Human meaningful witness versioning

The conversation revolves around the structural and design choices made in the encoding of cryptocurrency addresses, specifically focusing on Bitcoin. The choice to use a 5-bit encoding system for addresses, such as those starting with '1', is highlighted as a method to prevent unnecessary inflation of address lengths. This approach also leaves room for potential future versioning through the addition of words in the payload without complicating the existing structure.

A notable aspect of the address format is the inclusion of a human-readable part, exemplified by the "bc" prefix that identifies the currency or network. This decision was driven by past incidents where funds were lost due to confusion with fork coins or altcoins that replicated Bitcoin's addressing scheme. By introducing an easily modifiable and distinctly associated prefix with Bitcoin, the goal was to mitigate the risk of such losses. The design philosophy stresses that the details of a recipient's script should largely remain irrelevant to the sender, except in cases involving multiparty contracts or special cases. The sender's obligation is considered fulfilled upon payment to the specified output, transferring any further complications to the recipient's responsibility. This principle underlines the importance of making payments within the correct network, acknowledging that errors often arose from overlooks in this aspect. Therefore, embedding critical information in a legible form within the address was prioritized to prevent altcoins from simply replicating Bitcoin’s prefix, a strategy that has so far been successful in encouraging differentiation.

This discussion reflects a broader effort within the Bitcoin development community to enhance security, reduce error rates, and ensure clarity in transactions by carefully considering the technical and human elements of address formatting.