[VikingCoder]

> economies of scale built in.

You've chosen a particularly odd phrase here, since BitCoin mining was fundamentally designed to get computationally more expensive over time.

So, no, an economy of THE OPPOSITE OF SCALING was built in.

[dllthomas]

The cost of mining blocks is designed to remain roughly consistent as technology advances. The "economy of scale" comes in when you use one block (which costs about the same regardless) to secure more transactions.

As an aside, "economy of THE OPPOSITE OF SCALING" is probably better termed "diseconomy of scale" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseconomies_of_scale).