{"number":179,"title":"Name for payment recipient identifiers","authors":["Emil Engler","Luke Dashjr"],"status":"Complete","type":"Informational","created":"2019-10-17","license":"CC0-1.0","requires":[],"replaces":[],"replacedBy":[],"discussion":[],"abstract":"This BIP proposes a new term for 'address'","eli5":"Suggests replacing the word \"address\" with \"invoice\" or \"invoice address.\" Because Bitcoin addresses are meant to be used only once, the authors argue the new term better discourages address reuse, which harms privacy.","categories":["transactions"],"filename":"bip-0179.mediawiki","githubUrl":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0179.mediawiki","format":"mediawiki","readingMinutes":1,"inbound":0,"revisions":6,"impact":9,"core":false,"references":[],"lastModified":"2026-07-22","html":"<h2 id=\"abstract\">Abstract</h2>\n<p>This BIP proposes a new term for 'address'</p>\n<h2 id=\"specification\">Specification</h2>\n<p>The new term is: <em>Bitcoin</em> <strong>Invoice</strong> <em>Address</em></p>\n<p>The <em>Bitcoin</em> and <em>Address</em> parts are optional. The address suffix should only be used as a transitional step.</p>\n<p>A <em>Bitcoin</em> Invoice <em>Address</em> is a string of characters that can be used to indicate the intended recipient and purpose of a transaction.</p>\n<h2 id=\"motivation\">Motivation</h2>\n<p>Bitcoin addresses are intended to be only used <strong>once</strong> and you should generate a new one for every new incoming payment. The term 'address' however indicates consistency because nearly everything on the internet or the offline world with the term 'address' is something that rarely or even never changes (postal address, email address, IP addresses (depends heavily on the provider), etc.) The motivation for this BIP is to change the term address to something that indicates that the address is connected to a single transaction.</p>\n<h2 id=\"rationale\">Rationale</h2>\n<p>The reason why we use <em>Bitcoin Invoice Address</em> or just <em>Invoice</em> is to emphasize that it is single-use. The terms <em>Bitcoin</em> and <em>Address</em> are optional for the following reasons: For <em>Bitcoin</em>:</p>\n<ul><li>\nUseful for multicoin wallets to indicate that it belongs to Bitcoin\n</li></ul>\n<ul><li>\nIndicates a difference between a lightning and an on-chain invoice\n</li></ul>\n<p>For <em>Address</em>:</p>\n<ul><li>\nTo not confuse users with a completely new term\n</li></ul>\n<ul><li>\nTo show that it is where you send something to\n</li></ul>\n<ul><li>\nTo not break backwards compatibility\n</li></ul>\n<p>This gives us the four following possibilities:</p>\n<ul><li>\nBitcoin Invoice Address\n</li></ul>\n<ul><li>\nBitcoin Invoice\n</li></ul>\n<ul><li>\nInvoice Address\n</li></ul>\n<ul><li>\nInvoice\n</li></ul>\n<h2 id=\"backwards-compatibility\">Backwards Compatibility</h2>\n<p>To avoid issues, the 'Address' suffix is permitted, but not recommended. The suffix 'Address' remains so users should be immediately able to recognize it until the new term is widely known.</p>\n<h2 id=\"acknowledgements\">Acknowledgements</h2>\n<p>Thanks to Chris Belcher for the suggestion of the term 'Bitcoin Invoice Address'</p>\n<h2 id=\"copyright\">Copyright</h2>\n<p>This BIP is released under CC0-1.0 and therefore Public Domain.</p>","toc":[{"id":"abstract","title":"Abstract","level":2},{"id":"specification","title":"Specification","level":2},{"id":"motivation","title":"Motivation","level":2},{"id":"rationale","title":"Rationale","level":2},{"id":"backwards-compatibility","title":"Backwards Compatibility","level":2},{"id":"acknowledgements","title":"Acknowledgements","level":2},{"id":"copyright","title":"Copyright","level":2}],"history":{"totalCommits":6,"firstCommit":"2019-10-17T21:26:08+02:00","lastUpdated":"2026-07-22T14:41:04-07:00","events":[{"sha":"56cb3cea9defe4ac15903bcf49bf0005a1637b01","date":"2026-07-22T14:41:04-07:00","author":"Murch","message":"BIP179: Advance to Complete","url":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/commit/56cb3cea9defe4ac15903bcf49bf0005a1637b01","kind":"status"},{"sha":"24e96e870fffaa257b465ce1f0370c14aac588e8","date":"2025-10-08T14:59:36-07:00","author":"Murch","message":"process: Created ↦ Assigned","url":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/commit/24e96e870fffaa257b465ce1f0370c14aac588e8","kind":"edit"},{"sha":"5207ef92a52d0b8902895b0dbb40823a4d698ec9","date":"2025-04-11T20:08:17-07:00","author":"Murch","message":"process: Author ↦ Authors","url":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/commit/5207ef92a52d0b8902895b0dbb40823a4d698ec9","kind":"edit"},{"sha":"59730dec4fb641a41589aa1b91d3c452f13e0e36","date":"2025-04-11T20:05:13-07:00","author":"Murch","message":"process: Remove Comments-URI and -Summary","url":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/commit/59730dec4fb641a41589aa1b91d3c452f13e0e36","kind":"edit"},{"sha":"b505101a2dfc8e61c79c47520d863f860a505d18","date":"2022-07-12T05:38:41+02:00","author":"MacroFake","message":"179: Remove my email due to spam (#1337)","url":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/commit/b505101a2dfc8e61c79c47520d863f860a505d18","kind":"edit"},{"sha":"d3ff4b1e9e3358893c5c5c5c2b5b1642f65ea98c","date":"2019-10-17T21:26:08+02:00","author":"Emil Engler","message":"Add BIP 179: Name for payment recipient identifiers","url":"https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/commit/d3ff4b1e9e3358893c5c5c5c2b5b1642f65ea98c","kind":"edit"}]}}