Butcoin locking

[thepeterson]

How does bitcoin locking for specific period done? I do believe there was a one method that can be cancelled but is there's a method that locks it and can never be unlocked until the specified date comes?

In case if you are trying to leave something for your kids that breaks partially to not be wasted all in once

[bitbollo]

I remember two solutions, the first which you can implement in total autonomy with a timelock (here the link from the bitcoin wiki).
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Timelock

The second option you can implement with a "GREEN" function (formerly known as greenaddress).
Basically you can set an address to send bitcoins to / in case a certain amount of time passes.
https://blockstream.com/green/

Additionally, a wallet could be built by adding passwords or extra word seeds that would be shared later to an initial seed...

[hosseinimr93]

If you want to have bitcoin locked for a certain time and there is no way to spend the fund before that, you can create a time locked address.
A tool that can be used for this is coinb.in. Generate a private key and address. After that enter your public key and specify a date or blockheight on coinb.in. It will give you a timelocked address. Take note that there will be no way to spend fund from a timelocked address before the specified time. So, do this only if you are sure that you won't need to spend the fund before the specified time.


You can also create a wallet for your children, make a timelocked transaction to that and give your child the raw transaction. Your child will be able to broadcast that transaction after the specified time.
The difference with the previous method is that, you will be able to make a transaction before the specified time and make the transaction to your child's wallet invalid.
For making a timelock transaction, you can use electrum.

[thepeterson]

Can't timelock transaction be cancelled by double spend?

What's your opinion in this locking solution
Select a liquidity locking platform: There are several platforms available that provide liquidity locking services, such as Team.Finance, Unicrypt(UNCX), and TrustSwap.

If those services disappear can still use the funds after the lock?

[hosseinimr93]

Can't timelock transaction be cancelled by double spend?

If you make timelock transaction, that can't be broadcasted before the specified time/blockheight and as long as that transaction has not been broadcasted, there's nothing preventing you from making another transaction with the same input(s).

Take note that it's not true to call this a double-spend. You make the new transaction while the timelock transaction hasn't been broadcasted at all.

Edit:
I don't have any information about the services you mentioned.

[NotATether]

Can't timelock transaction be cancelled by double spend?

The timelock can only be cancelled if when you are broadcasting the timelocked transaction (that is RBF-enabled!), you broadcast another transaction without the timelock and place a higher transaction fee on it. In that case, it's as if you hever applied the timelock at all, because the entire transaction gets replaced by the new one.

What's your opinion in this locking solution
Select a liquidity locking platform: There are several platforms available that provide liquidity locking services, such as Team.Finance, Unicrypt(UNCX), and TrustSwap.

Are those even services for Bitcoin? If so, they are probably just using timelocks as the Bitcoin network does not provide a second locking mechanism (wallets providing a time delay for broadcasting transactions are a different story).

[hosseinimr93]

The timelock can only be cancelled if when you are broadcasting the timelocked transaction (that is RBF-enabled!), you broadcast another transaction without the timelock and place a higher transaction fee on it. In that case, it's as if you hever applied the timelock at all, because the entire transaction gets replaced by the new one.

All bitcoin transaction have locktime and in any transaction you make, the nLockTime must be specified. Most wallets set the nLockTime to zero or the last mined block, in the case you haven't specify any locktime.

I think OP is asking if it's possible to spend the fund before the locktime.
If you have set the nLockTime to a future date or a future blockheight, the transaction can't be broadcasted until the specified time or blockheight and for broadcasting a new transaction with the same input(s), you don't have to wait until the specified time.

[thepeterson]

If you want to have bitcoin locked for a certain time and there is no way to spend the fund before that, you can create a time locked address.
A tool that can be used for this is coinb.in. Generate a private key and address. After that enter your public key and specify a date or blockheight on coinb.in. It will give you a timelocked address. Take note that there will be no way to spend fund from a timelocked address before the specified time. So, do this only if you are sure that you won't need to spend the fund before the specified time.


You can also create a wallet for your children, make a timelocked transaction to that and give your child the raw transaction. Your child will be able to broadcast that transaction after the specified time.
The difference with the previous method is that, you will be able to make a transaction before the specified time and make the transaction to your child's wallet invalid.
For making a timelock transaction, you can use electrum.

is it OK to use the coinbin online?

[o_e_l_e_o]

Select a liquidity locking platform: There are several platforms available that provide liquidity locking services, such as Team.Finance, Unicrypt(UNCX), and TrustSwap.

Using any third party is a recipe for disaster. There have been dozens of platforms which offered such services, staking, yield, liquidity generators, and so on, which have either scammed or gone bankrupt and the users have lost everything. Just don't do it.

The timelock can only be cancelled if when you are broadcasting the timelocked transaction (that is RBF-enabled!), you broadcast another transaction without the timelock and place a higher transaction fee on it.

The timelocked transaction cannot be broadcast until after the timelock has expired. You can invalidate it with a transaction paying a lower fee prior to this, since the rest of the network know nothing about the timelocked transaction. The original transaction also does not need to be RBF enabled, since again, the network knows nothing about it.

is it OK to use the coinbin online?

Absolutely not. You should download it from https://github.com/OutCast3k/coinbin/, verify the hashes against the provided file, and the run it on an airgapped device.

If you plan to create an address using OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (which is what coinb.in does), be aware that any coins sent to that address cannot be recovered until the timelock has expired. There was a recent case discussed here of a user who accidentally locked $15,000 of bitcoin for 125 years, and there is nothing anyone can do to get it back before then. I would strongly suggest creating a test address with a timelock in the near future first, funding it with a very small amount of bitcoin, and double checking you can spend from it successfully, before you do anything with a large amount of coins.

