Bitcoin Improvement Proposal

[Zoomic]

I have a wish.
I wish that in the future, I can not only choose the amount and address to where the transaction goes, but also the time of execution.
And that I am able to cancel that transaction.
Maybe on the Bitcoin Blockchain.
If not possible, then maybe on the Lightning Blockchain.
This would make the act of heritage so much easier.

You can make transaction offline anytime and broadcast it later, you can always cancel this transaction until you broadcast them. If you don't have internet connection by the time you want to spend 1 BTC to your daughter, it won't be possible for her to receive it.

Like that I make sure that:
1. as long as I am alive I never have to share my private keys.
2. if I die, my BTC are not lost and will go to the person(s) I want.
3. my daughter will never lose all of the BTC because someone scammed her.

You shouldn't share your private keys as long as you are alive. And if you die, your bitcoins will be lost because you haven't shared your keys with someone else. Another option to prevent this is, for example, 2/3 multisig wallet but you have to trust these two people. In 2/3 multisig wallet case, if you die but these two persons are alive, they will be able to make a transaction and get funds. In 2/3 multisig wallet, at least two sign is necessary to make a transaction, so, you can always prevent damage from one scammer.

Have your daughter generate 20 (for example) key pairs. She keeps the 20 private keys secret and gives you a list of 20 addresses.

Create a timelocked transaction sending 1 BTC to the first address, which cannot be broadcast for 1 year. Give her a copy of the transaction for safe keeping.
Create another timelocked transaction sending 1 BTC to the second address, which cannot be broadcast for 2 years. Again, give her a copy of the transaction.
Another transaction, timelocked for 3 years, to the third address. Give her a copy.
Etc.

If you die, then she can broadcast one transaction a year until she has broadcast them all.

If you are still alive in a year, then all you have to do is move the coins in the first transaction to a new address, and the timelocked transaction she is holding will be invalid and useless. So every year you are still alive, move the coins which she could redeem next to another address you own, and then create a new timelocked transaction for some other time in the future.

What did I just read?
Wow in bitcoin everything is possible, but one concern is that most of these things are technical such that an average man that is not a computer geek may not be able to understand and implement these things.
This will be a problem in the future when bitcoin hits global adoption because people will have to pay people (it could be centralized platforms) to help them handle these things and which is not the right thing.

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[Synchronice]

What did I just read?
Wow in bitcoin everything is possible, but one concern is that most of these things are technical such that an average man that is not a computer geek may not be able to understand and implement these things.
This will be a problem in the future when bitcoin hits global adoption because people will have to pay people (it could be centralized platforms) to help them handle these things and which is not the right thing.

I don't understand what you mean a computer geek may be capable to do but everything written above doesn't require technical knowledge at all, it's easy. If you talk about implementations that you wish to happen, I think non computer geek will be able to do some of them because of the nature of technologies at the moment.

By the way, bitcoin was not designed for massive global usage. 2017 year made it necessary for bitcoin to come up with a new solution in the form of Lighting Network to handle increased number of transactions. It's block size is very small, 4MB. I think if time comes when bitcoin becomes massive, we will have a need of Fork and some other solutions.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Wow in bitcoin everything is possible, but one concern is that most of these things are technical such that an average man that is not a computer geek may not be able to understand and implement these things.

When bitcoin was first launched, if you wanted to use it you had to run your own node, which was interacted with via the command line. Far too technical for the average user. Now you can simply download an app on your phone and you are good to go.

Using various scripts manually is perhaps too technical for the average use, but that doesn't mean there is no solution to that problem. In fact, the average user can create timelocked transactions right now using Electrum and by simply typing in a block number they don't want the transaction to be spent before in the relevant box in the GUI.

It's block size is very small, 1MB.

It's actually 4MB.

[Synchronice]

Wow in bitcoin everything is possible, but one concern is that most of these things are technical such that an average man that is not a computer geek may not be able to understand and implement these things.

When bitcoin was first launched, if you wanted to use it you had to run your own node, which was interacted with via the command line. Far too technical for the average user. Now you can simply download an app on your phone and you are good to go.

