Author: Peter Todd 2015-03-26 21:33:15
Published on: 2015-03-26T21:33:15+00:00
In a discussion on Bitcoin development, Tom Harding clarified that the motivation for address expiration was to decrease the rate at which the number of Bitcoin addresses was increasing. He stated that if it worked and was used by default, it could make a significant difference. Gregory Maxwell suggested a simpler, safer client-enforced behavior, stating that people who wanted to hack their client to make a payment that wasn't according to the payee would have to live with the consequences. Harding added that address expiration would not enhance the payment experience and wouldn't stop senders from doing something strange. Peter Todd chimed in, saying that if the payment instructions given to the sender say "don't make funds spendable with scriptPubKey after this date," there is no reason to scan old Bitcoin addresses for future payments. The sender is free to bury their Bitcoins in a safe in someone else's yard, but the recipient has no reason to accept such behavior as payment and every reason to ignore it.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T18:56:43.045916+00:00