[TillE]

Yes, the mining difficulty curve is a huge problem which prevents many interesting things you could otherwise do with a cryptocurrency.

As I've said before, I'm optimistic about cryptocurrencies in general, but Bitcoin is just the awkward start, not the ideal. There are too many problems without obvious solutions.

[davidgerard]

Bitcoin was presented as a first-draft proof of concept. It was intended to be tried out and discarded in favour of something better.

Now look at the angst over changing the block size, and never mind all its other deficiencies.

(I'm slightly surprised altcoins have been so uninventive.)