Bitcoin Improvement Proposal
a.k.a. BIP
A formal written design document proposing a change or standard for Bitcoin, numbered and debated in public.
A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) is how changes to Bitcoin are suggested. Nobody is in charge of Bitcoin, so anyone can write one: a numbered document that explains the problem, the fix and how it would work. Developers, miners, businesses and users then argue it out in public.
Some BIPs are just shared standards. The 12- or 24-word seed phrase in your wallet comes from one. Others change the rules of the network itself and only take effect if enough of it adopts them, sometimes through a soft fork. Ethereum has a similar system called EIPs.
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