The Merge is finally coming!
Make sure to upgrade to the latest node software for the best-in-class and most socially scalable consensus algorithm ever invented for a blockchain.
You can download it here: bitcoin.org/en/download
Some early comments on BitVM. 🧵
TL;DR: at this stage, BitVM is a generic "state channel"; that's powerful, but not enough to enable a 2-way peg (trustless sidechains).
I'll also briefly compare it with MATT.
Merkleize All The Things!
merkle.fun
TL;DR: It's long, but you should read it.
OK, OK: we can soft-fork in arbitrary smart contracts in Bitcoin, and it's not that hard. A relatively simple covenant is the key ingredient.
Miniscript is the most important innovation in #bitcoin custody since BIP32.
Combining it with taproot and MuSig/FROST will be the cherry on top.
Few. Many, soon.
No, taproot didn't enable NFTs - at most it's slightly easier/cheaper.
No, there's no meaningful way of censoring transactions you don't like.
No, this doesn't mean that taproot broke incentives - only higher demand for block space will price them out.
Once a miner has decided what transactions to include in a block, their order is (mostly) arbitrary.
Therefore, the transaction ordering could be used to store information. For free!
I posted a draft for an approach to use fraud proofs to solve the exit problem in layer 2 systems.
TL;DR: a fraud-proof based withdrawal protocol allows parties with small balance to cooperate and perform a single, larger withdrawal.
Read about it here: