Exploring Extended Relative Timelocks

The discussion raises concerns regarding the use of absolute timelocks in dead-man-switch scenarios within the Bitcoin network, highlighting their inadequacy for such applications. There is a notable disdain for the practice of stacking multiple wallets, including older ones, due to the inherent inability to "disable" an old wallet in the current infrastructure of Bitcoin. This limitation poses several risks and complications for users. For instance, there's a high likelihood of users making errors such as reusing addresses from old wallets or mishandling their descriptor backups, which can lead to security vulnerabilities.

Moreover, the issue of extended public key (xpub) reuse is brought to light, emphasizing its negative implications for both privacy and compatibility across different wallets. The current need for maintaining a state to ensure that no key or derivation path is reused complicates the user experience and undermines the efficacy of the system. These challenges underscore the pressing need for enhancements in the Bitcoin protocol to address these critical issues, thereby improving user safety, privacy, and overall system interoperability.