delvingbitcoin

Revisiting BIP21

Revisiting BIP21

Original Postby josibake

Posted on: March 1, 2024 16:03 UTC

The discussion revolves around a proposed update to BIP21, focusing on enhancing its parameters to accommodate addresses with a Human Readable Part (HRP), such as those formatted in bech32 or bech32m.

This update suggests a nuanced approach whereby any URI that self-identifies with an HRP can be included as a parameter within the BIP21 framework. Specifically, this would permit the incorporation of URIs like bitcoin:sp1q.?lno.., bitcoin:bc1p.?lnbc., bitcoin:sp1q.?bc1p., and bitcoin:bc1p.?pj=<>. A significant advantage of this proposal is its simplicity in integration; it eliminates the need for introducing a new addr key for address identification. Instead, it leverages the existing capability of wallets that support a particular address type to recognize and process an HRP. This strategy simplifies the protocol's extension by utilizing existing wallet functionalities to identify and handle different types of transactions, such as payjoin, without necessitating additional keys unless the HRP is absent or does not clearly indicate the intended protocol.