[archagon]

OK, so I basically know next to nothing about cryptocurrencies. I do know, however, that Bitcoin is undergoing a cooling of sorts on account of the block difficulty getting higher and higher. As a result, transactions now take forever to verify and fees are going up. At some point, unless drastic steps are taken, this will presumably result in a "heat death of the universe" scenario. (I guess the software is constantly getting updated and there's battle over forks etc., but this can only go so far, right?)

To what extent does this happen with Ethereum, and won't it mean that distributed applications will basically become unworkable at some point in the future?

[virtuexru]

> I do know, however, that Bitcoin is undergoing a cooling of sorts on account of the block difficulty getting higher and higher. As a result, transactions now take forever to verify and fees are going up.

Completely untrue. Difficulty is proportional to the hash rate. Transaction time varies as a result of multiple factors.

Some reading and historical difficulty/confirmation time data:

https://blockchain.info/charts/avg-confirmation-time?timespa... https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty http://bitcoin.sipa.be/ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Confirmation#Confirmation_Times

[Obi_Juan_Kenobi]

Parent is certainly wrong about the details, but absolutely right about the challenges that cryptographic currencies face. Scaling is a huge issue that is very much an open question.

If you're interested in scaling approaches, Vitalik Buterin has written a lot about this issue in a very thoughtful manner, both as it applies to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

[archagon]

I see. (As I said, I know next to nothing about cryptocurrencies.) So what happens when the last block is mined? Everyone just hopes that miners stick around based on transaction fees? Does Ethereum have a similar "last block" problem, if it even is a problem?

[virtuexru]

> So what happens when the last block is mined?

The best estimate is that the last block will be mined around 2140 based on the block reward halving frequency of four years. According to math and knowledge that there are 32 halving events, in 2136, the block reward will yield 0.00000168 BTC per day, which is 0.00000042 BTC per block.

We will all be dead ;) but to answer your other question yes transaction fee's will continue to incentivize miners but who knows where the protocol will be by then. It could be completely changed.

[xrd]

I won't be dead. I'll be putting my DNA into the blockchain and will have immutable eternal life.

[celticninja]

To be fair you don't know what you think you know. Most, if not all, of your comment is incorrect.