Author: Jonas Schnelli 2016-08-24 14:18:26
Published on: 2016-08-24T14:18:26+00:00
The discussion revolves around the potential misdesigns in BIP39 seed phrases and BIP44 gap limits for Bitcoin wallets. The absence of a version number in BIP39 seed phrases poses a challenge when wallets start using new derivation methods, as it raises questions about how to derive addresses from an old seed phrase. This may cause issues for users who may not be able to access their coins due to outdated software. Another potential misdesign pointed out is the BIP44 gap limit, which currently stands at 20. If the software detects 20 unused addresses in a row, it stops searching the address chain. It is unclear whether this means doing a transaction rescan back to the genesis block for every 20 addresses or if wallet recovery after BIP44's is necessary to have access to a full address-indexed blockchain. Overall, the discussion reflects concern for potential issues and limitations in the current design of Bitcoin wallets.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T19:50:41.782860+00:00