[Bitcoin-development] [RFC] Proposal: Base58 encoded HD Wallet root key with optional encryption

[Gary Rowe]

Jean-Paul, it may be worth noting that the BIP39 word list is integrated
into Bitcoinj so will likely become the de facto standard for Android,
Trezor web and several desktop wallets. Anyone deviating from that word
list would likely find themselves in an isolated pocket.

Regarding the timestamp, MultiBit HD uses a simple timestamp of "number of
days since midnight of Bitcoin genesis block in UTC with modulo 97 checksum
appended". Thus a new seed generated on 27 January 2014 would have
"1850/01" as its checksum. When creating a new wallet the users are tested
that they have written the timestamp down along with the associated
12/18/24 words.

Modulo 97 was chosen since it catches about 99% of errors.


On 12 March 2014 15:55, Pavol Rusnak <stick at gk2.sk> wrote:

> On 03/12/2014 04:45 PM, Jean-Paul Kogelman wrote:
> > Yes I am. There are some differences between BIP 39 and my proposal
> though.
> >
> > - BIP 39 offers an easy list of words, no gnarly string of case
> sensitive letters and numbers.
>
> Which is better IMO. I can't imagine anyone writing down a long Base58
> encoded string.
>
> > - BIP 39 only offers one fixed length of entropy, always 12 words, no
> option to increase or decrease the length.
>
> Not true, BIP39 supports 12/18/24 words (= 128/192/256 bits of entropy).
>
> > - BIP 39 doesn't have a genesis date field, so no optimization during
> blockchain rescan.
>
> This is nice addition, indeed. But we needed to limit the data as
> possible in order not to increase the number of words needed to be noted
> down.
>
> > - BIP 39 doesn't have password typo detection. No easy way to recover a
> password if you know most of it.
>
> It has a detection. Not correction though.
>
> > - BIP 39 does not have a user selectable KDF, only 2048 round
> PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512.
> > - BIP 39 can't outsource the KDF computation to a 3rd party.
>
> True, but having one or two solid options are better than having
> gazillions of possible options.
>
> > - BIP 39 wallet implementors can use their own word lists, breaking
> cross wallet compatibility.
>
> True, but they are encouraged to use the list provided. Possibility to
> outsource KDF outside of your "standard" breaks much more compatibility
> than this.
>
> --
> Best Regards / S pozdravom,
>
> Pavol Rusnak <stick at gk2.sk>
>
>
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