deadalnix
commented
6 years ago I guess we'd better get started then.
Closed Steve132 closed 6 years ago
deadalnix
commented
6 years ago I guess we'd better get started then.
The new proposed cashaddress format meets a valid need: that is, a way to disambiguate UAHF addresses from BTC core addresses to enhance the user experience and increase adoption.
However, the current proposal goes in the opposite direction, and will likely result in more confusion.
The rest of the cryptocurrency world has adopted a convention that addresses contain a simple version prefix which identifies the coin when the hash160 of the public key is taken. This results in a specific letter prefix that serves to identify the user which coin is currently in use.
While there are some problems with that approach, users, wallets, URIs, and software libraries have standardized on that approach after 5 years of development. A VERY large amount of multi-coin and wallet software and exchange software relies on that convention. Furthermore, Users have come to recognize this format as what a crypto address "looks like" and have begun to associate it with cryptocurrency. It's what they look for on payment pages and what they think of when they try to find their address.
A radical departure from that convention (such as the current proposal) will likely be difficult to follow and difficult to integrate by maintainers, resulting in a low adoption rate.
Low adoption rate actually makes the problem worse than the status quo. If there is a low but non-zero adoption rate of this standard, then ALL wallet software or exchange software that interacts with the BCH chain will need to be re-written and upgraded in order to not introduce bugs. Since some will not, it will become necessary to suppot both standards for a very long length of time.
Worse, it will be even MORE confusing to users than a simple format change would be, especially if only a small fraction of wallets use it.
Although I'm not a fan of Bitpay's approach to BCH addresses because it's non-standard, it's VASTLY superior to this proposal in almost every way.