re: Kaminsky: Bitcoin is here to stay

Like I said, you should educate yourself on how transaction fees in bitcoin work.

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How are Bitcoin transaction fees different than a tax on property?

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1. You are taxed on your property for simply owning it and paying someone who provides you with nothing that coincides with your ownership of said property. You pay transaction fees because bitcoin miners are providing you with a service.

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As a Bitcoin owner you have to pay for the privilege of using your property.

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No, you don't. You don't have to pay the transaction fee. Also, you could become a bitcoin miner yourself rather easily.

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That hardly seems satisfactory to libertarian ideals.

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You think this violates the non-aggression principle or property rights. Ask yourself "Is it voluntary?" and if the answer is yes it doesn't violate libertarian principles.

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You are taxed on your property for simply owning it and paying someone who provides you with nothing that coincides with your ownership of said property. You pay transaction fees because bitcoin miners are providing you with a service.

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Since when do governments not provide services in exchange for taxes? So the Bitcoin miners are the owners in perpetuity of the Bitcoins they mine. They are just selling you the service of letting you use them is the underlying economics of Bitcoins.

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No, you don't. You don't have to pay the transaction fee. Also, you could become a bitcoin miner yourself rather easily.

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And if you refuse to pay the transaction fee, what are the chances your transaction will get processed? And just what are your prospects for success as a Bitcoin miner? >50% of the total are already owned by some other miner, and the difficulty of mining increases as time passes. So anyone who is late to the game is at a competitive disadvantage since they are competing with those who mined Bitcoins when they were easier (less costly and more plentiful) to mine who are already being subsidized by transaction fees.

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You think this violates the non-aggression principle or property rights. Ask yourself "Is it voluntary?" and if the answer is yes it doesn't violate libertarian principles.

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You don't understand property. You do not own the Bitcoins in your wallet. You are renting them from the true owner.

Lets try another hypothetical. Suppose Miner A successfully mined 1,000,000 Bitcoins when he concludes the cost of mining no longer justifies the rewards of success. However, miner A wants to continue to collect transaction fees on the Bitcoins he mined. What is to prevent him from reducing the computing power he contributes to the Bitcoin network to the point it provides zero real utility to the network. Miner A will continue to collect his transaction fees, but he will not provide any useful service. How many other miners will reach the same conclusion as Miner A? What happens to the Bitcoin network when the computing power declines as miners reduce the amount of computational power they are willing to contribute?

Some of it will be replaced by miners seeking increased opportunities for successful mining. But not all of it. Will the net loss of computing power have a detrimental effect on the efficiency of transaction processing? Won't that decrease the utility of Bitcoins as a currency?