Resourceful developers are working flat out on the further development of Bitcoin. Here are five Bitcoin Core Updates that every Bitcoiner must know.
Updating Bitcoin Core is like trying to teach a cow to jump rope. It is considered almost impossible and is very risky. After all, more than a billion US dollars in value are shipped daily with Bitcoin. If you take the market capitalization as an indication of the value of the network, Bitcoin is already worth about 100 billion US dollars. In short, software updates to Bitcoin's most important implementation, Bitcoin Core, are always a bit tricky. In addition, distributed systems like Bitcoin typically scale much more slowly than their centralized counterparts. It is therefore in the nature of things that Bitcoin Core has not had any significant software updates for quite some time.
The developers, however, spare no effort and are working intensively on the future of the protocol. Here are 5 BTC software updates that have it all.
Schnorr Signatures
Schnorr signatures have been a main topic among cryptographers and Bitcoin core developers for years. In essence, Schnorr signatures are rock solid cryptographic signatures that do not suffer from transaction malleability, but are still faster to verify than Elliptic Curve Digital Signatures (ECDS), which are the current standard. Schnorr also allows the bundling of several signatures, which should make MultiSig outputs and timelocks much easier to handle.
Taproot
Observers usually mention Taproot in the same breath as Schnorr signatures - after all, the two implementations are supposed to become part of the same SoftFork update. Taproot is a project by core developer Gregory Maxwell, which focuses on the implementation of Merkelized Abstract Syntax Trees (MAST) in Bitcoin. In simple terms, this is the combination of different output conditions into one signature. MultiSigs are thus hashed to a single signature that is indistinguishable from conventional output signatures. This, of course, increases the privacy of Bitcoin users who do not want to know their preference for multi-sigs on the block chain.
OP_CHECKMPLATEVERIFY
The aim of OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY (CTV) is a project by core developer Jeremy Rubin, which is intended to provide relief especially in the event of data jams on the block chain. The motivation was probably the experience of December 2017, when transaction fees rose immeasurably.
At its core, the idea is to split Bitcoin transactions into two parts: a sending half that contains information about the inputs and a receiving half that contains information about the outputs of the transaction. Remember, a transaction with only one input can result in multiple outputs, such as when Change is generated.
Input and output, in turn, would be clearly identified by a hash, according to GDP 119, so that the transaction does not miss its target.
The trick is that input and output fees are allocated at different levels. While the sending half contains comparatively high fees, the receiving half only pays low fees. However, it is sufficient for one half of the transaction to be confirmed in order to write the transaction to the block chain. The final booking, however, takes as long as the second half of the transaction is also confirmed. Typically, this will be the case when the average network fees decrease.
Drivechain
Sidechains are likely to become more important in the future. In addition to the most famous Bitcoin Sidechain Liquid, RSK Sidechain, for example, has set itself the task of making Bitcoin Smart-Contract-compatible. Basically, sidechains are based on a simple principle: The desired number of BTCs are bound to the network rules of the sidechain for a certain period of time and cannot be moved on the Bitcoin blockchain during this time. Typically, this binding is done using multi-signatures managed by the participating parties.
Drivechain, on the other hand, wants to transfer control of the time-blocked BTC to the miners. Put simply, the proposal means that a majority of miners would have to confirm the transfer of BTC to the main block chain using the hash rate.
Consensus cleanup
If Square Crypto Core Developer Matt Corallo had his way, Bitcoin could be even more secure and efficient. To that end, the software developer has made some suggestions that he summarizes on GitHub. One of the security risks mentioned is the timewarp inflation vulnerability, which would reduce the emergency deviation adjustment to 600 seconds.
However, the consensus cleanup is considered controversial due to its low relevance and is unlikely to become a reality anytime soon.
