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Pieter Wuille

Author of 27 BIPs.

  • BIP 9: Version bits with timeout and delay: Deployed. Lets miners signal readiness for several soft forks (backward-compatible rule upgrades) at once by setting individual bits in each block's version number. An upgrade locks in once enough blocks…
  • BIP 30: Duplicate transactions: Deployed. Added a rule forbidding a block from including a transaction with the same ID as an earlier one whose outputs are not fully spent. Such duplicates can overwrite earlier coins and make them…
  • BIP 32: Hierarchical Deterministic Wallets: Deployed. Defines hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets, in which a single seed generates a whole tree of keys. Users can back up a wallet once and share watch-only parts, for example with a shop or…
  • BIP 42: A finite monetary supply for Bitcoin: Deployed. A tongue-in-cheek proposal fixing a software quirk that would have made the block reward reappear and coin issuance restart a couple of centuries from now. It ensures the roughly 21 million coin…
  • BIP 62: Dealing with malleability: Closed. Proposed a set of rules to stop third parties from altering a transaction's ID without changing what it does, a problem called malleability. It was withdrawn after Segregated Witness (SegWit) solved…
  • BIP 66: Strict DER signatures: Deployed. Required all signatures to follow one strict encoding format, known as DER. Different software interpreted loosely encoded signatures differently, which risked splitting the network and let…
  • BIP 103: Block size following technological growth: Closed. Proposed gradually increasing the block size limit at a rate meant to track improvements in hardware and internet bandwidth. The goal was to allow more transactions while keeping it practical for…
  • BIP 141: Segregated Witness (Consensus layer): Deployed. Defines Segregated Witness (SegWit), which moves signatures into a separate "witness" section of each transaction while remaining compatible with older nodes. This fixed transaction malleability,…
  • BIP 143: Transaction Signature Verification for Version 0 Witness Program: Deployed. Changes how signatures are calculated for SegWit transactions so that verifying them no longer requires re-hashing the same data many times. It also makes the signature commit to the amount being…
  • BIP 144: Segregated Witness (Peer Services): Deployed. Specifies the network messages nodes use to pass SegWit transactions and blocks to one another, including the separate signature data. It lets upgraded nodes share full witness data while older…
  • BIP 146: Dealing with signature encoding malleability: Closed. Tightens the rules on how digital signatures may be formatted, so a third party cannot slightly alter a signature's encoding and thereby change a transaction's ID. Removing this form of malleability…
  • BIP 173: Base32 address format for native v0-16 witness outputs: Deployed. Introduces Bech32, an address format for native SegWit outputs, recognizable by addresses starting with "bc1". It uses only lowercase letters and numbers and a strong checksum that catches typing…
  • BIP 324: Version 2 P2P Encrypted Transport Protocol: Deployed. Introduces a new, encrypted way for Bitcoin nodes to talk to each other, so internet providers and passive observers cannot read or easily tamper with the traffic. It also slightly reduces bandwidth…
  • BIP 330: Transaction announcements reconciliation: Draft. Specifies a method for two nodes to efficiently work out which transactions the other is missing, instead of announcing each one individually. It is a building block for Erlay, which would let nodes…
  • BIP 340: Schnorr Signatures for secp256k1: Deployed. Defines a standard for Schnorr signatures, a simpler and more flexible signing method than the ECDSA scheme Bitcoin originally used, on the same elliptic curve. Schnorr signatures are compact (64…
  • BIP 341: Taproot: SegWit version 1 spending rules: Deployed. Taproot introduces a new kind of Bitcoin output that can be spent either with a single signature or by revealing just one of many possible alternative spending conditions, kept hidden in a tree…
  • BIP 342: Validation of Taproot Scripts: Deployed. Specifies Tapscript, the updated scripting rules used when a Taproot output is spent through one of its hidden alternative conditions. It switches signature checks to Schnorr, removes some old…
  • BIP 350: Bech32m format for v1+ witness addresses: Deployed. Introduces Bech32m, a corrected version of the Bech32 address format used for SegWit addresses (those starting with 'bc1'). A subtle flaw in Bech32 could let certain typos go undetected, so Bech32m…
  • BIP 379: Miniscript: Draft. Miniscript is a structured way of writing Bitcoin scripts, the small programs that define how coins can be spent. It lets software analyze spending conditions, combine them safely, and sign for them…
  • BIP 380: Output Script Descriptors General Operation: Deployed. Output script descriptors are a compact text language for describing exactly which addresses a wallet owns and how they are spent. This document defines their general syntax and checksum, giving…
  • BIP 381: Non-Segwit Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines the descriptor functions for Bitcoin's older address types: pay-to-public-key, pay-to-public-key-hash (classic addresses starting with '1'), and pay-to-script-hash (addresses starting with…
  • BIP 382: Segwit Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines the descriptor functions for native SegWit outputs, covering both single-key addresses and script-based ones. With these, wallets can precisely describe and back up SegWit wallets, including…
  • BIP 383: Multisig Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines descriptor functions for multisignature setups, where a certain number of keys out of a group must sign. One version keeps keys in the given order and another sorts them automatically, which…
  • BIP 384: combo() Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines a 'combo' descriptor that, from a single key, describes all the common address types that key could be used with. This is handy for wallets that need to find coins sent to any of those…
  • BIP 385: raw() and addr() Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines two simple descriptor functions: one that wraps an arbitrary raw script and one that wraps a plain address. They let wallets track coins in formats not otherwise covered, or watch an address…
  • BIP 386: tr() Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines the descriptor function for Taproot outputs, combining a main key with an optional tree of alternative spending conditions. This gives wallets a standard way to describe, back up and recover…
  • BIP 387: Tapscript Multisig Output Script Descriptors: Deployed. Defines descriptor functions for multisignature setups inside Taproot scripts, which require a different construction than older multisig. One form keeps keys in the given order and the other sorts…