Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech
_@bitcoinops.org
npub1hkuk...432p
We provide weekly newsletters, workshops, case studies, and research for the #Bitcoin community.
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Bitcoin Optech newsletter #379 is here: - shares an analysis comparing the historical performance of the OpenSSL and libsecp256k1 libraries - highlights multiple discussions about restricting data - summarizes a proposed post-quantum signature aggregation opcode - summarizes an idea for STARK proof verification in Bitcoin Script - updates progress on BIP54's consensus cleanup - Optech Newsletter #379 Podcast Sebastian Falbesoner posted to Delving about comparing the performance of ECDSA signature validation between OpenSSL and libsecp256k1 over the last decade... Multiple conversations examined ideas to change the limits of various fields in consensus... Tadge Dryja posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list a proposal for an OP_CHECKINPUTVERIFY (OP_CIV) opcode that enables a locking script to commit to a specific UTXO being spent in the same transaction... Abdelhamid Bakhta posted to Delving Bitcoin a detailed proposal for a new tapscript opcode OP_STARK_VERIFY which would enable the verification of a specific variant of STARK proof in Bitcoin Script... Antoine Poinsot posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list an update on his consensus cleanup work on BIP54... Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Mark “Murch” Erhardt and Mike Schmidt discuss Newsletter #378: - Disclosure of four low-severity vulnerabilities in Bitcoin Core - Q&A from Bitcoin Stack Exchange including questions on datacarriersize, OP_TEMPLATEHASH and others - And more You can listen on our website: Fountain: https://fountain.fm/episode/52iLDnzzU5I7rxb8coJT Spotify: Apple Podcasts:
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Bitcoin Optech newsletter #378 is here: - announces four vulnerabilities affecting older versions of the Bitcoin Core full node - summarizes popular Q&A from Stack Exchange - Optech Newsletter #378 Podcast Antoine Poinsot recently posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list four Bitcoin Core security advisories for low-severity vulnerabilities that were fixed in Bitcoin Core 30.0... Selected Q&A from Bitcoin Stack Exchange: - Why was -datacarriersize redefined in 2022, and why was the 2023 proposal to expand it not merged? - What is the smallest valid transaction that can be included in a block? - Why does Bitcoin Core continue to give witness data a discount even when it is used for inscriptions? - The ever-growing Bitcoin blockchain size? - I read that OP_TEMPLATEHASH is a variant of OP_CTV. How do they differ? Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Abubakar Sadiq Ismail and Carla Kirk-Cohen joined Optech to discuss Newsletter #377: - Detecting block template feerate increases using cluster mempool - Channel jamming mitigation simulation results and updates - BULL wallet launches, Sparrow 2.3.0 released - And more You can listen on our website: Fountain: https://fountain.fm/episode/8ax8Sb0R5uFGbVnvja6L Spotify: Apple Podcasts:
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Sindura Saraswathi, ZmnSCPxj and Eugene Siegel joined Optech to discuss Newsletter #375: - Optimal Threshold Signatures - Flattening certain nested threshold signatures - Theoretical limitations on embedding data in the UTXO set - The ‘Compact block harness’ Bitcoin Core PR Review Club - And more You can listen on our website: Fountain: https://fountain.fm/episode/chMU3zQSD9f2tyCuzW4P Spotify:
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 9 months ago
Bitcoin Optech newsletter #376 is here: - shares an update on the proposal for nodes to share their current block template - summarizes a paper outlining a covenant-less vault construction - Bitcoin Core 30.0 release - Optech Newsletter #376 Podcast Discussion continued around the proposal for full node peers to occasionally send each other their current template for the next block using compact block relay encoding... Francesco Madonna posted to Delving Bitcoin about a concept which is a covenant-less vault model using taproot, OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY, and OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY... Bitcoin Core 30.0 is the latest version release of the network’s predominant full node. Its release notes describe several significant improvements... Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 10 months ago
