Author: Gavin Andresen 2011-06-22 15:32:49
Published on: 2011-06-22T15:32:49+00:00
Gavin Andresen has suggested a new type of bitcoin payment address that could be generic and contain a version byte, m, n, hash of xor of all n public keys and a checksum. The purpose of this address would be for an "m of n address" where anyone could pay into it but would require m of n signatures to spend. This could be useful in a scenario where an escrow requires m of n signatures to release funds securely. Andresen suggests that the higher level protocol for pay-to-escrow should just involve getting a bitcoin address via https or other secure mechanism. Andresen also questions whether the straightforward "n PUBKEYS m CHECKMULTISIG" transaction type is the right thing to do and suggests that 2 of 2 and 2 of three should have a different transaction type. Spending those transactions would mean putting the m signatures and the n public keys in the TxIn, but sending funds you'd only need the hash of the sum of the public keys.
Updated on: 2023-05-26T18:13:31.042934+00:00