Bonus: Problems with P2PK

Problems with P2PK

P2PK (Pay to Public Key) allows bitcoins to be sent directly to a public key, but it comes with several challenges that can impact usability and security.

Below are some issues associated with P2PK.

Long Public Keys

Unlike usernames on a website (typically <20 characters), Bitcoin public keys are much longer:

  • Uncompressed: 65 bytes (130 hex characters)
  • Compressed: 33 bytes (66 hex characters)
Long Public Keys

Larger UTXOs

Longer public keys result in larger UTXOs, which:

  • Require more storage
  • Increase resource demands on full nodes
Larger UTXOs

Security Vulnerability

If ECDSA were to be broken:

  • Outputs could be stolen
  • Increases attack surface
Security Vulnerability


Solving the Problems with p2pkh

P2PKH fixes this. Check out the next topic to see how.

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Exercise 1: Easy