Author: Peter Todd 2017-09-07 18:09:02
Published on: 2017-09-07T18:09:02+00:00
In a Bitcoin development forum, Jonas Schnelli has suggested that the exact birthday in seconds of private keys may not matter and instead suggests using 13 or 16 bits to create a representation in weeks from 2009-01-09 00:00 UTC. Schnelli proposes rounding down to the beginning of the week when the key was created but is unsure if saving two bytes is worth it or if the key-birthday in seconds could have a security or privacy implication. Privacy concerns arise as private key birthdays can be a potential issue in some cases if compromised. Peter Todd, another member of the forum, advocates for rounding down to month-level resolution, which should still be precise enough to handle any likely reorg scenario. Todd also notes that transactions created with private keys can use nLockTime to ensure coins won't exist in a block older than the seed birthday by setting nLockTime to a more recent date than that birthday under all circumstances.
Updated on: 2023-06-12T18:16:01.336422+00:00