diff --git a/protocol/blockchain/hash.md b/protocol/blockchain/hash.md index a3e9621..727ddbe 100644 --- a/protocol/blockchain/hash.md +++ b/protocol/blockchain/hash.md @@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ A variety of hashing algorithms are used throughout the Bitcoin Cash protocol. - Block Hashing (Double SHA-256) - A SHA-256 hash is taken of the block header. The output hash is then hashed again with SHA-256. This resultant hash is referred to simply as the block hash and is used as a unique identifier for the block. - This double hash removes the possibility of a [length extension attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length_extension_attack) which a single SHA-256 is vulnerable to. While this is generally not a problem for Bitcoin Cash since the pre-image (the actual data of the block) is available, it trades a minor amount of inefficiency for confidence that this property of SHA-256 cannot be exploited. + - Double SHA-256 has it's own operation for ease-of-use, [OP_HASH256](/protocol/blockchain/script/opcodes/op-hash256) - Transaction Hashing - Transactions are hashed using a single application of SHA-256. This is referred to as the transaction hash and is used to uniquely identify the transaction. (NOTE: Historical transaction hashes are not universally unique, there are two sets of two identical coinbase transactions and thus repeated hashes. Since [BIP-34](/protocol/forks/bip-0034), the block height is now required to be in the coinbase transaction, this should not be possible in the future.) - The two cases where this occurred are the following transactions which each appear in two blocks: @@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ A variety of hashing algorithms are used throughout the Bitcoin Cash protocol. ## RIPEMD-160 -[RIPEMD-160](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIPEMD) is used in Bitcoin Cash scripts to create short, quasi-anonymous representations of payees for transactions. Since its brevity is also a potential liability for the anonymity it provides (since shorter hashes generally provide less collision-resistance), it is used in conjunction with SHA-256 when generating an address from a public key. That is, (public key) -> SHA-256 -> RIPEMD-160 -> (address). +[RIPEMD-160](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIPEMD) is used in Bitcoin Cash scripts to create short, quasi-anonymous representations of payees for transactions. Since its brevity is also a potential liability for the anonymity it provides (since shorter hashes generally provide less collision-resistance), it is used in conjunction with SHA-256 when generating an address from a public key. That is, (public key) -> SHA-256 -> RIPEMD-160 -> (address). This SHA-256 then RIPEMD-160 process has its own operation for ease-of-use, [OP_HASH160](/protocol/blockchain/script/op-codes/op-hash160). ## Murmur