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[BUG]: Bitcoin blockspace price discrimination put simple transactions at disadvantage

[BUG]: Bitcoin blockspace price discrimination put simple transactions at disadvantage

Original Postby vjudeu at gazeta.pl

Posted on: December 27, 2023 21:43 UTC

The email highlights a notable point regarding the efficiency of Bitcoin transaction types, specifically comparing Pay to Witness Public Key Hash (P2WPKH) and Pay to Taproot (P2TR).

It brings attention to the cost implications associated with sending coins to these two different types of addresses. The sender identifies that, at the moment, it is less expensive to send cryptocurrency to a P2WPKH address than to a P2TR address.

However, when considering the act of spending the coins, the email points out that Taproot transactions (when spent by key path) are more block space-efficient. This efficiency stems from the fact that Taproot does not require storing the public key hash, which ultimately reduces data size and therefore transaction cost. Despite this advantage during the spending phase, the initial cost division between the sender and receiver influences users' preference for P2WPKH for sending, due to its lower upfront cost.

The author suggests that this discrepancy should be addressed to ensure a more balanced cost distribution between sending and spending transactions. There is an implicit encouragement for a reassessment of the fee structure to favor P2TR transactions, given their long-term benefits in terms of block space usage and associated costs.