Todd’s Demurrage Plan: Security or Socialism?
Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is in favor of introducing what he literally calls a “tax” on Bitcoin holdings. Under his proposal, whenever you make a transaction it would no longer be solely up to you how much you pay in fees. Instead, Bitcoin Core (or the protocol rules it implements) would enforce a variable lambda-based charge. This tax would not go to any government - it would go directly to Bitcoin miners. Todd argues this is necessary for the greater good of long-term network security. To many of us, that sounds a lot more like socialism than an open market driven by supply, demand, and voluntary price discovery.
He leans heavily on assumptions - for example, that no one would have cared if this had been implemented from the very beginning of Bitcoin.
During his talk he offered no math to support the numbers behind his assumptions, which makes the whole improvement suggestion highly questionable.
Watch his Talk here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmAAeEm1nIE
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2026-08-16 13:24:52 UTC
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2026-08-16 13:24:52 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Todd’s Demurrage Plan: Security or Socialism? \r\n\r\nBitcoin developer Peter Todd is in favor of introducing what he literally calls a “tax” on Bitcoin holdings. Under his proposal, whenever you make a transaction it would no longer be solely up to you how much you pay in fees. Instead, Bitcoin Core (or the protocol rules it implements) would enforce a variable lambda-based charge. This tax would not go to any government - it would go directly to Bitcoin miners. Todd argues this is necessary for the greater good of long-term network security. To many of us, that sounds a lot more like socialism than an open market driven by supply, demand, and voluntary price discovery. \n\nHe leans heavily on assumptions - for example, that no one would have cared if this had been implemented from the very beginning of Bitcoin. \n\nDuring his talk he offered no math to support the numbers behind his assumptions, which makes the whole improvement suggestion highly questionable.\n\nWatch his Talk here: \nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmAAeEm1nIE \n\n",
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