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Merge pull request #353 from priestc/master

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Added paragraph about address re-use for BIP131
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Luke-Jr 2016-03-15 06:34:42 +00:00
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@ -77,6 +77,26 @@ the user when their wallet contains many UTXOs that qualify it to benefit from
a coalescing transaction. Wallets should not simply replace non-coalescing transactions
with coalescing transactions in all instances.
== Isn't this BIP bad because it encourage address re-use? ==
Address re-use comes in two forms: re-use by the ''sender'', and re-use by the ''receiver''.
Re-use by the sender is basically using the same address for the change output. This is generally considered bad
since people looking through your transaction history can determine who you do business with. When
you generate a new address for every change, your privacy is conserved as it is impossible to know which
output is a recipient, and which output is the change output. This BIP has '''no effect''' on re-use
by the sender.
On the other hand, address re-use by the ''receiver'' occurs under completely different circumstances.
When you publish an address and have multiple people send to that address, you are engaging in address re-use
from the receiver. This activity has historically been considered bad because it leads to re-using a private key.
When you re-use a private key too many times, you run the risk of an attacker performing statistical analysis
on the multiple signatures, which can lead to an attacker finding out your private key.
This BIP introduces a way to spend multiple inputs ''without'' re-using the private key. In a sense, this BIP
fixes the problem that makes address re-use bad for the receiver. After this BIP becomes implemented
and deployed, address re-use by the receiver will no longer be considered bad form.
==Copyright==
This document is placed in the public domain.