Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 21 Eases User Experience When Paying Invoices

The beneath is simply a nonstop excerpt of Marty's Bent Issue #1181: "BIP21 is simply a nary brainer." Sign up for the newsletter here.

At the infinitesimal determination is simply a monolithic UX hurdle that exists for users of antithetic bitcoin wallet bundle providers.

One of the much illuminating talks astatine the Bitcoin Takeover lawsuit that was held astatine the Bitcoin Commons present successful Austin past Friday was a sheet treatment betwixt Lisa Neigut (c-lightning, Blockstream), Rockstar Dev (Strike, which uses lnd), and Miles Suter (Cash App, which uses LDK) led by Matt Odell astir the challenges of the interoperability betwixt antithetic implementations and wide UX erstwhile utilizing the Lightning Network. During the treatment (which should beryllium made nationalist soon) the sheet turned to the taxable of BIP21, a BIP that I was unaware of but americium precise excited astir aft coming to recognize it.

At the infinitesimal determination is simply a monolithic UX hurdle that exists for users of antithetic bitcoin wallet bundle providers. The UX astir sending and receiving bitcoin transactions on-chain and via the Lightning Network. Some wallets are on-chain only, immoderate are lighting only, and immoderate let users to usage some but unit you to manually shuffle betwixt the 2 erstwhile sending and receiving. Enter BIP21, which aims to hole this UX hurdle by giving users optionality erstwhile sending. BIP21 would alteration QR codes that alteration wallet providers to see some a lightning invoice and an on-chain bitcoin wallet code successful 1 place.

What is needed to propulsion BIP21 guardant arsenic a modular is for much lightning web wallets to statesman supporting it. Right now, erstwhile a bitcoin idiosyncratic utilizing a BIP21 enabled wallet scans a QR codification of a wallet that doesn't person BIP21 enabled they person an mistake codification that tin beryllium confusing and leads to UX friction. If much lightning web wallets alteration BIP21 and let users who are lone sending transactions on-chain to beryllium provided with a fallback on-chain code it would bring an extremity to this UX friction. The champion portion is that BIP21 is backwards compatible, truthful determination is nary mode successful which it could disenfranchise the antheral successful the coma who wakes up a decennary from present and broadcasts a transaction from a wallet helium hasn't touched successful galore years.

Beyond this, BIP21 enables users the quality to marque a conscious determination astir whether they privation to nonstop via the protocol furniture oregon the lightning network. If implemented, this should destruct the request for antithetic on-chain and LN UI tabs and marque the transacting process overmuch smoother betwixt antithetic wallets.

The archetypal measurement toward realizing these benefits is making it truthful each wallet tin work BIP21 QR codes. From there, each task tin statesman to make experiences that let users to make BIP21 outgo codes. You indispensable get wide enactment for scanning earlier it makes consciousness to get wide enactment for generating these outgo codes. Here's to hoping wallet providers marque this a precedence successful the adjacent future.