Bitcoin Kernel

Interpreting Bitcoin’s most important discussions — from protocol debates to dev-mailing-list insights.

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

One line to close this discussion:

The interesting question P2SKH raises is not whether to save 12 bytes — it is whether "hashed Taproot output key" is a coherent design primitive, and whether Bitcoin's output type evolution has room for it.

This is @BitcoinKernel — tracking output type design, script path tradeoffs, and durable Bitcoin engineering judgments.
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[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

🧵 Thread: Pay to Schnorr Key Hash (P2SKH) — A New Output Type Proposal

This is not a debate about byte counts. It is about whether Bitcoin's output type design space is closed — or still open.

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

7/
Two questions this proposal did not resolve:

BIP360 (P2QRH, post-quantum outputs) claims witness version 2. P2SKH also targets version 2. One must move. sashabeton suggested version 3. No consensus formed.

hash160 provides 80-bit second-preimage resistance. This has been acceptable since P2PKH in 2009.
Whether it is acceptable in a new consensus rule is an open question.

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

🧵 End.
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[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

📜 Thread: “The Cat” BIP:
A concrete debate about UTXO cleanup, consensus boundaries, and Bitcoin neutrality

A recent bitcoindev discussion around the The Cat BIP draft is not really about NFTs or spam.

It is about what kinds of judgments are allowed at the consensus layer.

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

5/

What this debate is really about
•UTXO growth is a real engineering concern
•But consensus is not a cleanup mechanism
•Once spendability depends on perceived “acceptable use”
→ Bitcoin’s neutrality is weakened

Bitcoin’s security model depends as much on restraint
as it does on code.

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

7/

One line to close this debate:

Bitcoin isn’t secure because no one can see it —
it’s secure because anyone can verify it.

When discussions return to protocol definitions, much of the fear fades.
This is @BitcoinKernel —
tracking protocol disputes, engineering judgments, and durable Bitcoin truths.

Follow for more.

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

🧵Thread: Why “Bitcoin cannot be decrypted”?

This line emerged from a sharp exchange between Adam Back (@adam3us) and Charles Edwards (@caprioleio) over quantum risk.
The debate is bout what Bitcoin’s security is actually built on.

👇

[Bitcoin Kernel @BitcoinKernel]

6/

Grok further noted that encryption appears only in ancillary layers, such as:

local wallet file encryption
node-to-node communication security

These sit outside consensus
and do not define Bitcoin’s security model.