On Sat, Dec 17, 2011, at 05:27 PM, Jordan Mack wrote: > I don't like the idea of a header only client, unless this is just an > interim action until the full block chain is downloaded in the > background. Development of these types of clients is probably > inevitable, but I believe that this breaks the most fundamental > aspects of Bitcoin's security model. If a client has only headers, it > cannot do full verification, and it is trusting the data from random > anonymous peers.
A headers-only client is much better than trusting anyone, since an attacker needs >50% of the network's computational power to trick such clients. For everyone to keep being a full node, hardware costs would need to constantly go down enough for all nodes to be able to handle enough transactions to meet demand. If hardware doesn't become cheap enough quickly enough, either some people would be unable to handle being full nodes, or the max block size wouldn't rise enough to meet demand and transaction fees would become noncompetitive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn Windows Azure Live! Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 Microsoft is holding a special Learn Windows Azure training event for developers. It will provide a great way to learn Windows Azure and what it provides. You can attend the event by watching it streamed LIVE online. Learn more at http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-windowsazure _______________________________________________ Bitcoin-development mailing list Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
