The white paper’s author, Robin Linus, based BitVM’s architecture on Ethereum’s optimistic rollups with evidence of fraud and recent Merkle tree developments.
The Bitcoin developer community is no stranger to innovation. Until the end, Robin Linus, the leader of ZeroSync, which is behind the development of a zk-proof light client for Bitcoin, unveiled the white paper “BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin” yesterday.
The abovementioned paper presents an innovative methodology that could potentially redefine the perception of Bitcoin’s capabilities. BitVM introduces a computing paradigm that can express Turing-complete Bitcoin contracts.
What matters is that it does not require any modification to the network’s consensus rules. Instead of running calculations directly on Bitcoin, these calculations are simply verified, drawing parallels with the process of optimistic accumulations.
Online forums, particularly the Reddit community, have been abuzz with excitement. Under the title “BitVM launch renders all altcoins useless. Calculate anything in Bitcoin without forking.” The proposal is the subject of heated debate on Reddit, as well as on X (formerly Twitter).
Can Bitcoin Make All Altcoins Useless?
Bob Bodily, CEO of Bioniq Market, offered his thoughts via a post on X:
“BitVM is a new computing paradigm Optimistic Roll Up + Fraud Proof + Taproot Leaf + Bitcoin Script designed by Robin Linus at Zero Sync. While it offers the primary benefit of improved programmability on BTC without any upgrades, it is important to note that BitVM is slower, more expensive, and has more complexity compared to EVM.”
Sam Parker, CTO and co-founder of Blockchain Transition, explained that “Bitcoin is now as Turing Complete as any other chain, and this requires no changes to Bitcoin.” However, he also clarified that while Bitcoin may seem more Turing complete technically, it has been equipped with a runtime that makes it “Turing complete enough” for any realistic program one wishes to run.
Parker also emphasized the non-mandatory nature of BitVM. Users who do not wish to trust their coins in a Turing complete contract do not have to do so. He also mentioned potential uses, such as removing dependence on centralized “Bitcoin edge” services and advocating a move from trusted/semi-trusted services to fully trustless interaction.
Taproot wizard Eric Wall, after reading the whitepaper, expressed cautious optimism as well as reservations about the setup phase, specifically regarding large pre-signed transaction exchanges, but was eager to see real-world experiments.
He argued that “If BitVM works efficiently to verify a zk proof within it, then BitVM would take over the role of the zkwasm layer.”
Wall summarized BitVM’s current role succinctly, suggesting that it describes a way for a verifier to hijack a link from a prover based on the result of a Turing complete calculation. However, it does not yet fully detail an architecture for inputs and outputs from external participants.
More Skeptical Voices
Blockstream CEO Adam Back’s response was more critical. He compared it to Greg Maxwell’s ZKP contingent payments implementation example in 2016.
Super Testnet, one of the reviewers of the article, called this development perhaps “the most exciting discovery in the history of the Bitcoin script.” However, some complexities surrounding BitVM cannot be overlooked.
While it is undeniable that BitVM increases the capabilities of Bitcoin, there are several challenges to overcome.
By Audy Castaneda
