Author: kjj 2011-09-23 17:38:48
Published on: 2011-09-23T17:38:48+00:00
Pieter Wuille proposed an idea on Github to move away from static Bitcoin addresses as descriptions for transactions. He hoped that this would start some discussions, but the response has been mixed. One commenter believes that the proposal is an overly convoluted solution to problems that aren't really problems, with the central issue being the assumption that there is no out of band channel. This is only true when it doesn't matter, such as a donation link in a forum signature. Otherwise, payments are sent to addresses that already have sufficient context. The commenter also argues that only one of the listed advantages is actually an advantage - that payments to stale addresses can be stopped. However, someone blindly sending payments to addresses found on backup tapes and web archives without verifying that they are still current deserve what they get. So, it really only stops payments to services that go defunct the same day or so. The commenter concludes by stating that they do not see the value in giving a URL so that they can go ask a server for information that could just as easily have been encoded in the URL directly.
Updated on: 2023-06-04T20:01:02.944460+00:00