise rely
on, except now you're mirroring their nodes on your own hardware instead.
Which at most improves auditability.