COBRA IS JUMPING SHIP - The blocksize debate has a lot of problems - Lightning network is not the solution.

This part of the debate drives me particularly crazy because its as though people are forgetting the bigger picture in order to justify leaving the blocksize at 1mb. But the lightning network by definition centralizes the coin anyway. Everyone talks about how 1mb block size will allow everyone to mine Bitcoin with relatively inexpensive equipment.

But there are three major issues with this discussion.

• If block size is increased in accordance with Moore's law then theoretically the cost of mining larger blocks will always remain within a certain price range. As the block size goes up, the price for better mining equipment goes down.

• Failing to raise the block size is still a poor decision even if you have discovered a proper second layer solution. Keeping the block size at 1mb is borderline sabotage.

• The lightning network nodes will be expensive to run and maintain. They are designed to handle massive numbers of trasnactions per second. I personally believe that there is zero chance these lightning network nodes are going to be something a normal person will ever be able to run.

In this case I don't agree with the article in that I don't believe that raising the blocksize necessarily centralizes the coin. I cannot stress enough that Moore's law is the keystone of the pro block size debate.

With that said, the lightning network nodes will likely be proprietary hardware that will be priced above and beyond what normal people will be able to afford. The tech will likely be made overly complex as well to further stifle the number of people who can run their own nodes.

• Lighting network nodes will likely be designed to spy on people.
• Lighting network nodes will likely be designed support blacklists to prevent people from using certain wallets.
• Lighting network nodes will likely be designed to provide additional information like geographic location of wallets and transactions.
• Lighting network nodes will likely be designed to allow banks and government to freeze your assets.

Its very foolish to think this is not the case. Its very clear that the lightning network is the co-option of Bitcoin.

The bottom line is that the higher the transaction fees are, the more important people will view the lightning network. They are creating a problem so that their shitty solution will be perfect to solve the problem. Its clear as day that this is the case.

Why else would they refuse to raise the block size at least temporarily to quell problems for now while they work on the lightning network solution behind the scenes? It seems to me that the reason they refuse to do it is because if they did nobody would feel a need to be forced to use the lighting network.

The attacking of Bitcoin Cash has been insane. Its been nothing less than pure propaganda. Determining which coin is actually closer to Satoshi's original vision is quite simple.

• The block size functionality has been preasent within Bitcoin's core architecture since its inception.

• Segwit and lightning network are relatively new concepts that have been used to deviate from the original goal.

But one thing that does bother me about this entire debate is that the pro lighting network people resort to ad hominem attacks and distractions rather than sticking to actually sound arguments.

A pro lightning network argument would be to come out and say that "In order for Bitcoin to reach mass adoption then it will need to be centralized at least enough to control it." "Maybe we do need the ability to shut down peoples wallets if they are potentially doing illegal activity." Those would actually be sound arguments. I don't agree with these arguments but I can see them being held by quite a few people.

I view the lightning network as nothing less than the full and needless centralization of Bitcoin while pretending that not in fact a deviation. But it clearly is a deviation. Segwit was not a part of the original design of the coin.

What even is worse about this whole mess is that the lightning network is still years off! Apparently the tech is basically vaporware. I read that they have a version of the lightning network in a semi functional state one second and the next its STILL another 18 months away.

I guess that only time will tell what happens next.