Using various scripts manually is perhaps too technical for the average use, but that doesn't mean there is no solution to that problem. In fact, the average user can create timelocked transactions right now using Electrum and by simply typing in a block number they don't want the transaction to be spent before in the relevant box in the GUI.

It's block size is very small, 1MB.

It's actually 4MB.

My bad, my bad, it was a typo, it has been changed since 2017.

[Zoomic]

Wow in bitcoin everything is possible, but one concern is that most of these things are technical such that an average man that is not a computer geek may not be able to understand and implement these things.

When bitcoin was first launched, if you wanted to use it you had to run your own node, which was interacted with via the command line. Far too technical for the average user. Now you can simply download an app on your phone and you are good to go.

Using various scripts manually is perhaps too technical for the average use, but that doesn't mean there is no solution to that problem.

I understand that there are sincere efforts to made bitcoin user friendly and also scalable. And many things have actually changed, but there is this feeling of technicalities in people's head while approaching bitcoin from higher angle other than send and recieve bitcoin. I am not an exception to this . But now I appreciate my decision to learn and my presence in this forum.

In fact, the average user can create timelocked transactions right now using Electrum and by simply typing in a block number they don't want the transaction to be spent before in the relevant box in the GUI.

I am going to try this transaction timelock out, maybe for few weeks and I'll be glad to get bisq, SegWit and Timelock

2017 year made it necessary for bitcoin to come up with a new solution in the form of Lighting Network to handle increased number of transactions.

LN was not introduced to handle increased number of transactions. The idea is to create an off chain channel that supports frequent and small amount of bitcoin transactions as coffee and tea transactions and at the end, the channel closed and collapse back to blockchain. The emphasis is rather on transaction fees.

[d5000]

Create a timelocked transaction sending 1 BTC to the first address, which cannot be broadcast for 1 year. Give her a copy of the transaction for safe keeping.
Create another timelocked transaction[...]
If you die, then she can broadcast one transaction a year until she has broadcast them all.

If you are still alive in a year, then all you have to do is move the coins in the first transaction to a new address, and the timelocked transaction she is holding will be invalid and useless. So every year you are still alive, move the coins which she could redeem next to another address you own, and then create a new timelocked transaction for some other time in the future.

I think there is a problem with this approach. You would need SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT (BIP 118) for this, and it's currently still not included in the code.

Otherwise, any time you move your coins because you're still alive, you will invalidate all of the transactions to your daughter. Because when you move the coins, you'll spend the UTXO which is included in all timelocked transactions.

You could hold the coins for each transaction on a different address, then it would work. I think however it's an over-complicated approach, because you will have to move coins each year anyway. (It may make sense in some very special cases, for example, if you want to order coins by priority, "which ones could I need still in my lifetime and which ones not", etc.)

The simplest approach is instead what you (o_e_l_e_o) wrote here:

1) send a timelocked transaction to your daughter with all coins you want your daughter to receive, 1 year in the future. (You can send it even per (encrypted) email or messenger, if you're sure that she's storing it safely, or give her the transaction code on paper, etc.)
2) every 6 months, and every time you move your coins or even part of them, you send a new timelocked transaction, again 1 year in the future, and again with all coins.

And yes @OP, you can cancel even this simple plan any time: simply moving all coins to another address.

pooya87's method also works and has the advantage that your daughter will not have to store the transaction as she's able to move the coins with her key. But you pay fees one time more.

There was a more advanced method I'd read and which has already been implemented in a mobile test wallet, but I currently don't remember where it was.

[o_e_l_e_o]

You would need SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT (BIP 118) for this, and it's currently still not included in the code.

Not at all. I was simply assuming that OP was using coins in his own cold storage which will rarely, if ever, be moved. The coins for each transaction should already be separate UTXOs, so if he needs to spend one of the UTXOs it will only invalidate a single timelocked transaction, and not all of them.

I think it would be a reasonable approach to exclude some of OP's coins from this inheritance plan for the sake of ease. If he had, say, 10 BTC in these timelocked transactions, he could have 0.5 BTC in a different wallet for his own personal use. This could simply be passed on to his daughter by the way of a seed phrase which she will inherit after his death.

