Published on: 2013-09-08T04:13:48+00:00
In a discussion on the concept of trust-free solutions in Bitcoin, it is argued that balance-at-point-in-time can solve the issue of being completely trust-free and reduce storage requirements. However, it is pointed out that it still requires bootstrapping into trust by an earlier dataset, creating a chain that is not entirely trust-free. There are discussions on UTXO snapshotting, which is similar to balance-at-point-in-time but not deemed trust-free.To have a completely trust-free solution, one must verify all data from genesis through $now. However, it's not necessary for all Bitcoin wallets to download and verify all those gigabytes of data because SPV mode serves that purpose. The need for Bitcoin to grow beyond an interesting experiment into global everyday use is also discussed, taking the average punter into account.The current concept of Bitcoin addresses as single-use destinations doesn't fit with people's mindset. People perceive addresses as the equivalent of jars where they can store their coins. Wallets, on the other hand, are like boxes where people keep some of their jars in, and only the person with the right key can open the jar and take its contents. The ability to specify the address to send from is considered essential and a missing feature of the QT client. Intra-wallet transfers with an "also discard the sending address" would be a way of stopping any further use of that address.When balance-at-point-in-time is implemented, it could shrink the storage for all other Bitcoin users who choose not to have a full transaction set. The sender also mentions the need to verify the ability to send Bitcoin using balance-at-point-in-time efficiently. To do so, it's only necessary to know that the sender has the specified amount of Bitcoin, not all previous transactions that led to that state. This will increase efficiency as Bitcoin grows.There is also a discussion on the need for an archival system for the Bitcoin protocol to avoid the blockchain becoming too big to download. It is suggested that balance-at-point-in-time summaries could be a simple solution, enabling new adopters to get up and running in minutes rather than days. Bitcoin-Qt 0.9 is expected to have this work incorporated to enable quick usability and background verification of the history.The question of consolidating addresses and wallets is raised, but it is clarified that addresses are single-use destinations that point to a wallet, which is private and unknown to the network.Overall, the discussions focus on finding trust-free solutions in Bitcoin, the need for an archival system to prevent the blockchain from becoming too large, and the importance of addressing user mindset and efficiency as Bitcoin grows.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T05:53:46.957246+00:00