Remove `from` field #8530

When I RClick a transaction and choose "Show transaction details" you know, transaction detail window opens and there's a line like this: From: Unknown. I asked why it is so on this bitcoin StackExchange page, and @sipa told me that, it is for IP transactions, which is removed in v0.8.0.

If IP transactions are removed, why does the "From" line still exists? Isn't this junk code?

Indeed. We should remove the "from:" part from the transactiondesc.cpp Dialog.

Is there any chance it might be useful for payment protocol stuff in the future? I suppose it can always be added back.

otoh, at least "From: Unknown" helps combat the myth that there is a from address though...

Heh the transactiondesc.cpp HTML generation is the only part from the original Satoshi GUI that is still standing, and has pretty much not been touched since then. (once for the payment requests I think, but that was just bolted on)

The code checking for 'online' IP transactions can be removed.

However as @luke-jr says, I don't think having the hint that 'from' information is unknown, hurts.

Is it possible to add something that finds the address? A transaction details window without 'from' address looks weird to [new] users.

@mcccs Transactions do not have a "from" address. That is not how Bitcoin works.

Each individual input refers to a previous transaction's output, and that previous output may have been sent to a recognizable address before. This is what block explorers show you, but it is very bad practice. In particular:

• You can't use it to identify the sender. Many wallets do not necessarily send from a known address, and CoinJoin intentionally makes it impossible.
• You can't use it to send money back to the sender. Not every wallet expects money back, and shared wallets may credit the wrong user if you do. You need to ask for a new address. Furthermore, address reuse like this hurts the privacy of the receiver and everyone they interact with (including yourself).
• There may be multiple addresses. Every input can have one. Which one do you show? What if there are different amounts for each?
• There may be no addresses. For example in the case of more complicated transactions and contracts, there may not be any identifiable address at all.
• It may be your own address. In some cases (such a 2-of-2 escrow between sender and receiver), one of the "sender addresses" may even be your own.

For these reasons, Bitcoin Core will not show this; it is unreliable at best, and confusing at worst.

If you want to know who sent you money, give them an individualized address and label the address with the name of that person or entity. Bitcoin Core will correctly show it.

Closing this; this is not an issue, it's a repetition of information you could have found in tons of other information sources. Discussions about the from address are as old as bitcoin itself.