BIG question that affects all of us

[lumleyunit]

i got a bitcoin paper wallet that i protect with my life.

wot if at some point in the future say 10-20 years can i still redeem the funds? 

the tech will have advanced way beyond today and able to suit the consumer howether i am concious about redeeming that peice of paper in the future into the blockchain i want to know that the money i put in that wallet TODAY can be redeemed in 10-20 years into the future (as long as i have the key & BIP password).


with growing concerns of BIP38 to BIP99999 and SHA256 to SHA9999999 changes and quantum computing it has put me on edge a bit wot if in the future blockchain dont accept BIP38 passwords how am i supposed to decrypt the key to SWEEP the money.

i am very concerned indeed

[1715090671]

1715090671

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Good question.
I not techie enough to help you but for personal reasons I'm obviously very keen to see this answered too.

[jl2012]

i got a bitcoin paper wallet that i protect with my life.

wot if at some point in the future say 10-20 years can i still redeem the funds? 

the tech will have advanced way beyond today and able to suit the consumer howether i am concious about redeeming that peice of paper in the future into the blockchain i want to know that the money i put in that wallet TODAY can be redeemed in 10-20 years into the future (as long as i have the key & BIP password).


with growing concerns of BIP38 to BIP99999 and SHA256 to SHA9999999 changes and quantum computing it has put me on edge a bit wot if in the future blockchain dont accept BIP38 passwords how am i supposed to decrypt the key to SWEEP the money.

i am very concerned indeed

I don't see such incompatible change will happen, but if it will happen, it will be planned and announced years in advance.

[inBitweTrust]

There will always be backwards compatibility for accounting your units and importing your keys. Even if you don't pay attention for 10 years the most you will have to decide on is which forked chain to import your keys towards.

[Slark]

i got a bitcoin paper wallet that i protect with my life.

wot if at some point in the future say 10-20 years can i still redeem the funds? 

the tech will have advanced way beyond today and able to suit the consumer howether i am concious about redeeming that peice of paper in the future into the blockchain i want to know that the money i put in that wallet TODAY can be redeemed in 10-20 years into the future (as long as i have the key & BIP password).


with growing concerns of BIP38 to BIP99999 and SHA256 to SHA9999999 changes and quantum computing it has put me on edge a bit wot if in the future blockchain dont accept BIP38 passwords how am i supposed to decrypt the key to SWEEP the money.

i am very concerned indeed

I wouldn't worry about that. Your coins should be perfectly safe and be able to redeem your coins in the future with no problems. It is hard to imagine that wallet technology (private keys) would change at some point of bitcoin development, that your wallet will be incompatible and useless. It would be a robbery if bitcoin developers change crucial feature like that.

[DannyHamilton]

The password is used to decrypt the encryption on your private key.  It doesn't matter what the rest of the system does, you still need to be able to decrypt the encryption on your private key.  As long as YOU don't change the encryption and create a new paper wallet with the new encryption, the password that you have should always decrypt your private key using the decryption algorithm associated with the encryption algorithm you used to encrypt it.

So, now that we've established that there aren't any changes that anyone else cam make that would prevent you from decrypting your private key, the next step is to deal with using that private key.

The transaction outputs that you've received each have a script that must be satisfied in order for those outputs to be spent.  That script is in the blockchain, and can't be changed.  The script creates a requirement that you use the correct private key to supply an ECDSA signature using the Secp256k1 curve.  If there are technology changes and other people start using other (better?) scripts in their outputs, it won't change the requirements that were set forth in your outputs.  It's a bit like if you install a lock on your house, and then keep the key.  Even if everyone else in the country changes to a new form of lock, as long as you don't change your lock, your key will still open your door.

Now, what you could possibly run into in 20 or 30 years is that it might become difficult to find wallet software that will create that ECDSA signature for you.  You might need to find some specialized software or you might need to create your own software (or hire someone to create some software for you) that is capable of spending from the old ECDSA script output and creating a new (whatever the new thing is) output.

As such, it would be a good idea to check every half decade or so and see if ECDSA signatures with the Secp256k1 curve are still the most common output type that people are using.  If that starts to change, then you might want to consider creating a new paper wallet with the new system and sending your balance from the old wallet to the new one while software that spends the old type of outputs is still common.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Reassuring to read guys.
Thanks for the responses.

[inBitweTrust]

This is the same type of dilemma that people face when dealing with obsolete file formats or digital standards. The worst case scenario is you have to dig up some old wallet software and possibly use some virtualization/emulation if that software isn't compatible with the newest Operating systems.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I think I'll maybe just do what Danny suggested above.
Create new paper wallets every 5-6 years & transfer balances.

Easy enough.

Plus let's be honest we should know in 10 years if bitcoin is going to be a huge success any way.
So I'll be either selling most of mine at a very high price or keeping paper wallets that are worth nothing.

[minerpumpkin]

You would need to make sure to transfer the funds in case a technology shift is happening and another encryption or private/public key procedure is being put into place. If the current technologies really prove to be prone to failure, your funds won't be safe anymore.

[rjclarke2000]

I think I'll maybe just do what Danny suggested above.
Create new paper wallets every 5-6 years & transfer balances.

Easy enough.

Plus let's be honest we should know in 10 years if bitcoin is going to be a huge success any way.
So I'll be either selling most of mine at a very high price or keeping paper wallets that are worth nothing.

I guess you are doing the same as me. Either have lots of purchasing power with all your btc in the years to come.......or............have a load of worthless numbers in a wallet.

I am in this for the long haul.

