Author: PeterG; Compiler: web3 Chinese
Currently, if we talk about the hottest track, it is BTC L2. At present, various types of BTC L2 are emerging in an endless stream, and people are dazzled by the various ways to play them. Some are playing with the pledge points model; others are issuing coins as soon as they come up and just turn an L2 into a fool; there is also a multi-signature wallet + POS The network claims to be BTC L2.
Everyone has different investment preferences. I am one of those stubborn conservatives who “give me a reason to invest.”
Why should I participate in BTC L2 investment? Why should I participate in this BTC L2 but not that BTC L2? I need a reason, and this reason must be: give me a satisfactory answer to the most critical issue.
What is the most critical problem of BTC L2? Is it the ability to earn points and stack TVL by staking? Is it possible to unite large investors and market makers to ensure that most points can be controlled by those acting in concert?
The above abilities are all important. For this kind of gameplay, these abilities are necessary.
However, as a stubborn conservative, I believe that these are not the most critical problems of BTC L2. I think the most critical problem of BTC L2 is to solve the problem of how to trust the two-way cross-chain circulation between the BTC main network and BTC L2.
If this problem cannot be solved, I think the so-called BTC L2 building is built on sand dunes, and DeFi and other applications built on the upper layer are also vulnerable. Because if there is a problem with one checkout, the whole building will collapse. For a project like this, I think that rather than putting in so much effort, it would be better to go directly to the local dog.
I have studied many BTC cross-chain solutions, whether it is multi-signature, HashLock, threshold signature, MPC, etc. I believe that the most native and decentralized BTC L2 solution does not need to be found outside the Bitcoin system. Bitcoin’s current native technology is sufficient for implementation. These technologies have emerged intensively after the Taproot upgrade of Bitcoin in 2021, and there have been teams that have made innovative combinations of these Bitcoin-native technologies and finally achieved a completely decentralized BTC L2 solution.
The implementation formula of this technology combination is:
Schnorr signature + Mast contract + Bitcoin light node network = decentralized BTC L2. Because all this is built on the basis of BTC Taproot, and allows BTC to realize the functions of equivalent VM in a decentralized manner, so I call it TaprootVM. The most outstanding representative in this regard is BEVM. In addition, BTC L2-Bitfinity incubated by ICP also uses a similar solution.
Yesterday, BEVM official pushed an article to the top, explaining BEVM’s Schnorr signature + Mast contract + BTC L2 solution of Bitcoin light node network in vernacular in detail. It is a good way to learn BTC L2 Information, share it with you who are also concerned about the most critical issues of BTC L2:
Abstract:
BEVM is completely built based on BTC native technology BTC L2 solution.
In 2021 Bitcoin After the Taproot upgrade, the BEVM team based on Schnorr signature + MAST and other Bitcoins Native technology builds a completely decentralized BTC L2 technology framework. Currently, the BEVM pioneer network has been running for 8 months (the pioneer network will be launched in July 2023), with 100,000+ users on the chain and 30+ ecological projects on the chain, involving 15 different competitions such as BTC stablecoins, DEX, and Lending. Dao; is currently one of the few BTC L2s that has been online on Xianxing.com.
With years of exploration and accumulation in the Bitcoin L2 track, the BEVM team was the first to point out the core proposition of BTC L2: how to realize the decentralized cross-chain of BTC. And the BEVM team has proposed a completely decentralized BTC cross-chain solution based on Bitcoin's native technology, thus providing a solid technical foundation for the implementation of BTC L2.
Text:
The BEVM team has 6 years of experience in Bitcoin L2 development and operation. In 2018, the BEVM core team launched ChainX, using Bitcoin 15-fold multi-signature + Bitcoin light node and other technologies are used to realize the cross-chain of Bitcoin, and finally achieved 100,000+ BTC cross-chain and 500,000+ BTC Hash Lock.
However, Bitcoin’s 15-fold multi-signature is still a relatively centralized solution, and it still has not solved the problem of complete trustlessness of BTC cross-chain until the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade in 2021.
