A Bitcoin developer named Robin Linus has put forward a new proposal to enhance off-chain smart contracts on the Bitcoin network, eliminating the need for a soft fork. Linus, the lead of the ZeroSync project, published a white paper on October 9 titled “BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin,” announcing the introduction of BitVM. This new technology allows for Turing-complete Bitcoin contracts without modifying Bitcoin’s consensus rules. A Turing-complete system is capable of solving any computational problem.
With BitVM, the logic of Bitcoin contracts would be executed off-chain, while the verification process would take place on the Bitcoin network. This method is similar to the optimistic rollups used in Ethereum. BitVM’s architecture is based on fraud proofs and a challenge-response model. In this model, a “prover” can make claims, and a “verifier” can perform a fraud proof to penalize the prover for false claims.
Linus explained that Bitcoin’s current limitations are basic operations like signatures, timelocks, and hashlocks. However, BitVM opens the door to a vast range of applications, including games like Chess, Go, or Poker, and the verification of validity proofs in Bitcoin contracts. Additionally, it could potentially bridge Bitcoin to other chains, establish a prediction market, or emulate novel opcodes.
Linus did acknowledge a limitation of BitVM, stating that it only works in a two-party setting with a prover and a verifier. He also noted that executing programs requires a significant amount of off-chain computation and communication. The next milestone for Linus is to fully implement BitVM along with Tree++, a high-level programming language designed to write and debug Bitcoin contracts.
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BitVM was made possible by the Taproot soft fork, which took place in November 2021. Linus drew inspiration from Ethereum’s optimistic rollups and a study on Merkle trees while developing BitVM.
The Bitcoin community has responded positively to the BitVM proposal. Eric Wall, a prominent Bitcoin advocate, expressed cautious excitement about the real-world experiments that may stem from BitVM. Bitcoin analyst Dylan LeClair also praised the white paper. However, Adam Back, a Bitcoin Core contributor, advised against getting overly excited about the development, noting that it is effectively a generalization of a two-party game.
Some members of the community have noted that there is already a proof-of-concept for BitVM available on GitHub. Additionally, concerns about Bitcoin being locked into these contracts were addressed, with the clarification that BitVM is an opt-in solution, and Bitcoin users have the choice to participate or not.
Overall, BitVM has generated optimism among Bitcoin enthusiasts, with some suggesting that it could contribute to further price appreciation in the next bull market. However, it is important to note that BitVM is still in its early stages, and further development and testing are required.
*Cointelegraph reached out to Robin Linus for comment, but no immediate response was received.*
