> It is my understanding that there is a consensus among devs that it is okay
> for some transactions never being confirmed, and the eventual pushing of
> those users and economic activity out of Bitcoin is acceptable.
I disagree that there is this consensus, and above you are tying together two
different things.
There is an infinite potential supply of transactions that can be broadcast on
the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network; necessarily some of these will be chosen by
miners and others discarded. The fee bid by the broadcaster of the transaction
is the incentive for its inclusion in a block. This is and has been part of the
Bitcoin design since day one.
> Although that seems to be the general feeling, I can't pinpoint where that
> understanding was born.
Perhaps it is because it was not born anywhere.
> On how Satoshi Nakamoto would handle the problem, that doesn't seem very
> important, after all, he would probably pick the best solution anyone could
> propose.
Blind adulation of the original designer(s) of the system is not warranted;
there have been many course corrections over the years to deal with issues that
were not anticipated in the original design.
> What is probably more important is: would Satoshi Nakamoto consider the
> inability of Bitcoin to supply its demand a problem, given its stated value
> proposition? I.e. why Bitcoin was created in the first place? Is it
> fulfilling its goals?
What the original designer(s) would think today is irrelevant; they removed
themselves from any participation or interaction with the project long ago.
Nearly all full-node operators have chosen to use the software written by the
current Bitcoin project maintainers and by that *action* they endorse the
decision making that has resulted in each release they upgrade to.
Regarding supply and demand, each Bitcoin block that is broadcast is precisely
a point where a miner and Bitcoin users have agreed upon a price for
confirmation. There will be miners with potential supply of blocks who are not
willing to expend energy confirming (some of) those transactions, and there
will be users who are not willing to bid such fees to be included. This is the
nature of a free market inhabited by agents unconstrained by anything but
voluntary action.
Saunt Orolo
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