Yeah, I saw that, you are of course right, but like you say that is a 2nd order effect.
The post I replied to was claiming that more transactions strictly required more miners to process them, which isn't true. Yes, more transactions might incentiveise more miners, but it doesn't require them. And it's only one part of the complex interplay of incentives that miners face.
Say price dropped sharply, that could result in an increase in transactions as speculators scrambled to get their coins to an exchange to sell, while at the same time we might see a drop in miners because with lower bitcoin priced there is less payout for mining.
Ultimately the sequence of incentives and disincentives that drive miners is complex. Because of course, although a drop in price might deter some miners, if others believed that the drop was only temporary may continue mining and just hold the bitcoin to sell later when the price recovers. I think it's hard to say anything totally concrete about the expected miner behaviour following any event.
The post I replied to was claiming that more transactions strictly required more miners to process them, which isn't true. Yes, more transactions might incentiveise more miners, but it doesn't require them. And it's only one part of the complex interplay of incentives that miners face.
Say price dropped sharply, that could result in an increase in transactions as speculators scrambled to get their coins to an exchange to sell, while at the same time we might see a drop in miners because with lower bitcoin priced there is less payout for mining.
Ultimately the sequence of incentives and disincentives that drive miners is complex. Because of course, although a drop in price might deter some miners, if others believed that the drop was only temporary may continue mining and just hold the bitcoin to sell later when the price recovers. I think it's hard to say anything totally concrete about the expected miner behaviour following any event.