Towards a singular payment protocol

Summary:

In an email conversation between two individuals, the topic of Bitcoin protocol standardization was discussed. The first individual argues that other protocols won't be deprecated without a strong reason to switch as Bitcoin is an open protocol and no individual gets to dictate "the right way". The second individual believes that most wallet developers would rather keep things simple until a clear way to proceed is seen. He also believes that building a Bitcoin wallet is different from building a cryptocurrency wallet, and therefore, complexities faced by other cryptocurrencies are not a concern to him. BIP-70 was just deprecated *in* Bitcoin Core, according to the second individual. The first individual believes that part of the problem with under-supported standards is that since they are different, it takes longer for wallet developers to implement. However, the second individual rejects this idea and believes that it is a mistake to say that the payment protocol is part of the blockchain and needs to be developed in tandem with it. Payments are separate from the underlying technology. They believe that the Lightning Network is a payment network that can be used with other blockchains. The second individual does not understand the value of being able to ask for payment in one currency based on the value of a second one. He believes that the current behavior is superior to that and that the proposed changes will add confusion and complexity where it is neither needed nor wanted. The first individual disagrees and thinks that a well-written spec should be able to foresee issues of conflict and design around them. The second individual strongly opposes proposals that would add complexity to their work without any obvious benefits to them. He feels like Lightning invoices and the current discussions around enhancements and improvements in them are more than sufficient to cover their needs for the foreseeable future.

Updated on: 2023-06-13T22:14:36.990332+00:00