BitVM3 promises cheaper Bitcoin bridges — but not yet
2025-07-11 17:28:06
Main Idea
BitVM3 aims to significantly reduce Bitcoin bridge costs but remains in the research phase, while BitVM2 is currently being adopted by early users despite its higher transaction fees.
Key Points
1. BitVM3 proposes cutting onchain fraud proof costs by ~1000x using garbled circuits, but it is still in the research phase.
2. BitVM2 simplifies fraud proofs to a single-round fault proof using a split SNARK verifier and is already being used by projects like Build on Bitcoin (BOB), Citrea, and Bitlayer.
3. BOB's co-founder Alexei Zamyatin notes that BitVM2's worst-case onchain fraud proof costs around $16,000 in transaction fees, which is still cheaper than Ethereum’s OP Stack fault proofs.
4. Citrea is exploring garbled circuits for fraud proofs, while Alpen Labs is working on a designated-verifier SNARK, each with trade-offs in efficiency and cryptographic robustness.
5. BitVM3’s adoption may depend on Bitcoin soft forks introducing new opcodes like CTV or TXHASH, but current proposals are not yet favorable for BitVM.
Description
BitVM3’s “garbled circuit” approach faces critical security and scaling research before it will be practical
Latest News
- Exclusive: Bitwise to roll out daily attestations for bitcoin ETFs2025-07-15 14:13:32
- Crypto’s competitive advantage: Saturday ICOs2025-07-14 22:18:37
- Pump.fun’s record ICO flooded by coordinated wallet participation2025-07-14 21:20:52
- Weighing Grayscale exposure after firm signals possible IPO path2025-07-14 20:25:55
- 3 big questions with Privy CEO Henri Stern2025-07-14 19:45:44