> You mean scam you with a zero-conf transaction that hasn't actually been > broadcast?
Yeah. Or just scam you at all. It's hard to imagine an organisation as a big as a mobile carrier engaging in financial scamming (roaming fees excepted). I've said this before, but I think it's worth repeating. The double-spend protection the block chain gives you has a sweet spot where it's really, really valuable (essential even) and then there are lots of kinds of transactions on either side of that sweet spot that don't really benefit from it. Obvious/trivial case where you don't need a block chain - Facebook buys Instagram for a gajillion coins. The legal system is plenty good enough to ensure the payments are honoured. Another example, when my employer pays me my salary. They aren't going to double spend this except through some horrible accident that we can get sorted out some other way. Another case, very small payments. This is Satoshi's bag of crisps example. If the cost/complexity of double spending is higher than what the payment is worth, again, you don't really need the block chain. That's why it's worth optimising unconfirmed transactions to be harder to double spend, it optimises (pushes up) that lower bar. Place where you really want the chain - largeish sums of money are moving around, but not large enough to justify expensive cross-jurisdictional legal action, or where the cost of identity verification and all the associated paperwork is just too high. I guess most online transactions fall into this bucket today. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn Graph Databases - Download FREE O'Reilly Book "Graph Databases" is the definitive new guide to graph databases and their applications. This 200-page book is written by three acclaimed leaders in the field. The early access version is available now. Download your free book today! http://p.sf.net/sfu/neotech_d2d_may _______________________________________________ Bitcoin-development mailing list Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
