Author: Gregory Maxwell 2015-03-12 04:09:44
Published on: 2015-03-12T04:09:44+00:00
In an email conversation, devrandom highlighted some advantages of not being forced to use old wallets when switching wallets. One such advantage is maintaining transaction history, which can be done through reporting from the wallet in question. However, loading a key alone doesn't preserve transaction history unless the metadata about the transactions is understood. In case of emergency transition due to a serious bug or web wallet server down, users are probably better off with an explicit unstructured mass private key export and sweep function, as it guarantees compatibility and moves funds in one direction, thereby reducing the chances of going from secure to insecure. Standardization is important to reduce the temptation of wallet creators to roll their own crypto, which could contain weaknesses. While trying to come up with one standard may fail and be counterproductive, what can be standardized should be standardized. This will result in some level of review and encourage more eyes on fewer things. However, there is no mechanism in the BIP process to exclude weak cryptography, and there are existing BIPs that are considered flawed. Therefore, while encouraging efforts towards standardization, it is important to have realistic expectations around what will come of it. There should be no gratuitous incompatibility, and wallet creators should not hesitate to offer new and interesting functionality just because it doesn't fit into a prefab shape.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T19:50:13.779795+00:00