[hosseinimr93]

is it OK to use the coinbin online?

If you use that only for generating a time locked address from your public key, yes. You don't enter any sensitive data for that at all.
You should generate your private key and public key somewhere else using a safe tool (preferably on an airgapped device).

Again, take note that any fund that is sent to a time locked address will be locked until the specified time or blockheight and there won't be any way to spend that before that.
Do this only if you are sure that you won't need the fund before the specified time.

[thepeterson]

Select a liquidity locking platform: There are several platforms available that provide liquidity locking services, such as Team.Finance, Unicrypt(UNCX), and TrustSwap.

Using any third party is a recipe for disaster. There have been dozens of platforms which offered such services, staking, yield, liquidity generators, and so on, which have either scammed or gone bankrupt and the users have lost everything. Just don't do it.

The timelock can only be cancelled if when you are broadcasting the timelocked transaction (that is RBF-enabled!), you broadcast another transaction without the timelock and place a higher transaction fee on it.

The timelocked transaction cannot be broadcast until after the timelock has expired. You can invalidate it with a transaction paying a lower fee prior to this, since the rest of the network know nothing about the timelocked transaction. The original transaction also does not need to be RBF enabled, since again, the network knows nothing about it.

is it OK to use the coinbin online?

Absolutely not. You should download it from https://github.com/OutCast3k/coinbin/, verify the hashes against the provided file, and the run it on an airgapped device.

If you plan to create an address using OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (which is what coinb.in does), be aware that any coins sent to that address cannot be recovered until the timelock has expired. There was a recent case discussed here of a user who accidentally locked $15,000 of bitcoin for 125 years, and there is nothing anyone can do to get it back before then. I would strongly suggest creating a test address with a timelock in the near future first, funding it with a very small amount of bitcoin, and double checking you can spend from it successfully, before you do anything with a large amount of coins.

The issue is how will he or his family take it by then? Can they keep the private key safe for 125 years without losing it? :/ that's the second issue after the timelock the redeemers

[BitMaxz]

is it OK to use the coinbin online?

That's a pretty bad idea you might expose some sensitive data while using the tool online.
Download the page or download it directly to their GitHub as suggested above and run it offline.

And about the time locked address provided by hosseinimr93 that's not the only way to lock a transaction using Coinb.in tool, you can also go directly to the transaction page and create an unsigned transaction with lock time enabled(you can find it on the advance option) since you mention you don't want someone to double spend the transaction disable the RBF option while creating lock transaction.

If you are looking for a guide you can read this "Two Ways to Use Time Lock features on Coinb.in"

[hosseinimr93]

And about the time locked address provided by hosseinimr93 that's not the only way to lock a transaction using Coinb.in tool, you can also go directly to the transaction page and create an unsigned transaction with lock time enabled(you can find it on the advance option) since you mention you don't want someone to double spend the transaction disable the RBF option while creating lock transaction.

There's a big difference between making such a transaction and creating a time locked address.

When you make a transaction with setting the nlocktime to a future date or a future blockheight, you tell the network that this transaction must not be accepted before the specified time. This doesn't mean the fund is locked and you can't make a new transaction. You can make a new transaction even before the specified time.

Also note that with disabling RBF, you only make the transaction unreplaceable after it being broadcasted and there wouldn't be anything stopping you from making a new transaction before that transaction being broadcasted.
(It may worth mentioning that with full RBF in future, transactions can be replaced by a new one paying higher fee, even if they haven't been flagged as RBF.)

[Zaguru12]

The issue is how will he or his family take it by then? Can they keep the private key safe for 125 years without losing it? :/ that's the second issue after the timelock the redeemers

In the case of this 125 years I would say it seems almost lost because there is possibility that even those you share the recovery sheet, private key with might have died. But for smaller year I would say it is safer to share this recovery with some family members it was actually intended for or the children so that when you might be no more someone still has access to it, at least even if they have this keys they won’t be able to spend them till the specified time.

My advice again could be set a shorter date like in the space of 5 years then if you get it broadcasted you can initiate another one again. If you interested I would advise you read through this tips by LoyceV

[nc50lc]

The issue is how will he or his family take it by then? Can they keep the private key safe for 125 years without losing it? :/ that's the second issue after the timelock the redeemers

You need to specify the exact procedure on how to spend the locked funds.
If you just sent them private keys, they will likely import or sweep it to a wallet and restore the standard scripts a.k.a 'legacy', 'nested-SegWit', 'native SegWit' or 'TapRoot' address.
Those wont restore the correct address; normal sweep wont find the associated unspent transaction.

But there are issues:
The main issue is the current support for such script which is limited,
AFAIK, it's the only wallet that I know where you can spend it, there's no other option aside from manually building the transaction.
So you're stuck with that option for now and just update the provided procedure if a future wallet or existing wallet's new version adopts importation of such script.

Another slight issue is coinb.in server availability since without it, the claimers will have to manually input the correct data to spend it.
Spending it using "Load" (Redeem Script) may be working for now and actually simple but you'll never know what will happen during the time your bitcoins are locked up.
So the steps provided should be thorough with a link to its source code (and a backup of it online/physical),
the buttons to click, the data that should be inputted on the right positions, what will do if "x" doesn't work anymore, etc.

[thepeterson]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5458555.0