Author: Gregory Maxwell 2018-06-03 00:28:33
Published on: 2018-06-03T00:28:33+00:00
In a message to the bitcoin-dev mailing list, Tamas Blummer expressed his belief that BIP37 is no longer being used on the network. He stated that BIP37 usage is almost dead and that monitoring nodes would show the actual use of filters is very low, with an average of less than one peer per day using it. Blummer noted that the primary complaint from users about BIP37 versus alternatives like Electrum and web wallets is that the sync time is too long - an issue that BIP158 does not improve.Blummer suggested that if history were to be followed, there would be no need for P2P at all. However, he argued that the non-use of BIP37 is due more to the low quality or abandoned status of most BIP37 implementing software rather than a fundamental lack of utility. He did acknowledge that BIP37 got several things wrong, including what went into the filters (causing pollution of matches due to useless data) and issues related to privacy.Blummer believes that any new approach will have the best chances if it does not repeat the mistakes of BIP37, but also if it has good security. Getting SPV-equivalent security will require committing the filters, which is a significant step because then the behavior becomes consensus normative. As a result, he suggests spending a few extra months iterating on the design to make sure it is as good as possible before committing to consensus normativity.
Updated on: 2023-05-20T08:28:06.504906+00:00