One of the developers working on “BitVM”, a bitcoin-based virtual machine, reiterates that the technology is intended to scale bitcoin rather than launching ethereum-like decentralized financial applications on the network.
The BitVM whitepaper was published by ZeroSync project lead Robin Linus on October 10 with technical support provided by pseudonymous developer “Super Testnet”, implementing BitVM’s first proof of concept and working to expand the capabilities of BitVM.
Following its publication, some industry experts formed the impression that BitVM would bring DeFi to bitcoin like the ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) did for ethereum.
Lightning also falls short in the scale department. It’s not even close to solving scalability.
We need more complementary things.>This is just another attempt to define bitcoin.
Once again, the motivation behind BitVM by the author was not DeFi. I was climbing.
—Hampus (@hampus_s) October 12, 2023
However, Super Testnet tells Cointelegraph that BitVM is focused on scaling rather than deploying smart contracts and a flood of altcoins:
“The real killer app is scaling bitcoin. (Robin Linus is not) a big fan of smart contracts. He is not a big supporter of increasing bitcoin‘s expressiveness. He is really interested in getting bitcoin to be able to process millions of transactions per second.”
Super Testnet said it doesn’t want BitVM to be flooded with (EVM)-like tokens because it will bring bad actors to bitcoin:
“I don’t want to see everything related to the ethereum ecosystem because most of it is Ponzi schemes.”
Building a decentralized exchange on top of bitcoin would be a “step backwards,” he added.
Meanwhile, Super Testnet notes that BitVM will not be an “instant death” for ethereum altcoins, which some have done. bitcoin/comments/173y4g0/the_release_of_bitvm_renders_all_altcoins_useless/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>He suggested – although it could take away their demand.
Hot off the press: BitVM whitepaper released! Experience an innovative computing approach to smart contracts at bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#bitcoin
Unlock functionality that was previously assumed to require a soft fork with these improved smart contracts.
Could this be the end of #altcoins? pic.twitter.com/1GA43VE7If
—RichQuack (@RichQuack) October 10, 2023
The developer hopes that bitcoin (btc) will essentially remain the only monetary unit on the bitcoin network:
“A big property that makes bitcoin important is maintaining a monetary asset that everyone can agree on rather than having floating exchange rates that are a burden on commerce,” he said.
BitVM could fix one of Lightning’s flaws
Meanwhile, Super Testnet said that BitVM’s planned payment infrastructure will also aim to improve one of the Lightning Network’s shortcomings: payment reliability:
“Lightning is wonderful as a system and is probably much faster than anything we can do with bitcoin. But one thing Lightning doesn’t do well is payment reliability.”
River, a bitcoin-only exchange, revealed that its Lightning payments success rate was 99.7% in August across 308,000 transactions.
He hopes BitVM can reach 60% of the transaction speed of the Lightning network.
BitVM: The 24 hour update.
After thousands of Twitter posts and hours of spaces and discussions, we know a lot more about BitVM than we did yesterday. Here’s a quick update:
Excitement
1. BitVM is a new computing paradigm that takes advantage of the universal NAND gate (along with other… pic.twitter.com/zBws7gOhjA
– Bob Physicist, PhD | #btc #eth #ICP (@BobBodily) October 11, 2023
Related: Coinbase to integrate bitcoin Lightning Network: CEO Brian Armstrong
The developer also emphasized that BitVM is optional like the Lightning Network and anyone will be able to transfer btc or bitcoin assets from the virtual machine to cold storage or wherever they were previously.
“No one forces you to send your money to a virtual machine. If you want your money to be safe, keep it safe.”
Misconception of ‘calculating anything’
Super Testnet also clarified a possible misunderstanding, explaining that BitVM, in its current state, cannot compute “anything” as its white paper suggests.
“We have to build more primitives so that anything can run on it.” Implementing SHA-256 and encryption are some of the additions that need to be made, they noted.
However, Super Testnet revealed on October 12 that BitVM is already processing basic functions:
Update: bitvm can do *3* functions now and I’m in the middle of creating a website where you can play with it pic.twitter.com/bXYOZKx2GV
– Super Testnet (@super_testnet) October 12, 2023
Linus and Super Testnet met at a bitcoin conference about 18 months ago and have been working to scale bitcoin to the scripting level almost since then, he said.
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