public inbox for bitcoindev@googlegroups.com
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
* [Bitcoin-development] Bitcoin address TTL & key expiration?
@ 2014-07-15  8:00 Jeff Garzik
  2014-07-15  8:19 ` Wladimir
                   ` (3 more replies)
  0 siblings, 4 replies; 16+ messages in thread
From: Jeff Garzik @ 2014-07-15  8:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Bitcoin Dev

Proxying another's idea, from CoinSummit.

The request:   It would be useful to limit the lifetime of a bitcoin
address.  Intentionally prevent (somehow) bitcoins being sent to a
pubkey/pkh after the key expires.

You could append "don't ["permit"|confirm] after X [time|block]"  to
the address I suppose.  The metadata would not be digitally signed,
but it would be hash-sealed.  As "address" is a client-side notion,
wallet clients would be the ones enforcing such a rule.

Bitcoin protocol of course knows about keys, and key expiration is a
well known and useful concept in public key cryptography.  The best
insertion point in the protocol for key expiration is an open
question, if it's even a good idea at that level at all.  Some flag
"no more TxOuts exactly like this [after X block?]"?

I readily admit I don't have good answers, but it does seem valuable IMO to
* Prevent users from accidentally sending to an "expired" TxOut/pkh.
This happens in the field.
* Discourage address reuse
* Enable sites that generate lots of keys to rotate ancient keys off
their core systems.  (HD wallets mitigate this)

-- 
Jeff Garzik
Bitcoin core developer and open source evangelist
BitPay, Inc.      https://bitpay.com/



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 16+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2014-07-15 16:26 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 16+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2014-07-15  8:00 [Bitcoin-development] Bitcoin address TTL & key expiration? Jeff Garzik
2014-07-15  8:19 ` Wladimir
2014-07-15  8:23   ` Jeff Garzik
2014-07-15  8:31     ` Jeremy Spilman
2014-07-15  8:48     ` Wladimir
2014-07-15  8:20 ` Peter Todd
2014-07-15 10:25 ` Mike Hearn
2014-07-15 14:02   ` Jeff Garzik
2014-07-15 14:27     ` Mike Hearn
2014-07-15 14:48 ` Luke Dashjr
2014-07-15 15:11   ` Jeff Garzik
2014-07-15 15:18     ` Mike Hearn
2014-07-15 15:35       ` Jeff Garzik
2014-07-15 15:41     ` Luke Dashjr
2014-07-15 15:55       ` Jeff Garzik
2014-07-15 16:26         ` Mike Hearn

This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox