Author: Russell O'Connor 2019-03-07 15:16:43
Published on: 2019-03-07T15:16:43+00:00
The sighash type byte is an important part of signature evaluation during the execution of certain operations in Bitcoin scripting. However, if this byte is anything other than 1, 2, 3, 0x81, 0x82 or 0x83, script execution fails. Despite this limitation, some users have been using the sighash type byte to store additional data when making signatures. As a result, there may be unbroadcast transactions in cold storage with UTXOs whose private keys are lost. While it may seem like there isn't much risk in disabling these sighashes, Russell O'Connor argues that such a move could put people's funds at risk. He suggests an alternative proposal of caching the just-before-the-last-byte sighash midstate instead. It is important to consider all potential consequences before implementing any changes to the Bitcoin protocol.
Updated on: 2023-06-13T17:34:29.179688+00:00