Bitcoin developers who want to expand the Blockchain’s Decentralized Finance (Defi) possibilities, will probably prove zero knowledge (ZK), functionality, which are currently not available and that require a so-called soft fork or new version of the software, to introduce them.
That is a problem, according to Edan Yago, a Bitcoin veteran of more than a decade and core contribution to Smart Contract Operating System Bitcoinos (Bos).
“Forken a blockchain, especially one with $ 2 trillion value, is like an open heart surgery,” Yago told Coindesk in an interview “Hard Forks are clearly much more problematic, but I think that introducing any form of fork is loaded.”
A fork is a change in the code of a blockchain that requires a divergence at a certain point on a separate path. Fork can be “soft”, which means that older versions can still communicate with the new, or “hard”, making older versions incompatible and to upgrade their software from all users.
ZK certificates are a cryptographic method to prove the validity of statements while retaining privacy by not revealing information about it. The functionality is not available in Bitcoin’s software, but can be made by proposed implementations such as on_cat and on_ctv. Yago said developers should be able to find ways to call them on Bitcoin without any form of fork.
“The burden of proof is on developers to show that there is no other way to achieve this through smart engineering,” he said.
This is what Bos hopes to achieve via the Bitsnark, a Bitcoin Rollup protocol that is part of the family of computer paradigms that are being developed to scale the original blockchain. These came to the fore after the introduction of BITVM by Robin Linus in October 2023, who explains a framework for how Ethereum-like smart contracts could be switched on to Bitcoin.
Bitcoinos has now opened what Yago describes as a “full production-ready” bitnark protocol, which means that developers now have access to ZK verification on Bitcoin and can connect them with other block chains such as Ethereum, Solana and Cardano.
With BitsNark, developers can take large, complex programs and prove the results of the calculations in just 300 bytes that can be verified in standard Bitcoin transactions. That could pave the road for BTCFI, a term used for Defi on Bitcoin, by cross-chain bridges, decentralized exchanges and Bitcoin (BTC)-controlled stablecoins possible.
Although there are countless projects that want to introduce decentralized financing on Bitcoin, they trust the use of on_cat or on_ctv codes, which require a fork in the software of the Blockchain. Yago wants to reach the same destination via a different route.
