BIP 1 — BIP Purpose and Guidelines, Amir Taaki, 2011

BIP 1 (BIP Purpose and Guidelines, Amir Taaki, 2011) defined the original process for proposing, numbering, and tracking Bitcoin Improvement Proposals. It has been superseded twice: first by BIP 2, and as of 2025 by BIP 3 (Updated BIP Process), which also introduced a new status vocabulary (Draft, Complete, Deployed, Closed) that replaced the older Final/Active/Proposed/Withdrawn labels across the repository.

Debate relevance: Comes up whenever governance is on stage: who assigns BIP numbers, what publication in the BIPs repository does and does not mean. The repository itself states that publication indicates editorial acceptance only, not community consensus or impending adoption. Common misstatements: "It got a BIP number, so it's approved" — number assignment is editorial, not an endorsement. Also, older references (including pre-2025 databases) cite BIP 1 as 'Active'; its current repository status is Closed.