[Bitcoin-development] Stealth Addresses

[Alan Reiner]

How is this different from the proposal I have made?

You distribute the root public key (but not chaincode!) of a BIP32
branch.  You can put your root key on a business card if you want.  Then
when someone wants to pay you, you simply give them the multiplier and
root key (they already have the root key, but should verify).  The
multiplier does not reveal the chaincode, thus keeping it private, but
it does allow them to confirm that the final address they are paying is
derived from that root key they know belongs to you ("Please pay address
X; oh btw, X=rootKey*mult").

You can /choose/ to reveal that a given payment address is linked to
your root key without any compromise of privacy.  Or you can choose to
ignore it and just give them a bare address the old way and still
maintain privacy.  What advantages does "stealth addresses" have over
this scheme?  You could extend it using some kind of deterministic
sub-branching and/or ECDH to create multiple payment addresses without
querying the payee. 

I had planned to implement this system and push for people to accept it
because I don't see any downsides to it.  It can easily be integrated
into a WoT (with signed root keys), or CA system piggybacking on SSL.

-Alan


On 01/13/2014 02:44 PM, Drak wrote:
> On 13 January 2014 19:40, Roy Badami <roy at gnomon.org.uk
> <mailto:roy at gnomon.org.uk>> wrote:
>
>     At the moment, I can give them a business card with a Bitcoin address.
>     Being able to give out a business card with a stealth address would be
>     a major advance.
>
>
> My thoughts exactly.
>
> Drak 
>
>
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