Attention, Bitcoin Cash BCC developers have proposed a new address format!

Editor's note from JPM (https://www.jpm.cn): This week, leading Bitcoin ABC developer Amaury Séchet suggested adding the Bech32 address format to the Bitcoin Cash (BCC) network. Currently, the BCC community has been discussing modifying the BCC address format while preparing to revise the protocol's emergency difficulty adjustment (EDA).

The BCC community and developers suggest changing the protocol’s address format

On October 14, Amaury Séchet proposed implementing a new address format for the Bitcoin Cash network. The subject of changing the BCC address format has been controversial for months, but even more so after Bitpay released a new address format for the company’s BCC integration in its Copay wallet. The discussion started in July on the Bitcoin ABC Github repository. A few weeks ago, Bitpay said it had created “new provisions to ensure that users don’t accidentally send BTC to BCC wallets and vice versa.” However, Bitpay’s new address format was not well received by the BCC community and developers, according to the exchange’s development consultant He.

For example, Electron Cash wallet developer Jonald Fyookball detailed on Yours Network that “Bitpay’s new BCC address format breaks wallet compatibility and requires community discussion.” Fyookball explained that he is a “Bitpay fan” but believes that releasing a new format without community discussion creates problems. The “main issue” Fyookball details is that unless every BCC user within the entire community upgrades to this new software, there will be incompatibilities between the new (Bitpay format) and existing address formats.

Foyokball explained: “Newer wallets should theoretically still be able to support sending to old addresses, unless those wallets intentionally stop supporting old addresses. In practice, however, Bitpay appears to have done this on its platform. If the idea is to prevent users from sending to BTC addresses, this may be a matter of design choice, however, it breaks compatibility as many users still use old addresses.”

Amaury Séchet expressed his preference for the Bech 32 address format

The community believes that it is crucial to distinguish BCC addresses from Bitcoin addresses, but believes that Bitpay's approach may not be the best answer. Amaury Séchet of Bitcoin ABC explained in the team's developer mailing list that "maybe the BCC programmers have moved too slowly, which is why Bitpay has moved on. However, Séchet also said that he thinks they should discuss this move because address upgrades can be disruptive".

“At this point, I am in favor of Bech 32-style addresses because they have a number of advantages, most notably that the format can be extended to support new features in the future,” Séchet said in a developer mailing list post detailing the changes. “The current address format or the changes proposed by Bitpay are not like that, which means we may have to change it again in the future. Therefore, I think we should adopt an extensible address format rather than doing a quick fix that makes us feel better now.”

Many BCC proposals and ideas were thrown away

The Github proposal pushed by Séchet seems to be favored by other developers assisting with the BCC protocol. One commenter said: “Very elegant proposal, I like it”, and a pull request has also been sent to the Bitpay/Copay codebase. The developer proposing the address format change to Bitpay asks: “If some wallets start using it, will you remove your new address format from C and add the Bech32 format (like Bitcoin-UAHF/spec#21) which is more useful.”

BCC development and infrastructure seem to be evolving with the recent EDA proposal and the latest address format ideas. In addition, the community has been welcomed by another plan to create colored coins on the BCC network. Bitcoin Unlimited developer Andrew Stone recently proposed the application of BCC script on October 16 to issue representative coins on the network.