Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Coinbase reallocation to discourage Finney attacks

From: Mike Hearn <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 16:31:05 +0200

>
> That moves us away from a pure trustless system built upon a small
> democratic foundation (as something of a necessary evil in an imperfect
> world where humans run our computers and use our system) and toward a
> "democratic system".
>
> You don't have to agree, but I hope you can understand the point I'm
> making :-)

Yep, your point is well made.

I don't have much more to say about this proposal specifically, but I think
this whole question of what changes are OK and what would be a violation of
the social contract will get discussed endlessly over the coming years. Put
another way, what do Bitcoin's users expect and want - a system that
evolves or a system that remains exactly as they found it? There will be
good arguments on both sides, and the answer will probably be different on
a case by case basis. But personally I'm skeptical of any argument that
argues against change for its own sake. It has to be an argument rooted in
a careful analysis of costs and benefits.