BIP 75 Simplifies Bitcoin Wallets for the Everyday User

Although Bitcoin is more than 7 years old, making payments on the network is still a rather cumbersome task. With a user interface that requires users to send money to long strings of letters and numbers rather than human-readable names, it’s no wonder that many individuals have a hard time figuring out how to use this new financial technology.
BIP 70 (Payment Protocol), which was authored by Bitcoin Foundation Chief Scientist Gavin Andresen and former Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn, has been a step in the right direction, but the relatively new BIP 75, which was co-authored by developers from Netki (Justin Newtonand Matt David) and Breadwallet (Aaron Voisine and James MacWhyte), takes the main ideas in BIP 70 one step further.
What is the Payment Protocol?
The Payment Protocol creates a method of communication between a merchant and their customers before a payment is made. This communication protocol allows customers to see human-readable payment destinations, which can be authenticated via digital signatures. The protocol also creates a proof-of-payment for the customer, and it automatically provides a refund address to the merchant from the customer’s wallet.
This version of the Payment Protocol has been helpful in creating a checkout process for merchants that is similar to other options on traditional point-of-sale systems.

This post was published at Bitcoin Magazine