BitcoinOS Just Brought The First ZK Proof To Bitcoin: Here’s Why That Matters

cryptonews.com:

Bitcoin “superlayer” protocol BitcoinOS has now verified the first zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) on Bitcoin, executing what most in the industry once thought couldn’t be done on the oldest blockchain network.

This achievement, performed at Block 853626 on Tuesday, marks a significant step forward in scaling and enhancing the functionality of Bitcoin while maintaining its foundational principles of decentralization and stability.

Specifically, the team behind BitcoinOS claims that this breakthrough will enable the implementation of rollups, which are layer-2 blockchains allowing faster, cheaper, and more versatile transactions. These transactions can subsequently be settled on the more secure layer-1 Bitcoin blockchain, inheriting base layer security.

We have done it! For the first time ever a ZK-proof has been verified on Bitcoin Mainnet by BitcoinOS.

The final verification was confirmed in block 853626.

A historic moment and a historic block.

A new era has begun for Bitcoin enabling unlimited scaling and functionality -… pic.twitter.com/x8akim4SJh

— BitcoinOS (@BTC_OS) July 24, 2024

“This is the first permissionless upgrade of the Bitcoin system and the first time Bitcoin has been upgraded without a soft fork,” said Edan Yago, core contributor to BitcoinOS. “This paves the way for more developers to build on Bitcoin more efficiently and enables true decentralization.”

Unlike previous scaling solutions, BitcoinOS aims to enhance Bitcoin without compromising decentralization. With ZKPs, BitcoinOS has demonstrated that developers can create covenants – conditional Bitcoin payments that only execute after providing the right cryptographic proof.

In practice, this enables developers to build bridges to transfer BTC to and from an L2