The real question is: how much does it really cost to clear a transaction?
Anywhere from a fraction of a cent to millions of dollars. Bitcoin transactions don't have a fixed cost, it depends on how many people are mining. More miners => increased difficult => higher costs.
Comments
The real question is: how much does it really cost to clear a transaction?
Anywhere from a fraction of a cent to millions of dollars. Bitcoin transactions don't have a fixed cost, it depends on how many people are mining. More miners => increased difficult => higher costs.
There is an intrinsic cost associated with hashing and rehashing the blockchain to secure the transaction. In terms of cpu time, electricity, etc.
Yes, but if there were no more miners, you could process all transactions on a single cheap laptop, which probably costs less than $1/day to run.
So, what happens when they hit 21m bitcoin and mining no longer offers a reward?
Everybody sells their now-worthless miners for scrap and the difficulty falls to a reasonable level.