Author: Tom Zander 2017-07-17 13:40:29
Published on: 2017-07-17T13:40:29+00:00
In a bitcoin-dev discussion on July 14, 2017, Clark Moody expressed understanding for keeping all reference strings to the 14-character version by keeping the data payload to 40 bits. However, he questioned the point of having a user-readable tx-reference. He argued that in the actual blockchain, the txid would still be used and a less readable but more compact format is useful because space optimization is prioritized over human comprehension. Moody suggested that one possible use case could be wanting to spend a specific output or reporting a specific transaction as proof to a merchant or tax office. However, for any such use cases, an individual would still need to provide a proof of holding the private keys. Therefore, using a human-readable format does not make much sense since a cryptographic proof of ownership cannot be read no matter how hard one tries. Tom Zander asked for one or two use cases where human-readable formats might be useful.
Updated on: 2023-06-12T01:12:29.472786+00:00