Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] BIP 151

From: Chris Priest <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2016 02:44:00 -0700

On 6/30/16, Erik Aronesty via bitcoin-dev
<[email-masked]> wrote:
>
> I would like to see a PGP-like "web of trust" proposal for both the
> security of the bitcoin network itself /and/ (eventually) of things like
> transmission of bitcoin addresses.
>
> Something where nodes of any kind (full, spv, mobile wallets) can
> /optionally/ accumulate trust over time and are capable of verifying the
> identity of other nodes in that web.
>

Isn't the system already functioning in this way already? Bitcoin
exchanges and block explorers already have a reputation earned by so
many years of serving the community. Their HTTPS certificate acts like
a public/private key, and when your wallet makes a request to their
server, the keys are automatically checked for validity by the
underlying http library.