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			58 lines
		
	
	
		
			2.3 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Plaintext
		
	
	
	
	
	
<pre>
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  BIP: 179
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  Title: Name for payment recipient identifiers
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  Author: Emil Engler <me@emilengler.com>
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          Luke Dashjr <luke+bip@dashjr.org>
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  Comments-Summary: No comments yet.
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  Comments-URI: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/wiki/Comments:BIP-0179
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  Status: Draft
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  Type: Informational
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  Created: 2019-10-17
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  License: CC0-1.0
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</pre>
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==Abstract==
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This BIP proposes a new term for 'address'
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==Specification==
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The new term is:
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''Bitcoin'' '''Invoice''' ''Address''
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The ''Bitcoin'' and ''Address'' parts are optional.
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The address suffix should only be used as a transitional step.
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A ''Bitcoin'' Invoice ''Address'' is a string of characters that can be used to indicate the intended recipient and purpose of a transaction.
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==Motivation==
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Bitcoin addresses are intended to be only used '''once''' and you should generate a new one for every new incoming payment.
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The term 'address' however indicates consistency because nearly everything on the internet or the offline world with the term 'address'
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is something that rarely or even never changes (postal address, email address, IP addresses (depends heavily on the provider), etc.)
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The motivation for this BIP is to change the term address to something that indicates that the address is connected to a single transaction.
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==Rationale==
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The reason why we use ''Bitcoin Invoice Address'' or just ''Invoice'' is to emphasize that it is single-use.
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The terms ''Bitcoin'' and ''Address'' are optional for the following reasons:
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For ''Bitcoin'':
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* Useful for multicoin wallets to indicate that it belongs to Bitcoin
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* Indicates a difference between a lightning and an on-chain invoice
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For ''Address'':
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* To not confuse users with a completely new term
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* To show that it is where you send something to
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* To not break backwards compatibility
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This gives us the four following possibilities:
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* Bitcoin Invoice Address
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* Bitcoin Invoice
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* Invoice Address
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* Invoice
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==Backwards Compatibility==
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To avoid issues, the 'Address' suffix is permitted, but not recommended.
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The suffix 'Address' remains so users should be immediately able to recognize it until the new term is widely known.
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==Acknowledgements==
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Thanks to Chris Belcher for the suggestion of the term 'Bitcoin Invoice Address'
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==Copyright==
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This BIP is released under CC0-1.0 and therefore Public Domain.
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