Microsoft registers bitcoin URI scheme

[melvster]

https://www.iana.org/assignments/uri-schemes/prov/bitcoin

(last updated 2012-09-23)

Resource Identifier (RI) Scheme name: bitcoin
Status: provisional

Scheme syntax:
   bitcoin:<address>[?[amount=<size>][&][label=<label>][&][message=<message>]]

Scheme semantics:
   Send money to a Bitcoin address

Encoding considerations:
   Unknown, use with care.

Applications/protocols that use this scheme name:

Interoperability considerations:
   Unknown, use with care.
   May be unsuitable for open use on the public internet.
Security considerations:
   Unknown, use with care.
   This scheme claims to be used to send money, which implies a commitment
   by the client user; as described is not clear that this scheme does not
   violate the web principle of safe interactions
   (http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/#safe-interaction). In the absence of more
   details, it should be considered very dangerous to dereference a bitcoin
   URI.
Contact:
   Registering party: Dave Thaler <dthaler&microsoft.com>
   Scheme creator: Bitcoin URI Scheme
Author/Change controller:
   Either the registering party or someone who is verified to represent
   the scheme creator.  See previous answer.
References:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin, https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0021  



(file created 2012-09-23)

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[SgtSpike]

URI = clickable links on a webpage that would open up your bitcoin client to send a payment, correct?

If so, it's neat that they recognize it!

Also, what does "dereference" mean in this context, and why is it very dangerous?

[RodeoX]

I could be dangerous just because a click pay system could be hijacked to send to the wrong address. Maybe?

[misterbigg]

Also, what does "dereference" mean in this context, and why is it very dangerous?

I believe "dereference" means to follow the link. It would be dangerous because in theory (depending on what software you have installed) calling on the operating system / browser to open the URI may cause money to get sent from your wallet.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Also, what does "dereference" mean in this context, and why is it very dangerous?

I believe "dereference" means to follow the link. It would be dangerous because in theory (depending on what software you have installed) calling on the operating system / browser to open the URI may cause money to get sent from your wallet.  

This works now if you have MultiBit or Armory.  It does not send funds from your wallet.  What it does is precompose a Send Bitcoins transaction with the amount and address from the link.  the buyer still has to press the SEND button. It is similar to a mailto: link on a webpage which precomposes an email using your registered email client.


I made 2 videos of this working, one with Multibit, the other with BitcoinSpinner on Android.

https://bitpay.com/faq  (watch the "Pay from Computer" video)

also, this one, which will be updated on that webpage soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49GY0UsfJ7s

The wallet software can register the URL protocol without any involvement from Microsoft.

If you'd like a few test links of the bitcoin: URI, look here:

http://lovebitcoins.org/developers.html

BitPay fully supports the bitcoin: URI protocol on our invoice pages.

[BCB]

We I've tried to click on existing bitcoin uri's it always fails because is tries to start another instance of my bitcoind even if it is already running on my windows box, so I never use it.  Is there a fix for this?

[Akka]

Also, what does "dereference" mean in this context, and why is it very dangerous?

I believe "dereference" means to follow the link. It would be dangerous because in theory (depending on what software you have installed) calling on the operating system / browser to open the URI may cause money to get sent from your wallet.  

This works now if you have MultiBit or Armory.  It does not send funds from your wallet.  What it does is precompose a Send Bitcoins transaction with the amount and address from the link.  the buyer still has to press the SEND button. It is similar to a mailto: link on a webpage which precomposes an email using your registered email client.


I made 2 videos of this working, one with Multibit, the other with BitcoinSpinner on Android.

https://bitpay.com/faq  (watch the "Pay from Computer" video)

also, this one, which will be updated on that webpage soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49GY0UsfJ7s

The wallet software can register the URL protocol without any involvement from Microsoft.

If you'd like a few test links of the bitcoin: URI, look here:

http://lovebitcoins.org/developers.html

BitPay fully supports the bitcoin: URI protocol on our invoice pages.

Wow, this is awesome. That is exactly what is needed to get Bitcoin wider adopted.

Sorry, but the direct handling of the addresses is something that scares away "average Joe" users.

If you could use BTC without ever seeing the addresses just by applications like this. A giant new marked opens.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

If you could use BTC without ever seeing the addresses just by applications like this. A giant new marked opens.

That is exactly what we are working towards at BitPay.  eventually the bitcoin address will be invisible, just like all the IP headers and other things we used to have to deal with when sending emails.

[bitstarter]

If you could use BTC without ever seeing the addresses just by applications like this. A giant new marked opens.

That is exactly what we are working towards at BitPay.  eventually the bitcoin address will be invisible, just like all the IP headers and other things we used to have to deal with when sending emails.

This ^^ is what is needed! Cool.

[kokjo]

Contact:
   Registering party: Dave Thaler <dthaler&microsoft.com>
   Scheme creator: Bitcoin URI Scheme
Author/Change controller:
   Either the registering party or someone who is verified to represent
   the scheme creator.  See previous answer.

does this mean that microsoft "own" the URI?

[Spekulatius]

Quote from reddit:

Correction: some guy [Dave Thaler] who happens to work at Microsoft registered the bitcoin URI scheme.

Some guy who works at Google created BitcoinJ; it doesn't mean that Google endorses Bitcoin at all. Same with this.

[waspoza]

BTW does stuff like this, i mean registering at various places. etc., is a job for Bitcoin Foundation?

[RodeoX]

Quote from reddit:

Correction: some guy [Dave Thaler] who happens to work at Microsoft registered the bitcoin URI scheme.

Some guy who works at Google created BitcoinJ; it doesn't mean that Google endorses Bitcoin at all. Same with this.

I does mean they are thinking about it. 

[waspoza]

Quote from reddit:

Correction: some guy [Dave Thaler] who happens to work at Microsoft registered the bitcoin URI scheme.

Some guy who works at Google created BitcoinJ; it doesn't mean that Google endorses Bitcoin at all. Same with this.

So you want friggin Bill Gates to be registering protocols? They have ppl for that, and this is the guy.

[Stephen Gornick]

This works now if you have MultiBit or Armory.

And now also on the Bitcoin-Qt client running on Windows (re-enabled with v0.7 of the Bitcoin.org GUI client)

[BitPay Business Solutions]

This works now if you have MultiBit or Armory.

And now also on the Bitcoin-Qt client running on Windows (re-enabled with v0.7 of the Bitcoin.org GUI client)

only problem is if I already have 0.7.0 running, and I click a URI link, I get this error.

[kjj]

He didn't "register" it, he reported it.

12:58PM <Luke-Jr> Thaler sez: "As discussed on the IRI WG list the IANA
          provisional registry is a better place to track deployed but
          non-standardized schemes.  As such, pretty much all the schemes that
          were listed on Wikipedia were added to the IANA provisional
          registry."

[dissipate]

It looks like Bitcoin has been on the radar of Microsoft's research group for awhile now. This was from back in June 2012:

On Bitcoin and Red Balloons

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/?id=156072

[ElectricMucus]

Mind you microsoft research is a honeypot for comp-sci students created by Microsoft and not the actual Corporation.  

What about implementing this URI scheme to actually work in the Client?

[justusranvier]

That is exactly what we are working towards at BitPay.  eventually the bitcoin address will be invisible, just like all the IP headers and other things we used to have to deal with when sending emails.

From the standpoint of privacy it would be better to have a URI that sends parameters for generating a set of BIP 32 public keys instead of a single address.