Are multi-sig M-of-N transactions with N > 3 supported?

Question

BIP 11 makes M-of-N multi-sig transactions standard --- for N <= 3. What is the current support among miners for the multi-sig transactions with N > 3? (say 3-of-6). Also, BIP 11 states:

The current Satoshi bitcoin client does not relay or mine transactions with scriptSigs larger than 200 bytes; to accomodate 3-signature transactions, this will be increased to 500 bytes.

Does this still hold, and if yes, does this limit come into play for N > 3 or M > 3? What other obstacles are in the way of standardizing M-of-N for meaningful N?

I suspect the biggest obstacle is the fact that it will create a fork in the chain due to the fact new nodes can create seemingly invalid transactions for old nodes. — John T, Mar 09 '14 at 21:55
Cross post from: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=508256.msg5618510#msg5618510 — makerofthings7, Mar 10 '14 at 12:46

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 10 '14 at 10:16

1

Standard multisig outputs have max 3 keys, but it is possible to add up to 16 keys.

This limit is probably a result of the hard limit of output script size.

EDIT: source: I don't remember where I found this information. (I implemented it in Dartcoin and put that in the documentation.) As an alternative source, check out Mike Hearn's BitcoinJ implementation here.

answered Mar 10 '14 at 10:16

Steven Roose

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If you use PS2H method there's no limit. Check Pieter's comment: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/23893/what-are-the-limits-of-m-and-n-in-m-of-n-multisig-addresses#comment28691_23915 – Luca Matteis May 20 '14 at 19:11

Are multi-sig M-of-N transactions with N > 3 supported?

1 Answers1