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Robert Linus, developer of ZeroSync and creator of the BitVM protocol, has created a new protocol to incorporate data sales and downloads into the trusted security of the bitcoin blockchain, and it may open up a new realm of uses for bitcoin.
Linus has had a busy career lately revolutionizing the potential of bitcoin. Although much of the buzz about bitcoin in the mainstream is related to its monetization and use as a financial instrument as it becomes increasingly entangled with the existing world of finance, Linus has undertaken several important projects to make the most of the chain. of blocks in new and surprising areas. In addition to his work at ZeroSync creating zero-knowledge proofs, in October, Linus made headlines with his new BitVM protocol: a method for creating logic gates and complex calculations entirely within the bitcoin blockchain. Such functionality, at scale, would allow bitcoin to carry out smart contracts to the same degree as other tokens like ethereum, just without sacrificing any of bitcoin‘s decentralized features.
On November 11, Linus announced the proof of concept of a new protocol: BitStream. Essentially, the plan is to use the bitcoin blockchain to make atomic purchases of various data packets; In other words, purchases that do not require intermediaries and that can be accepted or contested by the buyer and the seller using only the functions of their contract. Linus White paper goes into greater detail: specifically drawing attention to Nostr, a decentralized protocol designed to create censorship-resistant communications.
Although its untrusted nature and general goals are very adjacent to the spirit of bitcoin, Nostr does not use bitcoin directly, and Linus states that “paid servers for platforms like Nostr often underestimate their operating costs when they charge a monthly payment to store the data.” of a user. Users can split their payment into daily or weekly increments if they don’t trust the servers, but this strategy doesn’t solve the financial challenges servers face. Users pay to upload their data, so servers are not paid per download.” He went on to state that one of the main focuses behind BitStream is the requirement that servers be incentivized and compensated by paying per download.
Although Linus was quick to lay out some of the very simple ways in which BitStream’s encryption protocol would be further complicated, to make the overall service more secure, he explained the basic fundamentals using a much more simplified model. Basically, as is very common in file encryption, the initial file is divided into fragments to form a merkle treeand then process each chunk of data. The new file ID is the root of this tree, the information that contains all the hashes and none of the original data. A one-time pad is then used to encrypt each of the original fragments, using a different formula than the unencrypted tree hashes. The hashed chunks and re-encrypted chunks of the same chunks are paired into a new tree with a new root that is shared with the server.
With the encrypted ID available, there can be an automated process where payment by the seller is automatically fulfilled by the other data needed to decrypt the actual file: all encrypted chunks, the hashes of all unencrypted chunks, and the ID. from the original file. If there is any discrepancy between the encrypted and unencrypted chunks, it will be immediately apparent and the buyer can use it as proof to the blockchain that the transaction is somehow fake and should be refunded. In this way, a secure method of transferring files is transformed into a trustless contract that financially incentivizes the data server, all using the power of the bitcoin blockchain.
This protocol is enabled with a wide variety of bitcoin payment channels, including obviously the Lightning Network but also sidechains like Liquid and various more obscure solutions. It is also built similarly to BitVM, not necessarily clogging up the bitcoin blockchain by making each step require on-chain transactions, but verification and disputes can easily do this to carry out disputes. When Linus was told that BitStream does for storage space what BitVM does for runtime and asked if they could be combined, he responded answered affirmatively and stated that he came up with BitStream first and needed to figure out how to generalize it to BitVM.
Although this protocol has had its consequences supporters and detractorsLinus was concise when asked on Twitter what makes this protocol better than other storage solutions. His answer: “It’s bitcoin.” Once again, Linus has discovered a way to carry out some of the functions that some altcoins have focused their business model on, all using the number one decentralized currency and without even having negative side effects. In this spirit, then, we should consider Durabit: a similar protocol for using bitcoin to incentivize and ensure the security of data transfers, albeit with an anonymous creator.
Durabit is a protocol built on top of one of the most famous protocols on the Internet, BitTorrent, the file hosting service. Although it has gained an immense reputation throughout its 22 years of functionality, it requires users to actively seed data for future downloads. If users download a file more often than they restart it, it disappears. Durabit does not propose a completely trustless method to solve this, although it is reasonably untrustworthy: a mint runs the protocol and accepts funds from users who want to view a seeded file. The Mint then makes micropayments to the planters at set intervals, so that the Mint cannot abscond with the funds directly and the initial investor can revoke the remaining funds if they believe the Mint is acting dishonestly.
This protocol is much more specialized and, in fact, less reliable than BitStream, but it still opens up a truly novel use case in the history of bitcoin. Although the cry of “sow your torrents!” has been an essential refrain of good Internet etiquette for decades, the disappearance of files from the platform and the difficulties in running a program like Nostr demonstrate that good will is not always enough. With bitcoin, there can be a real incentive to continue best practices and encourage the free flow of information, all without tying these incentives to an external authority.
Even the most well-intentioned supervisor can be pressured by outside forces to stop the flow of data, but protocols like these show how information can flow with little or no arbiter. bitcoin has a powerful ability to transform the entire world of data markets, and it is all contained in the most fundamental laws of the bitcoin spirit. If BitStream sees widespread use, if more anonymous Bitcoiners create protocols like Durabit, who knows what the possibilities are? After the community begins to innovate a new concept for bitcoin, the sky is the limit.
