This project has generated significant excitement within the crypto community. BitVM was introduced by one of the Bitcoin developers, Robin Linus.
The crypto world is ever-evolving, and concepts like interoperability and capacity expansion are pivotal. This proposal promises to open new doors for Bitcoin by enabling Ethereum-style smart contracts without the need for a soft fork.
At its core, BitVM is a solution aimed at bringing the ability to perform arbitrary computations to the Bitcoin network. The proposal, titled “BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin,” emphasizes the potential to facilitate Turing-complete contracts on the BTC network without altering its original protocol. In other words, it means that any computable function could be verified on the Bitcoin blockchain using this technology.
One of the most intriguing technical features of BitVM is its resemblance to Ethereum’s Optimistic Rollups. Both employ fraud proofs and a challenge-response protocol.
BitVM implements a prover and verifier system, allowing the verifier to scrutinize and penalize the prover for making false claims. This feature adds an additional layer of security and trust in the execution of smart contracts.
Bitvm: EXPANDING INTO THE GAMING WORLD
BitVM is not limited to just incorporating smart contracts into Bitcoin; It also seeks to expand the capabilities of the BlockChain beyond its traditional functions.
In addition to supporting digital signatures, timelocks, and hash locks, BitVM has the potential to enable applications such as chess, go, or poker on the Bitcoin network. Furthermore, it will enable the verification of the validity of proofs in Bitcoin contracts, potentially opening the door to a wide range of applications and use cases.
However, the crypto community has had mixed reactions to the BitVM proposal. While some, like Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, express cautious optimism
Love to see this #bitcoin https://t.co/6p7KYSgZHY
— Paolo Ardoino 🍐 (@paoloardoino) October 10, 2023
Others, like Dan Robinson of Paradigm, have pointed out limitations, such as BitVM’s inability to be used in multiparty applications.
This is getting way too much attention in Bitcoin world
The protocol only works for two parties, so it can't be used in rollups or other multiparty applications
And Greg Maxwell proposed a much better protocol ("ZK contingent payments") to solve the same problem 12 years ago https://t.co/6ebt0lHPyY
— Dan Robinson (@danrobinson) October 9, 2023
