Author: Andreas Schildbach 2014-01-27 18:18:11
Published on: 2014-01-27T18:18:11+00:00
In a 2014 email exchange, Mike Hearn advocated for the use of Bluetooth even in signed transactions to enable scan-to-pay transactions. He suggested using the BTMAC parameter in the Bitcoin URI, which would allow for download of a signed PaymentRequest even when QR codes are used. While he acknowledged the limitations of QR codes, he argued that basic trust chains plus signatures could still work. The signed payment requests contain all the data necessary to establish their authenticity, including certificates and the signature itself, so no TCP connection is required. Hearn also argued that signing would be useful for face-to-face payments where there should be a blurry line between merchants and users. Another use case for signed payment requests was to prevent fraud such as a waiter printing his or her own QR code on a menu to pocket customers' payments. Hearn suggested using .bitcoinpaymentrequest files or the right MIME type to register apps to handle these types of requests.
Updated on: 2023-06-08T01:02:28.686184+00:00