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)
Larger UTXOs
Longer public keys result in larger UTXOs, which:
- Require more storage
- Increase resource demands on full nodes
Security Vulnerability
If ECDSA were to be broken:
- Outputs could be stolen
- Increases attack surface
Solving the Problems with p2pkh
P2PKH fixes this. Check out the next topic to see how.