The blockchain is full, innit? Haven't been keeping up with following the Bitcoin shenanigans, but is Bitcoin still viable?
Bitcoin is definitely still viable. Of course that being said, it has become a bit expensive for people in 3rd world countries to use, which is a real problem for a large majority of the community. Obviously, the idea is that Bitcoin should be advantageous for everyone, not just a few.
Without going into too much technical detail, the main issue right now is that there are a lot of transactions going on. Because of this, blocks (essentially a certain number of transactions grouped together) are filled pretty quickly, due to the fact that they have a limit and can only accept a certain number of transactions (currently the limit is 1MB per block).
Normally, in order to confirm a transaction is valid, you should wait about 10 minutes for a block to be added to the Blockchain (essentially meaning that your transaction and everyone else's transaction in that block has been accepted by the network)
Of course, for large transactions, you might want to wait for two or three more blocks to be built on top of it. Each time a block is built onto the block in which your transaction exists, it's called a confirmation. It's already nearly impossible to do a double spend transaction (faking the network) but as a common rule of thumb, it's recommended people wait for 6 confirmations when doing large transactions.
So, what does it mean when there's a lot of transactions going on and blocks are being filled at a very fast rate?
It means that you might have to wait longer than 10 minutes before your transaction receives each confirmation. In other words, it means that the network is a bit slow due to the fact that blocks have a limit 1MB limit.
Of course, if you wish to get around this, all you have to do is simply include a higher transaction fee (e.g. $1 rather than $0.10). The fee goes to the people who receive notice of each transaction and put the transactions into a block. These people are called miners and essentially, they're the ones which keep the network alive (this is where the decentralization comes in). For finding a valid block (the next block that will be added to the network), they are rewarded with a fixed amount of Bitcoin which is created 'from thin air' at this time (a reward which halves every so often) as well as all of the fees from each transaction in the block.
What this means is that they recognize the higher fee and, naturally, they will process it faster than other. That's how most people today get around having to wait more than 10 minutes before their transaction is confirmed. But, like I said before, while a $1-2 fee might not be a big deal for the majority of users, the majority of users are very concerned because it discourages others, specifically those in third world countries from using Bitcoin. Obviously $1-2 for them is way too high.
But, the good news is that in July, the reward for mining (currently 25 Bitcoin) will halve and following that, the community will add to the Bitcoin software, support for a 2MB block size (that's double). The way they do this is basically, code is added to the source code, users check the code and make sure it is what the developers say it is, download the new software containing this code, and, if enough people do so, that new software becomes the standard software of Bitcoin. Essentially that's how they makes changes and add new features, but of course, the majority of the community has to agree to it.
Now, back to the game...
I don't really see a need for it. I thought that in the existing lore, Eurobucks are either represented by credit transactions, or physical cash, with the latter being frowned upon in polite circles, and sometimes not accepted in high-end places. Physical cash always struck me as the preferred currency of under-the-table and back-alley deals
I honestly don't know too much about the existing lore but you do have a point there. Physical cash is already the preferred currency of under-the-table and back-alley deals. The reason though that I think that cryptocurrency and specifically Bitcoin fits in well here is because of the fact that it's digital.
For example, if you want to be paid by or pay a certain person or organization in the game but you still want it to be an anonymous transaction, you could use cryptocurrency (this applies to Bitcoin as well, to a certain extent). On top of that, the person doesn't even have to be close to you, they could be halfway around the world.
That's why, in a world like CP, I think cryptocurrency fits in quite well. Of course, as I said before, due to it's anonymous nature and perhaps its decentralization, the government would probably forbid it's use. Of course, fiat currency would probably still exist as well and have it's worth outside of the under-the-table and back-alley deals.