In 2021, Taproot upgraded to bring two core technologies, Schnorr signature and MAST contract, to Bitcoin, which allowed the BEVM team to see a new fully decentralized BTC L2 solution plan.
Schnorr signature is an aggregate signature technology that is more efficient, requires less storage, and has better privacy than elliptic curve signatures. Mainly reflected in: Based on elliptic curve signatures, the maximum number of multi-signature addresses in Bitcoin is 15; however, based on Schnorr signatures, the maximum number of multi-signature addresses in Bitcoin can be expanded to 1,000. Moreover, when 1,000 multi-signature addresses manage BTC, signing on the chain only costs one Gas, and the privacy of all multi-signature addresses can be guaranteed.
(Schnorr Aggregate Signature Scheme)
When Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin in 2008, Schnorr signatures had not yet been open sourced (2009 Open source), therefore, Satoshi Nakamoto could only choose to use elliptic curve signatures first. After 12 years of development and verification, Schnorr signatures proved to be a more suitable digital signature algorithm for Bitcoin. Therefore, after community consensus, Bitcoin Core Schnorr signature was officially introduced into Bitcoin, opening a new chapter for Bitcoin’s scalability.
(Operating logic of MAST contract)
Although Schnorr signature can expand Bitcoin’s multi-signature addresses from 15 to 1,000 It can manage Bitcoin in a more decentralized manner. However, if these 1,000 addresses still rely on people to sign, then this is not code-driven, let alone network consensus-driven, and it still does not solve the problem of trust.
However, it is possible with MAST.
MAST is the second core technology introduced in the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade. MAST (Merkle Abstract Syntax Tree), the Merkle syntax tree, can be simply understood as: MAST is an equivalent intelligence By introducing MAST into the contract's instruction set, the 1,000 multi-signature addresses signed by Schnorr can be driven by the MAST contract instead of relying on human signatures.
Therefore, the introduction of the MAST contract eliminated multi-signers. The 1,000 multi-signature addresses do not rely on people to sign, but are driven by MAST instructions. Furthermore, they rely on code. Driven by this technology, Shier Signature is intelligent, code-based and does not rely on people. This is one step closer to completely trustless BTC cross-chain and management, but it has not yet fully realized trustlessness.
Although MAST+Schnorr signature has decentralized the number of BTC multi-signature addresses and made multi-signature code-based and intelligent, who will drive the MAST contract? Who sends instructions to the MAST contract? Rely on people? Definitely not. Only by driving MAST through network consensus can we truly achieve complete trustlessness, thereby relying on network consensus to drive Bitcoin's decentralized cross-chain, management and spending.
Therefore, the BEVM team creatively introduced the Bitcoin light node into the second-layer network as a verification node. At the same time, it also integrated the BTC Taproot address of the first-layer Bitcoin to participate in multi-signature management and the Bitcoin of the second-layer network. The light nodes are combined into one, that is, these Bitcoin light nodes are the block verification nodes of the BEVM network, and at the same time, they are the Taproot multi-signature address of the first layer of Bitcoin. In this way, when the second-layer network nodes reach a consensus, It can drive the Taproot address of the Bitcoin layer to execute consensus through the MAST contract.
For example, when the network reaches a consensus to transfer 10 BTC from an address in BEVM back to the BTC main network, the Taproot multi-signature address on the Bitcoin layer will automatically execute a transaction of 10 BTC through the MAST contract driver. BTC transfer. Please note that the cross-chain and management of BTC here has no human involvement at all and is entirely driven by network consensus. This is true trustlessness.
In summary, the core of BEVM’s BTC L2 solution is based on Bitcoin’s Schnorr signature to achieve decentralization of the number of multi-signature addresses (can be expanded to 1,000 multi-signature addresses); The MAST contract based on Bitcoin realizes the coding and intelligence of multi-signature signatures (removing human participation); based on the Bitcoin light node network, it realizes communication between the first and second layers of Bitcoin, and ultimately relies on network consensus. To drive the multi-signature and management of Bitcoin, and finally achieve a truly decentralized BTC L2 solution.
