BitcoinOS, a protocol that uses zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to scale the blockchain, successfully verified the first ZK proof on Bitcoin on July 24. This theoretically makes it possible to try out all sorts of new functionalities and scalability options for Bitcoin.
Big step for Bitcoin?
The cool thing about these new solutions is that it is possible to scale Bitcoin or add functionality without changing the rules of the protocol.
So there is no so-called hard fork needed to add new functionality or scale Bitcoin via ZK proofs. Edan Yago, co-founder of BOS, says this has ushered in an era where “Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold.”
“It is also an operating system and a platform on which the entire world of decentralized applications can be built. […] This marks a chapter where Ethereum, Solana and all other layer-1 projects are no longer safe from competition with Bitcoin,” Yago said.
Bitcoin has of course always been “programmable money” and this step was a possibility from the beginning. Now we still have to see to what extent DeFi on Bitcoin can become popular.
What exactly does this mean?
With this new technology, Yago says it is possible to build “nearly trustless bridges” between Bitcoin and layer-2 rollups. These are so-called blockchains next to Bitcoin’s, on which it is possible to make transactions much faster.
One transaction on Bitcoin can now represent many hundreds or even thousands of transactions, Yago said. “One Bitcoin transaction can now be used for anonymous transactions and things like smart contracts.”
So in theory, Bitcoin’s blockchain is starting to gain interesting applications. Whether that’s enough to bring about a kind of DeFi revolution on Bitcoin remains to be seen.
In addition, it remains to be seen to what extent DeFi is something that represents much value in the long term. The marketing talk is interesting, but so far it has remained at that.
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Source: https://newsbit.nl/bitcoin-is-niet-alleen-maar-digitaal-goud/
