This PR reduces the size to 40 bytes: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3737
(Note - this is not intended to close the discussion... please do keep sending in feedback) On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 11:03 AM, Jeff Garzik <jgar...@bitpay.com> wrote: > An update in forthcoming 0.9 release includes a change to make > OP_RETURN standard, permitted a small amount of metadata to be > attached to a transaction: > https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/2738 > > There was always going to be some level of controversy attached to > this. However, some issues, perceptions and questions are bubbling > up, and it seemed fair to cover them on the list, not just IRC. > > 1) FAQ: Why 80 bytes of data? This is the leading programmer > question, and it was not really documented well at all. Simple > answer: 2x SHA256 or 1x SHA512, plus some tiny bit of metadata. Some > schemes are of the nature "BOND<hash>" rather than just plain hash. > A common IRC proposal seems to lean towards reducing that from 80. > I'll leave it to the crowd to argue about size from there. I do think > regular transactions should have the ability to include some metadata. > > 2) Endorsement of chain data storage. Listening to bitcoin conference > corridor discussions, reading forum posts and the occasional article > have over-simplified the situation to "core devs endorse data storage > over blockchain! let me start uploading my naughty movie collection! > IM over blockchain, woo hoo!" > > Nothing could be further from the truth. It's a way to make data > /less damaging/, not an endorsement of data storage in chain as a good > idea. MasterCoin and other projects were doing -even worse- things, > such as storing data in forever-unspendable TX outputs, bloating the > UTXO for eternity. > > It seems reasonable to have a release note to this effect in the 0.9 > release announcement, IMO. > > -- > Jeff Garzik > Bitcoin core developer and open source evangelist > BitPay, Inc. https://bitpay.com/ -- Jeff Garzik Bitcoin core developer and open source evangelist BitPay, Inc. https://bitpay.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Flow-based real-time traffic analytics software. Cisco certified tool. Monitor traffic, SLAs, QoS, Medianet, WAAS etc. with NetFlow Analyzer Customize your own dashboards, set traffic alerts and generate reports. Network behavioral analysis & security monitoring. All-in-one tool. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=126839071&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Bitcoin-development mailing list Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
