As we rewrite the opening of the chapter to introduce HD wallets in
stages, this introduces the penultimate part: the ability to create
derived public keys without access to the corresponding private keys.
There are no modern wallets applications which use
independently-generated keys, except when providing backwards
compatibility, so we reduce the amount of text devoted to this
concept.
We also begin trying to be consistent about using the terms "wallet
application" and "wallet database" it disambiguate the term "wallet".
- Retitle from "wallets" to "wallet recovery". The existing chapter is
entirely about generating keys in a way that can be recovered after a
data loss. I worry that calling this chapter "wallets" results in ignoring
many other aspects of wallet design, such as how they scan for
transactions (important for privacy) and how they sign (important for
security and wallet interoperation).
- Re-introduce the chapter, given the changed name.
Remove text about dumping a private key:
- Example using Bitcoin Core is no longer supported for descriptor
wallets.
- Dumping private keys is very bad practice with HD wallets due to risk
of compromising the whole wallet.
- Because of safety risks, and lack of need, most modern wallets don't
support private key export or import
- Explain why almost nobody uses vanity addresses any more---HD wallets
killed them, plus they suck for privacy.
- Remove example code. It's only useful for base58check addresses, but
those are no longer recommended and (as mentioned above) almost nobody
uses vanity addresses any more, so there's not much point in updating
it for bech32(m).
- Remove vanity address security section with unvetted security claims.
- Replace outdated claim about miners using GPUs.
- Remove specific amount for cost of vanity address pooling and URL for
a pool. That pool doesn't work, I don't know of any others, and I
have no idea what the pricing would be even if there were existing
pools.
- Briefly mention segwit and the need for new addresses. Mention that
getting wallets to a new base58check version would probably be only a
little less work than upgrading to an entirely new address format.
Describe the problems with base58check and the solutions provide by
bech32. Illustrate some of the problems and solutions.
- Describe the bech32 length extension issue and provide an example.
- Introduce bech32m as the solution to the lengith extension issue.
- Provide examples using the bech32m reference library for Python for
encoding and decoding a bech32m address (mentioning the backwards
compatibility with bech32 addresses).
- Ask wallet authors to ensure they support forward compatibility with
future segwit versions.
- Start with a description of the problem that P2SH helps solve, the
ability for the receiver to specify a script without having to
communicate all the details of that script to the spender (and having
the spender pay the tx fees for it).
- Mention that P2SH uses base58check. Provide the prefix and continue
using an existing example, but don't go into too much detail since
bech32m addresses are now the preferred format
This is extraneous information. Any programmer who understands how to
create a base58check address can convert to it, or from it, using any
byte encoding supported by their programming language or one of its
libraries.
- A section for scriptPubKey and scriptSig allow us to explain how the
hashes for P2PKH work.
- A section for P2PK allows us to connect P2PKH payments to the original
Bitcoin paper and help us understand the underlying use of pubkeys and
signatures
- A section on P2PKH explains why we use a hash commitment (to save
space) and allows us to separate base58check (and addresses in
general) from scripts. It also helps set up a later section for P2SH.
This was probaby the case on some JS-based private key websites, or when
using something like GPG, but it's unlikely to be the case on any modern
production software.
Bitcoin Core works fine as a wallet (and I personally use it). Although
it doesn't implement BIP39, it does implement BIP32 and many other
standards, including some significant improvements over other wallets
(such as descriptors and HWI support ). It's also the easiest way to
take advantage of the additional verification and privacy advantages of
running a full node.
David A. Harding