[ensurance982]

I think I'll maybe just do what Danny suggested above.
Create new paper wallets every 5-6 years & transfer balances.

Easy enough.

Plus let's be honest we should know in 10 years if bitcoin is going to be a huge success any way.
So I'll be either selling most of mine at a very high price or keeping paper wallets that are worth nothing.

I guess you are doing the same as me. Either have lots of purchasing power with all your btc in the years to come.......or............have a load of worthless numbers in a wallet.

I am in this for the long haul.

It's a valid strategy, in my books. It's also a very healthy mindset to just go and "write those coins off" - otherwise you may end up looking at the price charts every day and start hating yourself in case the price is dropping big time.

[louise123]

i got a bitcoin paper wallet that i protect with my life.

wot if at some point in the future say 10-20 years can i still redeem the funds? 

the tech will have advanced way beyond today and able to suit the consumer howether i am concious about redeeming that peice of paper in the future into the blockchain i want to know that the money i put in that wallet TODAY can be redeemed in 10-20 years into the future (as long as i have the key & BIP password).


with growing concerns of BIP38 to BIP99999 and SHA256 to SHA9999999 changes and quantum computing it has put me on edge a bit wot if in the future blockchain dont accept BIP38 passwords how am i supposed to decrypt the key to SWEEP the money.

i am very concerned indeed

I don't see such incompatible change will happen, but if it will happen, it will be planned and announced years in advance.

Yeah but, what if a successful attack was made on Sha-256.
I am not saying it's going to happen, but let's just say it did.
And changes need to be made immediately - move on to Sha-512 for example.
What if a person had a paper wallet, and was not aware of these immediate changes, for whatever reason.

What happens then?

[inBitweTrust]

i got a bitcoin paper wallet that i protect with my life.

wot if at some point in the future say 10-20 years can i still redeem the funds? 

the tech will have advanced way beyond today and able to suit the consumer howether i am concious about redeeming that peice of paper in the future into the blockchain i want to know that the money i put in that wallet TODAY can be redeemed in 10-20 years into the future (as long as i have the key & BIP password).


with growing concerns of BIP38 to BIP99999 and SHA256 to SHA9999999 changes and quantum computing it has put me on edge a bit wot if in the future blockchain dont accept BIP38 passwords how am i supposed to decrypt the key to SWEEP the money.

i am very concerned indeed

I don't see such incompatible change will happen, but if it will happen, it will be planned and announced years in advance.

Yeah but, what if a successful attack was made on Sha-256.
I am not saying it's going to happen, but let's just say it did.
And changes need to be made immediately - move on to Sha-512 for example.
What if a person had a paper wallet, and was not aware of these immediate changes, for whatever reason.

What happens then?

You run a risk of your cold storage being brute force hacked if SHA-256 becomes obsolete. It doesn't mean they will be , just that it will be easier to brute force. Since this is unlikely to happen , and affects both traditional bank security and military security it would be extremely unlikely that you wouldn't be made aware of it and have an opportunity to migrate your cold storage. You would literally have to become a hermit and hide in a cave for 5 years to be concerned about this.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I think I'll maybe just do what Danny suggested above.
Create new paper wallets every 5-6 years & transfer balances.

Easy enough.

Plus let's be honest we should know in 10 years if bitcoin is going to be a huge success any way.
So I'll be either selling most of mine at a very high price or keeping paper wallets that are worth nothing.

I guess you are doing the same as me. Either have lots of purchasing power with all your btc in the years to come.......or............have a load of worthless numbers in a wallet.

I am in this for the long haul.

Fortune favours the brave my friend.
I'd rather take a few risks in life with the chance of becoming rich some day rather than watch others take risks and benefit.
As long as you don't buy so many bitcoins that it gets you into trouble financially you're ok.

[spazzdla]

There will always be backwards compatibility for accounting your units and importing your keys. Even if you don't pay attention for 10 years the most you will have to decide on is which forked chain to import your keys towards.

This, ACTUALLY not moving BTC after hard forks might make them worth more..

[jl2012]

i got a bitcoin paper wallet that i protect with my life.

wot if at some point in the future say 10-20 years can i still redeem the funds? 

the tech will have advanced way beyond today and able to suit the consumer howether i am concious about redeeming that peice of paper in the future into the blockchain i want to know that the money i put in that wallet TODAY can be redeemed in 10-20 years into the future (as long as i have the key & BIP password).


with growing concerns of BIP38 to BIP99999 and SHA256 to SHA9999999 changes and quantum computing it has put me on edge a bit wot if in the future blockchain dont accept BIP38 passwords how am i supposed to decrypt the key to SWEEP the money.

i am very concerned indeed

I don't see such incompatible change will happen, but if it will happen, it will be planned and announced years in advance.

Yeah but, what if a successful attack was made on Sha-256.
I am not saying it's going to happen, but let's just say it did.
And changes need to be made immediately - move on to Sha-512 for example.
What if a person had a paper wallet, and was not aware of these immediate changes, for whatever reason.

What happens then?

If SHA256 or ECDSA will break down, it will be most likely a slow process taking many years. And if you are not aware, ALL modern e-finance systems are based on the same or similar cryptography used in bitcoin

[bandana]

certainly , the changes will be announced in the future.
you can redeem it then.

[Kprawn]

It's a very valid question and something I also contemplated for a while now, BUT we would most probably move with the technology changes of the times.

I have not run into any APP where they have not built backward compatibility into the NEWER versions.

I even think, people will offer services to recover coins, where the technology has become obsolete. This will be a non-issue and the least of our worry.