[bitcoin-dev] BIP Proposal - Address Paste Improvement

[Andreas Schildbach]

Copying addresses to the clipboard should be discouraged, rather than
supported.

It is an inherently insecure mechanism. Regardless of the OS used, any
application can monitor the clipboard for Bitcoin addresses and replace
any address with their own, usually without any specific permission or
confirmation by the user. Effectively this steals Bitcoins if the user
doesn't compare addresses manually.

This is a real risk, as this kind of malware has already been seen.

Never copy & paste Bitcoin addresses!


On 07/11/2018 15.09, Adam Ficsor via bitcoin-dev wrote:
> BIP: ?
> Layer: Applications
> Title: Address Paste Improvement
> Author: nopara73 <adam.ficsor73 at gmail.com
> <mailto:adam.ficsor73 at gmail.com>>, David Molnar <molnardavid84 at gmail.com
> <mailto:molnardavid84 at gmail.com>>
> Type: Standard Track
> Created: 2018-11-07
>   
> Abstract. End-users often copy-paste addresses. This BIP aims to
> facilitate the user experience regarding this process.    
> 
> Motivation. Some services already implemented autopaste functions, which
> is done as follows: the user clicks to the address box and a Bitcoin
> address automatically gets pasted from the clipboard. Depending on the
> implementation, this could be either annoying or not permissive enough
> if it completely replaces the possibility of manually entering a Bitcoin
> address.
> 
> The BIP Proposal can be found
> here: https://gist.github.com/nopara73/322dbd263a5c45267da87cffc36de6f6
> 
> An implementation will soon follow in Wasabi Wallet.
> 
> Regards,
> nopara73
> 
> 
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