Author: Andrew Poelstra 2023-02-16 13:49:53
Published on: 2023-02-16T13:49:53+00:00
A discussion on the advantages of the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) over SLIP-0039 occurred in a thread on the bitcoin-dev mailing list. The BIP aims to be simple enough for hand computation, but it indicates that "details of hand computation are outside the scope of this standard, and implementers do not need to be concerned with this possibility." One member of the thread questions the significance of the advantage over SLIP-0039 if hand computation is not straightforward and there are no other substantial benefits. However, another member argues that hand computation is the main benefit of the scheme, although few users would likely perform this process. The benefit of the standard, regardless of whether users use hand computation or not, is that it can be implemented into a normal hardware wallet workflow, important for both users who prefer hand computation and those who may switch over as the BTC price increases or the world becomes more dangerous. The draft of the BIP lists several benefits over SLIP-0039, although none of them are particularly strong, and it is unlikely they meet the threshold to write a standard. In addition, SLIP-0039 is not nearly as widespread as BIP-0039, despite it being a better standard objectively, and it is uncertain why. It is suggested that requesting a BIP number for SLIP-0039 could be good for the ecosystem.
Updated on: 2023-06-16T15:47:07.925496+00:00