Evolution of Bitcoin Wallet Formats: A Timeline

Thinking about putting together a timeline of when Bitcoin Core changed its wallet format. Got some help from AI on this. Can anyone verify it?

I made my wallet back in 2011 and it's still running on the Non-HD format. Switching to HD isn't automatic, gotta do it manually.

What counts as a format change? I mean there have been tweaks to how data is saved with fields getting added or removed but most users wouldn't notice. New features also came in that aren't compatible with previous versions.

How do you handle your wallet? Got a separate laptop for watch-only wallets? What will you do when Core 30 stops supporting your wallet? I'm using Knots 28 for now and not sure what's coming.

I'm on core 27.1. Just have a plain wallet from mid-2011 and kept upgrading it over time. Stuck with the old format because I had mining addresses and whitelisted ones in there. Plus I'm too lazy to start fresh.

Yeah they don’t support old wallets anymore but the migration tool is in the software. It should migrate your old wallet to a new descriptor wallet without much hassle.

Old man shaking fist at the sky... but maybe I should try it. Honestly, the fact that something I made in 2011 still works is why I trust Bitcoin.

Are you talking about the migration tool from earlier versions or the one implemented in version 30? Also, how can I check what version my wallet is? I think it was around 2013 for me but can't figure it out.

For checking HD vs Non-HD in core, look at the bottom right of the UI. If the HD icon is greyed and crossed out, that's Non-HD. If it’s lit up, you’re good. But no idea on specific version.

Right, I've had that icon greyed out too, so it confirms it's an older wallet. But I can't remember if any upgrades ever modified it. I never manually updated the wallet file, so it might be the same as when I created it.

It’s still the same migration tool, no big changes there. You can get your wallet version by running getwalletinfo and check the walletversion field. But that won't show any automatic upgrades unless they set a flag.