Published on: 2022-02-25T15:56:24+00:00
In a recent discussion, the possibility of hiding coin amounts in Bitcoin was brought up. However, it was pointed out that such a move would make it impossible to audit the blockchain and verify inflation levels. The speaker believes that Bitcoin is unlikely to adopt this feature, as it would remove unconditional soundness from the system and replace it with computational soundness. Even if Bitcoin were to adopt amount hiding, it would still maintain backward compatibility with old style addresses.There is also discussion about increasing payment precision by going sub-satoshi on chain. This could be extended to ordinals through the use of fraction ordinals like 1.1 or 4.85. While a concrete proposal is not yet possible, the idea is being explored. Additionally, there is discussion around the use of duplicate transaction IDs, which was once possible but is now prevented by the BIP 34 soft fork. The need for this rule is explained in more detail in the BIP.In the context mentioned, there is a concern regarding the use of ordinal numbers in future improvements. The issue arises if and when a Monero-like system is introduced where coin amounts are hidden. To make such a system backward-compatible, zero satoshi may be used as a substitute for hidden values. Zero satoshi has the advantage of bypassing the amount checking for old clients, which can be useful for introducing new protocols and adding fractional satoshis on-chain. However, if these amounts are simply ignored, it would be difficult to connect any future protocol based on that with ordinal numbers.The proposal aims to use dust for valuable purposes, instead of reducing its creation. The idea is to split dust into its unit satoshis and use them for NFTs or colored coins. The proposal has received positive feedback, with one person suggesting that having a standard would be better than everyone doing their own thing. However, there are concerns about what happens when payment precision increases by going sub-satoshi on chain. The proposal also mentions the issue of stolen bitcoins and blacklisted coins, which the proposal does not address. Finally, the question is raised about using zero satoshis for NFTs but not colored coins.In a recent discussion on the bitcoin-dev mailing list, the practicality of numbering each satoshi created was questioned. The potential cost of implementing a system to handle the large number of ordinal numbers that would result from numbering each satoshi was a concern. The process of assigning ordinals was explained, where newly mined satoshis are sequentially numbered and assigned as ordinal numbers. When satoshis are spent in a transaction, the input satoshi ordinal numbers are assigned to output satoshis using a first-in-first-out algorithm. Despite the simplicity of the process, the potential expense of the system was noted.The writer of the context believes that not all people who have been stolen from lose their right and title to what was stolen. They believe that it is not the responsibility of an ordinal to determine if a satoshi is fungible or not. The BIP states that transferred ordinals should be considered fungible with other satoshis with no public history. It is unlikely that a previous owner of an ordinal would have any particular reason to expect ownership after they transfer it.The conversation discusses how Bitcoin assigns ordinal numbers to each Satoshi created and how these numbers are determined when BTC is transferred to another UTXO. The system uses a first-in-first-out algorithm, with the first ordinal number of the first input becoming the first ordinal number of the first output. While a full index can be expensive, it only needs to track contiguous ordinal ranges, which scales with the number of outputs. The potential challenges associated with numbering each satoshi and determining which ordinal numbers are being transferred were raised.A scheme called Ordinal Numbers has been proposed for numbering and tracking satoshis across Bitcoin transactions. This scheme assigns ordinal numbers to each satoshi in the order it is mined and can be used for various applications such as NFTs, reputation systems, and Lightning Network-compatible stablecoins. The process of assigning ordinal numbers was explained, where newly mined satoshis are sequentially numbered and assigned as ordinal numbers. The use of ordinal numbers allows for the transfer of digital assets and has potential applications in account and authentication schemes, colored coin schemes, reputation systems, and voting rights for DAOs.In conclusion, the discussions revolve around potential changes to the Bitcoin system, including the possibility of hiding coin amounts and increasing payment precision. There are concerns about the impact on auditing the blockchain and verifying inflation levels. The use of ordinal numbers for tracking satoshis and its potential applications are also explored. While there are challenges and considerations to be addressed, the proposal shows promise in enhancing the functionality and versatility of Bitcoin.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T05:43:09.503765+00:00