Bitcoin Improvement Proposal Explainer

A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, or BIP, is a standard document used to suggest and describe changes to the Bitcoin network. It can cover ideas that touch the core protocol, guidance on processes, or software practices used around Bitcoin. BIPs give the community a shared format for proposing upgrades and discussing them in public. 

Why BIPs exist

Bitcoin has no central product manager or board. Development happens in the open, so BIPs act as the coordination tool that helps developers and other stakeholders evaluate proposed changes and move them forward by consensus. The first BIP, authored by Amir Taaki in 2011, set the template for how later proposals are written and tracked. 

Categories of BIPs

BIPs are grouped into three buckets:

• Standards Track for proposals that affect how the protocol behaves, such as rules for validating transactions.
• Informational for guidance and documentation that others may follow but are not obliged to.
• Process for rules and procedures that affect Bitcoin development itself rather than the protocol.
  
  

How a BIP moves through the process

Most proposals start informally, often as developer discussions on forums, mailing lists, or social channels. A draft is then written and shared to the Bitcoin developer mailing list for review. When wording stabilizes, the proposal receives a BIP number and proceeds through review toward implementation if the community agrees. Some proposals become “active” and move into engineering work, while others are deferred or withdrawn. 

Signaling and activation

When a change affects consensus rules, miners and nodes typically signal support by embedding bits in blocks during a defined window. Different deployments have used different thresholds and timelines. Some rollouts seek very high miner approval, which sources describe around the 95 percent range. In 2021, the Speedy Trial approach used for the Taproot upgrade shortened the signaling window to three months and locked in once signaling reached 90 percent, with activation following after a delay. 

Notable examples

• BIP 141: Segregated Witness (SegWit) changed how signature data is handled, improving scalability and fixing transaction malleability. It is a common example of a Standards Track proposal that reshaped network capacity. 
• Taproot reached consensus using Speedy Trial and introduced upgrades such as better privacy characteristics and support for more flexible scripts, following high signaling from miners. 

Where BIPs live

Current and historical BIPs are published openly on GitHub, which makes it easy for anyone to read proposals, follow discussions, and track status changes over time. 

Participation and critique

The framework aims to keep development decentralized by relying on open discussion and broad agreement rather than a central authority. Critics point out that regular coin holders are not formally part of approvals, which has sparked debate about how representative the process is.