[Bitcoin-development] BIP 38

[Mike Caldwell]

Hey everyone,

I have noticed that there was a recent change to BIP 0038 (Password-Protected Private Key) on the Wiki, which is a proposal I wrote in late 2012.  Gregory, it looks to me as though you have made this change, and I'm hoping for your help here.  The change suggests that the number was never assigned, and that there has been no discussion regarding the proposal on this list.

I had this number assigned by Amir Taaki in November of 2012, consistent with what I understood the procedure to be at the time by reading BIP 0001 on the Wiki.

First off, I want to confirm that when I send to the list, that there isn't a technical reason it's not getting to everybody.  I believe I most recently mentioned BIP 38 to this list on August 17, 2013. (EDIT: seems my prior messages, including an earlier revision of this message, have not made it to the list)

Secondly, in the case that it is deemed that this has never been properly submitted, discussed, or pushed forward, I'd like to propose that this happen, and request help with the formalities where I'm lacking.

I believe BIP 38 is a valuable proposal that is seeing real-world use.  BIP 38 allows people to create private keys (including paper wallets) protected by a password, and also allows one party to select the password for paper wallets to be created by another party.

Real-world use includes a working implementation at BitAddress.org, one at Bit2Factor.org, implementation by Mycelium, and others.  Also, others are informally using it as a sort of abbreviated escrow scheme where a buyer and seller agree on the buyer maintaining control over the release of funds.  In short, it would be terribly confusing to reassign the number BIP 38 after already having had an established meaning for the better part of the year, particularly on what appears to be procedural grounds.

Mike

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