Silent Payments (BIP-352)
"The first serious contender to improve address derivation since HD wallets" — Craig Raw
WHAT IS IT
A protocol that lets anyone pay you at a static, reusable address — but every payment generates a unique taproot output on chain. No address reuse, no interaction required, no notification transaction. Uses ECDH between the sender's input keys and the receiver's published scan + spend keys to derive fresh outputs for every payment.
THE ANALOGY
HD wallets (BIP-32, 2013) solved address management — derive many keys from one seed.
Silent payments solve address distribution — derive unique outputs from one published key. Both are "many from one" but in opposite directions.
Silent payments solve address distribution — derive unique outputs from one published key. Both are "many from one" but in opposite directions.
DETAILS
BIP: 352
Authors: josibake, Ruben Somsen, Sebastian Falbesoner
Address prefix:
Key pair: Scan key + spend key
Output type: Taproot (P2TR)
On-chain footprint: Indistinguishable from normal taproot
Authors: josibake, Ruben Somsen, Sebastian Falbesoner
Address prefix:
sp1Key pair: Scan key + spend key
Output type: Taproot (P2TR)
On-chain footprint: Indistinguishable from normal taproot
SP vs BIP-47 Payment Codes
| BIP-47 | BIP-352 (SP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Notification tx | Required (on-chain) | None |
| Sender linkability | Notification links sender to receiver | No link |
| On-chain metadata | OP_RETURN in notification | Zero |
| Receiver scanning | Only from known senders | Must scan all txs |
| Output type | P2PKH/P2WPKH | Taproot (P2TR) |
| Wallet adoption | 3+ wallets in active use | 10+ wallets in ~3 years |
THE TRADE-OFF
SP's receiver must scan every transaction to detect payments — computationally expensive for full nodes, and challenging for light clients. This is the price paid for zero on-chain footprint. Silentium is an experimental light client exploring server-assisted scanning while aiming to preserve output privacy.
Wallet Adoption
10+
WALLETS
~3yr
SINCE BIP
Draft
CORE STATUS
SHIPPING NOW
Sparrow — send support (v2.3.0, Oct 2025), HW wallet send (v2.4.0, Feb 2026). Craig Raw also authored BIP-392 (SP output script descriptors, assigned Feb 2026) to bring silent payments into the descriptor framework.
Cake Wallet — early mobile Silent Payments support (v4.18.0, May 2024). BitBox02 — firmware send support (Sep 2024) and app support (Oct 2024). Nunchuk — send support (Mar 2026). Also: BlueWallet, Wasabi, Dana, BlindBit Desktop, Shakesco.
Cake Wallet — early mobile Silent Payments support (v4.18.0, May 2024). BitBox02 — firmware send support (Sep 2024) and app support (Oct 2024). Nunchuk — send support (Mar 2026). Also: BlueWallet, Wasabi, Dana, BlindBit Desktop, Shakesco.
BITCOIN CORE — NOT YET
All 8 prerequisite refactoring PRs are merged, but the core implementation (PR #28122), sending (#28201), and receiving (#32966) remain in draft. The libsecp256k1 module (PR #1765) is a key blocker. Third-party wallets have outpaced Core — a reversal of the usual pattern.
The Bigger Picture
SP + BIP-353 = PAY USER@DOMAIN
BIP-353 maps human-readable names to payment instructions via DNS. Combined with silent payments: publish
user@domain.com, anyone can pay you, every payment generates a unique address, no server interaction needed. This is the "pay to email" UX that Bitcoin has always lacked — without custodial intermediaries.CRAIG RAW'S THESIS
"Silent payments is not just a new approach to static payment codes. It's the first serious contender to improve the address derivation system since HD wallets in 2013."
HD wallets (2013) were a paradigm shift from single keys. Silent payments could be a similar leap — making privacy-preserving static addresses the default rather than the exception. With 10+ wallets already shipping, adoption has been unusually fast for a new payment protocol.
HD wallets (2013) were a paradigm shift from single keys. Silent payments could be a similar leap — making privacy-preserving static addresses the default rather than the exception. With 10+ wallets already shipping, adoption has been unusually fast for a new payment protocol.