It is worth mentioning here that since the block-producing nodes of the BEVM network are all Bitcoin light nodes, when Bitcoin ceases to exist, the BEVM network will also cease to exist. BEVM The network cannot exist independently of the BTC network. Therefore, BEVM is a true BTC L2, not a misunderstood sidechain in the market.
Why is it important for BTC L2 to achieve decentralized BTC cross-chain?
As we all know, the minimalist UTXO design and limited block space of the Bitcoin network cannot implement smart contracts at all, let alone carry complex scenario expansion. To achieve true scalability, BTC must be allowed to jump Go to the second-layer network to implement complex scenarios.
Therefore, how to decentralize BTC to the second layer is the first step that all BTC L2 must take. If decentralized BTC cross-chain cannot be achieved, then such a so-called BTC L2 is built on an untrustworthy basis, and its asset security and future development prospects are naturally conceivable.
However, most of the so-called BTC L2s are completely silent about how to solve the fundamental problems of BTC cross-chain. Instead, they avoid the most important and emphasize some technical rhetoric on the second layer, such as ZK-roullp or OP- roullp, first of all, whether it is ZK-roullp or OP-roullp, Bitcoin nodes will not verify these data at all, so these are meaningless. Even if these can barely make the second-layer ledger credible, how can Bitcoin go How to ensure the security of user assets through centralized cross-chain and management is still an unavoidable problem.
The BTC L2 solution built by BEVM based on the three BTC native technologies of Schnorr signature, MAST contract, and Bitcoin light node network perfectly solves the problem of BTC decentralization and secure cross-chain, breaking through BTC The core proposition of L2.
In order to better build the Bitcoin ecosystem and expand the BTC L2 track more steadily, BEVM will fully open source its BTC L2 solution. At the same time, BEVM will launch BEVM-Stack after the mainnet goes online. That is, the BTC L2 modular function. Anyone can build their own BTC L2 with one click based on BEVM-Stack. Currently, BEVM has built a BTC L2 modular technology stack that is fully compatible with EVM.
In the future, with the development of the ecosystem, BEVM will also build a BTC L2 modular technology stack that is compatible with the StarkNet network’s Cairo language, Solana’s Rust language, and MOVE language. The goal is to bring BTC to any currency through BEVM. chain, allowing any blockchain innovative technology to be used by BTC, maximizing the value of BTC and the benefits of blockchain technology at the same time, thereby building a BTC native super chain network with BEVM as the technology stack.
The narrative of BTC asset launch has come to an end. Memecoin can always be played, but it is not the final form of the BTC ecosystem. The narrative of BTC asset interest will soon become mainstream.
JinseFinanceAfter the halving, miners’ income continued to rise and the Bitcoin L2 ecosystem heated up.
JinseFinanceThere are many different opinions on what BTC L2 is. Referring to the development history of Ethereum, I would like to put forward two key points for judgment: L2 must first be a chain itself, and the security of L2 is completely guaranteed by L1.
JinseFinanceTechnological innovation certainly does not occur when a person writes a paper at home, but due to the huge market demand and along with the free competition in the market, some new technological innovations appear.
JinseFinanceSelect four relatively popular Bitcoin L2 projects on the market: BEVM, Merlin, B² Network, and BounceBit for interpretation. What are the highlights and advantages?
JinseFinanceBTC, Layer 2, Hundreds of Schools of Thought: An inventory of 30+ BTC L2 projects. Golden Finance has 30+ listed projects and more than 60 more on the way.
JinseFinanceThe popularity of Inscription and its various derivatives protocols has allowed Bitcoin to once again become a new highland for entrepreneurship in the blockchain industry, using the "legitimacy" established by Bitcoin's #UTXO transactions and the Ethereum series of innovations to feed back Bitcoin's "migration" These are two major characteristics.
JinseFinanceThis article will comprehensively take stock of the BEVM ecological 20+ projects and show you the ecological development of the leading BTC L2.
JinseFinanceThis article reviews the mainstream BTC L2 implementation methods in the market and how to introduce BTC assets and security.
JinseFinanceJinseFinance