<p>Almost all nodes on the network will not relay multisignature transactions because they are not "standard," and almost all miners will not include them in the blocks that they create (for the same reason).</p>

<p>The notion of a "standard" transaction was implemented after Bitcoin started getting popular and had to deal with various denial-of-service attacks that involved creating and transmitting large or expensive-to-validate transactions.</p>

<p>BIP 11, which is currently (Feb 2012) in the process of being deployed, adds up-to-3-signatures-required transactions to the other two "standard" transaction types.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-05T05:28:35.130Z
Is BIP 11 standard now?
makerofthings7
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-03T01:37:24.067Z
2012-02-03T01:37:24.067Z
gavinandresen
<p><a href="https://www.bitrated.com/" rel="nofollow">Bitrated</a> was recently released and allows using m-of-n transactions, though its not general-purpose and was built specifically for the purpose of arbitration by a trusted third party.</p>

<p>(Disclaimer: I created Bitrated)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-26T17:31:36.850Z
2013-12-26T17:31:36.850Z
shesek
<p><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0011" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP 11</a> supports m-of-n transactions. While BIP 16 and BIP 17 are being debated and voted upon, I have to ask: why haven't there been evidence of BIP 11 used in for m-of-n transactions?</p>

<p>All that BIP 16 and BIP 17 do is shift the cost to the recipient. This is healthy for the long term cost structure, but it doesn't mean that BIP 11 style m-of-n transactions aren't usable today, does it?</p>

<p>Have it been used somewhere and I just don't know about it? Or is the current protocol not usable for m-of-n transactions?</p>

<p><a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/2595/what-are-the-implications-of-bip-12-vs-bip-16-and-op-codehashcheck">See also this question about BIP 12, 16 and 17</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-31T05:42:43.513Z
The point with BIP 16/17 isn't to shift the cost, that's at best an added bonus. The point is to make a consistent framework for all kinds of transactions, so the sender doesn't need his client to support each tx type, doesn't have to enter a long (and inconsistently formatted) address, and doesn't need to know how the receiver wants to use the output.
Meni Rosenfeld
<protocol><bitcoin-core><multi-signature>
Why are m-of-n transactions not used today?
ripper234
# Why are m-of-n transactions not used today?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-01-30)

[BIP 11](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0011) supports m-of-n transactions. While BIP 16 and BIP 17 are being debated and voted upon, I have to ask: why haven't there been evidence of BIP 11 used in for m-of-n transactions?

All that BIP 16 and BIP 17 do is shift the cost to the recipient. This is healthy for the long term cost structure, but it doesn't mean that BIP 11 style m-of-n transactions aren't usable today, does it?

Have it been used somewhere and I just don't know about it? Or is the current protocol not usable for m-of-n transactions?

[See also this question about BIP 12, 16 and 17](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/2595/what-are-the-implications-of-bip-12-vs-bip-16-and-op-codehashcheck).

**Tags:** protocol, bitcoin-core, multi-signature

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The point with BIP 16/17 isn't to shift the cost, that's at best an added bonus. The point is to make a consistent framework for all kinds of transactions, so the sender doesn't need his client to support each tx type, doesn't have to enter a long (and inconsistently formatted) address, and doesn't need to know how the receiver wants to use the output.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-02-03. Score: 5

Almost all nodes on the network will not relay multisignature transactions because they are not "standard," and almost all miners will not include them in the blocks that they create (for the same reason).

The notion of a "standard" transaction was implemented after Bitcoin started getting popular and had to deal with various denial-of-service attacks that involved creating and transmitting large or expensive-to-validate transactions.

BIP 11, which is currently (Feb 2012) in the process of being deployed, adds up-to-3-signatures-required transactions to the other two "standard" transaction types.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Is BIP 11 standard now?  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2013-12-26. Score: 3

[Bitrated](https://www.bitrated.com/) was recently released and allows using m-of-n transactions, though its not general-purpose and was built specifically for the purpose of arbitration by a trusted third party.

(Disclaimer: I created Bitrated)


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