Published on: 2015-11-14T22:47:23+00:00
In a recent discussion on the bitcoin-dev mailing list, concerns were raised about the language used in BIP65, a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal aiming to enable the freezing of funds in UTXOs directly on the blockchain. The main concern was that the language suggested funds could be frozen involuntarily, but Jeff Garzik clarified that users themselves have the choice to freeze their own funds, and it is not an act of force from outside parties. However, there was confusion regarding how scriptpubkeys work, with some believing that wallets would display all available funds, which is not the case. Wallets will only display funds paid to scriptpubkeys they generated or would have generated, ensuring that no one can create a multisig and then claw back coins after they have been paid.The discussion also touched upon nlocktime, another aspect of BIP65, as Gregory Maxwell requested clarification on it. The purpose of this was to provide context for the need of BIP65, and Maxwell recommended changing the wording of the proposal to make this connection clearer. The original poster in the email chain questioned whether BIP65 could be used to freeze funds, referring to the motivation section of the proposal. This section explains that the nLockTime field cannot prove that it is impossible to spend a transaction output until some time in the future, leading to the interpretation that nLockTime cannot be used for freezing funds. However, the motivation section also states that funds can now be frozen in UTXOs directly on the blockchain, in addition to using other methods like cold storage, hardware wallets, and P2SH multisig outputs. The discussion revealed confusion over the interpretation of BIP65 and its potential uses, with the original poster admitting to being an end user without experience reading Bitcoin script.Overall, this discussion highlights the ongoing development of Bitcoin and emphasizes the importance of clear communication about proposals like BIP65. It is important to note that BIP65 is aimed at an audience with more experience, and the discussion provides a neutral review from an outsider's perspective. The source of this information is a GitHub page containing the full text of the BIP65 proposal.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T16:52:52.900298+00:00