Bitcoin Optech newsletter #375 is here: - describes research into tradeoffs between usability and security in threshold signatures - summarizes an approach to convert nested threshold signatures into a single-layer signing group - examines the extent to which data could be embedded in the UTXO set under a restrictive set of rules - recaps the "Compact block harness" PR Review Meeting - Optech Newsletter #375 Podcast Sindura Saraswathi posted research, co-authored by her and Korok Ray, to Delving Bitcoin about determining the optimal threshold for a multisignature scheme... ZmnSCPxj posted to Delving Bitcoin to describe how to avoid using nested schnorr signatures in some cases that have not been proven safe... Adam “Waxwing” Gibson started a discussion on the mailing list about the extent to which data could be embedded in the UTXO set under a restrictive set of rules for Bitcoin transactions... 'Compact block harness' is a PR by Crypt-iQ that increases the fuzz test coverage by adding a test harness for the compact block relay logic... Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 10 months ago
Mark “Murch” Erhardt and Mike Schmidt are joined by Gustavo Flores Echaiz to discuss Newsletter #374: - The script restoration BIPs - A BDK Wallet release and release candidates from Bitcoin Core and LND - Our weekly notable code segment You can listen on our website: Fountain: https://fountain.fm/episode/bN5DD679k2z2NLqaNvHQ Spotify: Apple Podcasts:
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 10 months ago
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 10 months ago
ZmnSCPxj and Constantine Doumanidis joined Optech to discuss Newsletter #372: News 16:24 LSP-funded redundant overpayments 1:02 Partitioning and eclipse attacks using BGP interception Changes to services and client software 13:49 Zero-knowledge proof of reserve tool 15:12 Alternative submarine swap protocol proof of concept Releases and release candidates 39:14 Bitcoin Core 30.0rc1 1:16:28 BDK Chain 0.23.2 Notable code and documentation changes 1:17:19 Bitcoin Core #33268 1:18:56 Eclair #3157 1:19:52 LND #9975 1:20:21 LND #9677 1:20:41 LDK #4045 1:21:32 LDK #4049 1:22:18 BDK #1582 1:23:13 BDK #2000 1:24:17 BDK #2028 You can listen on our website:
 Fountain:
 Spotify:
 Apple Podcasts:

Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 10 months ago
Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #372 is here: - summarizes a proposal to enhance LN redundant overpayments - links to a discussion about potential partitioning attacks against full nodes - summarizes changes to services/client software - Optech Newsletter #372 Podcast ZmnSCPxj posted to Delving Bitcoin a proposal to allow LSPs to provide the additional funding (liquidity) required for redundant overpayments... Developer cedarctic posted to Delving Bitcoin about using flaws in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to prevent full nodes from being able to connect to peers... Changes to services and client software: - Zero-knowledge proof of reserve tool - Alternative submarine swap protocol proof of concept Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 10 months ago
Jonas Nick and Bastien Teinturier joined Optech to discuss Newsletter #371: News 0:48 Provable Cryptography Workbook Releases and release candidates 10:48 Bitcoin Core 29.1 11:17 Eclair v0.13.0 25:27 Bitcoin Core 30.0rc1 Notable code and documentation changes 33:18 Bitcoin Core #30469 33:18 Eclair #3163 40:27 Eclair #2308 45:18 Eclair #3021 48:08 Eclair #3142 50:30 LDK #4053 58:12 LDK #3886 You can listen on our website:
 Fountain:
 Spotify:
 Apple Podcasts:

Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Bitcoin Optech newsletter #371 is here: - announces the availability of a workbook dedicated to provable cryptography - Bitcoin Core 29.1, Eclair v0.13.0, Bitcoin Core 30.0rc1 - Optech Newsletter #371 Podcast Jonas Nick posted to Delving Bitcoin to announce a short workbook he created for a four day event to “teach developers the basics of provable cryptography, […] consisting of cryptographic definitions, propositions, proofs and exercises.” Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Russell O’Connor, Olaoluwa Osuntokun, and Jeremy Rubin join Optech to discuss Newsletter #370: Changing consensus 37:56 Details about the design of Simplicity 1:52 Draft BIP for adding elliptic curve operations to tapscript 19:23 Draft BIP for OP_TWEAKADD Releases and release candidates 59:40 Core Lightning v25.09 1:00:24 Bitcoin Core 29.1rc2 Notable code and documentation changes 1:00:55 LDK #3726 1:02:24 LDK #4019 1:03:09 LND #9455 1:04:00 LND #10103 1:05:20 HWI #795 You can listen on our website:
 Fountain:
https://fountain.fm/episode/6IP69xVggsPJ4dZtShuf Spotify:
 Apple Podcasts:

Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Mark “Murch” Erhardt and Mike Schmidt discussed Newsletter #368: News 0:30 Draft BIP for block template sharing 28:07 Trusted delegation of script evaluation Changes to services and client software 33:07 ZEUS v0.11.3 released 33:25 Rust Utreexo resources 34:11 Peer-observer tooling and call to action 37:22 Bitcoin Core Kernel-based node announced 38:23 SimplicityHL released 39:17 LSP plugin for BTCPay Server 39:42 Proto mining hardware and software announced 40:46 Oracle resolution demo using CSFS 41:11 Relai adds taproot support Releases and release candidates 43:09 LND v0.19.3-beta 43:29 Bitcoin Core 29.1rc1 43:55 Core Lightning v25.09rc2 Notable code and documentation changes 44:33 Bitcoin Core #32896 46:57 Bitcoin Core #33106 1:02:49 Core Lightning #8467 1:03:26 Core Lightning #8354 1:04:07 Eclair #3103 1:04:43 Eclair #3134 1:05:56 LDK #3897
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Bitcoin Optech newsletter #370 is here: - details the design of Simplicity - links to a draft BIP for adding elliptic curve operations to tapscript - describes the draft BIP for OP_TWEAKADD - Optech Newsletter #370 Podcast Russell O’Connor made three posts so far to Delving Bitcoin about “the philosophy and design of the Simplicity language”... Olaoluwa Osuntokun posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list a link to a draft BIP for adding several opcodes to tapscript that will allow elliptic curve operations to be performed on the script evaluation stack... Jeremy Rubin posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list a link a draft BIP to add OP_TWEAKADD to tapscript... Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Bruno Garcia and Liam Eagen joined Optech to discuss Newsletter #369: News 24:56 Update on differential fuzzing of Bitcoin and LN implementations 0:58 Garbled locks for accountable computing contracts Selected Q&A from Bitcoin Stack Exchange 39:45 Is it possible to recover a private key from an aggregate public key under strong assumptions? 41:24 Are all taproot addresses vulnerable to quantum computing? 45:20 Why cant we set the chainstate obfuscation key? 52:09 Is it possible to revoke a spending branch after a block height? 53:45 Configure Bitcoin Core to use onion nodes in addition to IPv4 and IPv6 nodes? Releases and release candidates 54:22 Bitcoin Core 29.1rc2 56:45 Core Lightning v25.09rc4 Notable code and documentation changes 57:37 Bitcoin Core #31802 1:04:46 LDK #3979 1:06:19 LND #10102 1:07:04 Rust Bitcoin #4907 You can listen on our website: Fountain: Spotify: Apple Podcasts:
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #369 is here: - shares an update on differential fuzzing of Bitcoin and LN implementations - links to a new paper about garbled locks for accountable computing contracts - summarizes popular Q&A from Stack Exchange - Optech Newsletter #369 Podcast Bruno Garcia posted to Delving Bitcoin to describe recent progress and accomplishments of bitcoinfuzz, a library and related data for fuzz testing Bitcoin-based software and libraries... Liam Eagen posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list about a paper he’s written about a new mechanism for creating accountable computing contracts but based on garbled circuits... Selected Q&A from Bitcoin Stack Exchange: - Is it possible to recover a private key from an aggregate public key under strong assumptions? - Are all taproot addresses vulnerable to quantum computing? - Why cant we set the chainstate obfuscation key? - Is it possible to revoke a spending branch after a block height? - Configure Bitcoin Core to use onion nodes in addition to IPv4 and IPv6 nodes? Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!
Bitcoin Optech's avatar
Bitcoin Optech 11 months ago
Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #368 is here: - summarizes a draft BIP for block template sharing between full nodes - announces a library that allows trusted delegation of script evaluation - summarizes changes to services/client software - Optech Newsletter #368 Podcast Anthony Towns posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list the draft of a BIP for how nodes can communicate to their peers the transactions they would attempt to mine in their next block... Josh Doman posted to Delving Bitcoin about a library he’s written that uses a trusted execution environment (TEE) that will only sign a taproot keypath spend if the transaction containing that spend satisfies a script... Changes to services and client software: - ZEUS v0.11.3 released - Rust Utreexo resources - Peer-observer tooling and call to action - Bitcoin Core Kernel-based node announced - SimplicityHL released - LSP plugin for BTCPay Server - Proto mining hardware and software announced - Oracle resolution demo using CSFS - Relai adds taproot support Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of this newsletter on Riverside.fm Tuesday at 16:30 UTC. Join us to discuss or ask questions!