The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 174 (BIP 174) has been added to the Bitcoin repository, which paves the way for Partially Signed Transactions (PSBT) to become a reality, facilitating multi-signature transactions. This would allow offline transactions to be signed and there would be a common format for the information needed to perform this process. Several Bitcoin developers have been working for almost a month doing tests to include this modification definitively to the protocol.

Recall that the main objective of this BIP is to create a common format for performing PSBT, which would allow Bitcoin transactions to be signed even without a direct connection to the Internet , regardless of the implementation with which the portfolio that issues the transaction works. 22 days ago the proposal was added to the Bitcoin repository by Andrew Chow, who originally created it, and has had the work of developers like Peter Wuille to test its operation.

In addition, by specifying a unique binary format for the provision of this information, BIP 174 guarantees that any protocol implementation will be able to take advantage of this feature , that is, the portfolios must not coincide in the implementation for the offline signature of the transactions. be successful. This will help to expand the complexity of transactions, allowing the network to work with progressive steps of signing and not just private keys.

Currently the creation of unsigned or partially signed transactions depends on the implementation of each client or application. The proposed standardization eliminates this difficulty, benefiting the coexistence of these implementations and their developments on the network.

As says the developer Alex Bosworth, who was pleased with this integration:

As explained by the founder of Coinkite, Peter Gray, the company already created a hardware that takes advantage of the potential of the PSBT. This portfolio called Coldcard allows you to "add signatures to the PSBT files delivered on the MicroSD card and / or via USB, and is able to finalize PSBT files for many simple cases. It already works well against the existing BIP174 extraction request, "he said.

Doug Carrillo, cofounder of the bitcoin ATM company Bitstop, said on Twitter that he was excited to see the possibilities of using this functionality. He explained that a transaction could be created in a cold wallet (hardware not connected to the internet) and signed and transmitted with an online wallet . It is even possible to create the transaction with the online wallet, sign with the hardware and transmit it to the network through the internet-connected wallet.

The most recent tests carried out by the developers have been successful. The implementation of this proposal can improve the security of the funds. In addition, users of cold wallets will be able to minimize the need to connect their devices to the network , being able to use physical connections (micro USB cards, USB connections) to "load" the data, complete the signatures of the transactions and transmit them to the blockchain without the risk of being defrauded.