Glossary

BIP 340 (Schnorr Signatures)

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Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 340 introduces Schnorr signatures to Bitcoin Core. Schnorr signatures offer several significant advantages over ECDSA, the digital signature scheme Bitcoin has used since inception.

➤ Learn more about Schnorr Signatures.

Included in BIP 340 is a detailed description of how Schnorr signatures can be created and validated. In addition, new formats for Schnorr signatures and public keys are defined. Schnorr public keys will be 32 bytes, and Schnorr signatures will be 64 bytes long, compared to ECDSA public keys and signatures, which are 33 and 70-72 bytes long respectively. These minor space savings will yield savings on transaction fees for Bitcoin users who use Schnorr.

Along with BIP 341 and BIP 342, BIP 340 is an integral part of the Taproot upgrade, which is in the process of being activated.

➤ Learn more about Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade.

Related Terms
Signature
A digital signature is produced by a private key and proves that the owner of the private key and corresponding public key has validated the signed data.
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Taproot
The Taproot upgrade is described in BIPs 340, 341, and 342, and introduces the Schnorr signature scheme, Taproot, and Tapscript.
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Schnorr Signature
Schnorr is a type of digital signature scheme similar to the ECDSA scheme. The Schnorr scheme presents several security, privacy, and efficiency advantages over ECDSA.
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Tapscript
Tapscript is the scripting language used to enable a variety of new transaction types as part of the Taproot upgrade. Tapscript takes advantage of Schnorr signature aggregation.
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Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)
A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) is a formal proposal to change Bitcoin. Upgrades, security improvements, industry standards, and more all begin as BIPs.
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