Author: Mike Hearn 2011-11-12 16:58:56
Published on: 2011-11-12T16:58:56+00:00
The author of this message is cautioning against creating Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) that lack actual implementation. They suggest that the mailing list should be used for design discussions instead. The author goes on to say that if they were to implement escrow transactions in BitCoinJ, they would simply implement the design they thought made sense and document it later in a BIP if it was adopted by others. The author also explains that they would not attempt to send half-valid escrow transactions through the p2p network, even using existing overlay networks. A correct escrow protocol requires the seller to challenge the dispute mediator with a public key to ensure they actually own it. The simplest way to do this, according to the author, is to leverage existing DNS/EV-SSL infrastructure with a "sign this nonce" HTTP request. The author then reiterates that BIPs are not the place for armchair designs because designs without corresponding implementations are likely to have problems. They suggest revisiting this topic once they can install software on their laptop, server, and a friend's server, and perform a 3-way mediated transaction between them.
Updated on: 2023-06-04T21:12:23.444519+00:00