And yes @OP, you can cancel even this simple plan any time: simply moving all coins to another address.

He actually only needs to move a single UTXO and it will invalidate the entire transaction. So if he has a timelocked transaction sending 100 UTXOs to his daughter, he can just move a single one of those UTXOs and the whole transaction is invalid.

[d5000]

@o_e_l_e_o: Yep, with the coins on different utxos it works, but that wasn't that clear in your post; I think as the OP is not very experienced with contracts it's good if this detail is clarified. You're actually right that the method with various transactions, as the OP wrote, has also advantages.


I've found the "advanced approach" I wrote about in the last post, it was developed by user Andriian in 2019.
It was created for the case of a person who wants to ensure that after his death a family member has access to the funds, but can also be adapted to the use case "give the coins to my daughter at a certain day, regardless if I'm alive or dead." In this case CSV has to be replaced with CLTV.

The script would look exactly the same like in pooya87's approach in #8, but it has one difference: the transaction with the timelock is not broadcast, but given to the beneficiary (daughter, heir etc.).

The differences to the method storing it on the blockchain are minimal, but you save fees (the beneficiary/heir has to pay them), and there are privacy advantages (nobody sees that the daughter has access to the coins). In the original use case, however, when you want to transfer the coins only when you're already dead, Andriian's method has the big advantage that you don't have to renew this transaction regularly.

If I'm sure I want the coins for my daughter, and the probability I need them myself or change my mind is very low, I would perhaps prefer pooya87's method, because it's simpler to spend for the daughter/heir/beneficiary when the coins are already accessible for her public key "on the blockchain".

[o_e_l_e_o]

I've found the "advanced approach" I wrote about in the last post, it was developed by user Andriian in 2019.

Ahh, I do remember reading that now that you've linked it (and actually merited it at the time, heh).

I think the biggest drawback to this is the same as the drawback we are discussing above: As soon as Alice spends any of her bitcoin, then the transactions she has given to Bob are invalid and she has to generate new ones and give them to him. This method also requires Alice to keep a constant watch for the transactions she has given Bob showing up in a block. By using timelock as I suggested above, Alice can know for sure that there is zero chance the coins can be spent before the timelock expires. Using this method, Alice has to constantly check to see if Bob is trying to steal from her so she can sweep the coins before he can.

[Flexystar]

This is not simple for people like me that don't have any background on programming.

That's correct. And I think that the easy solution is to use Timelock feature in Electrum, which is available on the advanced tab at/"after" sending.
The initial purpose is slightly different, but this thread shows how to use Timelock in Electrum: [Tutorial] Making your crypto inheritible

PS. Obviously I recommend trying it out for free on Testnet 

Thanks @littlemouse for your reference.

Actually that thread clearly mentions how difficult it would be to set up the timelock feature with the less to no knowledge about codes.

Checkout the solution from @Coin_trader. You can set up the same in Electrum wallet itself and have that “inheritance” bitcoin machine set up for your daughter.

Good to see that whatever we imagine in the crypto thee days is already thought by someone and surprisingly some solution pre exists. 

If someone has already tried, then share the thoughts.

This could also become the best way to “HODL” the coins as long term investment for specific period of time through above system.

[d5000]

As soon as Alice spends any of her bitcoin, then the transactions she has given to Bob are invalid and she has to generate new ones and give them to him.

Yep. I think currently this problem is not solvable with on chain transactions, we would need SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT for that, and even then there are some possible complications, for example the amount you chose could actually not be available anymore.

As a side note, in some altcoins the method may be already possible if they're not using UTXOs but an "account model", and thus working very similar to SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT already now. So in the case this opcode never makes it into the code, in a sidechain such a flexible mechanism would be actually possible.

Using this method, Alice has to constantly check to see if Bob is trying to steal from her so she can sweep the coins before he can.

This is true for the original method which uses CSV but not for the adapted method where the timelock is set with CLTV to a fixed block height or time in the future, which would fit the OP's use case better. It would work almost exactly like in pooya87's example.