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authorChris Priest <cp368202@ohiou.edu>2016-03-14 15:16:51 -0700
committerChris Priest <cp368202@ohiou.edu>2016-03-14 15:16:51 -0700
commit314e87f9c0c1e3920d2954a2ae3fb70473c887a2 (patch)
treebb72ea5ca9702b981bb7099e403378711c66d28d /bip-0131.mediawiki
parentd6e848dc4b07ae2c84796fee73b593b6f8120914 (diff)
downloadbips-314e87f9c0c1e3920d2954a2ae3fb70473c887a2.tar.xz
added paragraph about address reuse
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@@ -77,6 +77,28 @@ 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: reuse from the ''sender'', and re-use from 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 th 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 somebody 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.