ZeroSync’s Project Leader Proposes BitVM for Enhanced Bitcoin Smart Contracts
Summary:
Robin Linus, project lead at ZeroSync, has introduced a proposal for enabling more comprehensive off-chain smart contracts on Bitcoin without a soft fork. Revealed in a white paper, "BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin", the protocol permits fully functional Bitcoin contracts. BitVM operates on a fraud proof and challenge-response setup. Although it requires substantial off-chain computation, the new method could expand the potential applications of Bitcoin contracts. Despite the Bitcoin community expressing cautious excitement, Bitcoin Core contributor Adam Back urges restraint, highlighting the protocol's limitations.
Robin Linus, the project lead at ZeroSync, has introduced a new concept for expanding Bitcoin's ability to handle off-chain smart contracts without necessitating a soft fork. The proposal was unveiled in a white paper titled “BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin” on October 9. The BitVM protocol proposed by Linus allows for the creation of fully functional Bitcoin contracts, something not currently possible under existing Bitcoin consensus rules.
In its essence, a Turing Complete system can theoretically resolve any type of computational issue. Bitcoin contracts typically execute their logic off-chain, but this then needs to be validated on Bitcoin - a principle similar to Ethereum's optimistic rollups. The BitVM's design is centered on a fraud proof and challenge-response structure. In this set up, a "prover" can declare assertions, and a "verifier" can initiate a fraud-proof to penalize the prover should they make false assertions.
The current format of Bitcoin only supports fundamental operations such as signatures, timelocks, and hashlocks. However, Linus suggests that this could be expanded with BitVM, which he believes can calculate a wide variety of useful applications. He mentioned potential applications including games such as Chess, Go, Poker and particularly, the authenticity validation of Bitcoin contracts. Linus then pointed out limitations of the model as it is contingent on a two-party agreement, specifically a prover and verifier, and necessitates a substantial portion of off-chain computation and communication to run programs.
The project leader stated that the next significant step is to fully integrate BitVM with Tree++ - a premier programming language used to code and debug Bitcoin contracts. BitVM is facilitated by the Taproot soft fork, which went into effect in November 2021. In creating the white paper, Linus acknowledged Ethereum's research on optimistic rollups and a study on Merkle Trees.
Several Bitcoin enthusiasts expressed optimistic opinions about BitVM on social media platforms. Bitcoin analyst Dylan LeClair lauded BitVM's white paper, and Eric Wall, another Bitcoin enthusiast, noted that he was "cautiously excited" to see what practical applications could be derived from it.
Nonetheless, Bitcoin Core contributor Adam Back cautioned against over-hyping the development, pointing out that it is essentially a two-party game's generalization. A blockchain developer known as “dotta” pointed out the existence of a proof-of-concept on GitHub. Another user, Sam Parker, sought to assuage fears about Bitcoin's being "locked" into contracts, reminding users that opting for this is entirely voluntary.
Users such as “psage” speculate that BitVM will undoubtedly propel Bitcoin's value in the forthcoming bull market. Cointelegraph attempted to obtain comments from Linus but received no immediate response.
Published At
10/10/2023 12:33:28 AM
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