Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #422

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #422 details new developments in Bitcoin privacy and infrastructure. It introduces Babilonia, a proposed probabilistic coinjoin and covert betting protocol aimed at providing privacy with plausible deniability. Instead of easily traceable actions, Babilonia leverages covert bets that resemble on-chain coin flips, appearing as normal payments externally, to effectively break the common input ownership heuristic. The protocol involves Alice and Bob creating a shared UTXO, signing refund and payout transactions, with Alice using public keys and an adaptor signature, and Bob constructing a conditional public key. The winner claims funds after Alice reveals a hidden secret out-of-band. The newsletter also summarizes benchmarks for a silent payments indexing server against compact block filters for light clients and covers notable changes and releases in popular Bitcoin infrastructure software.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #421 Recap Podcast

The Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #421 Recap Podcast features discussions from Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, Mike Schmidt, and others, covering a range of technical Bitcoin and Lightning Network developments. Key news items included the proposal for using silent payments for miner payouts within coinbase transactions and the responsible disclosure of a denial-of-service vulnerability in Core Lightning (CLN). The podcast also delved into ongoing discussions about changing consensus, specifically focusing on continued work on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) output types, the DropKick commit/reveal PQC rescue mechanism, the SHRINCS draft BIP, and demonstrations of BIP448 and CSFS/CTV applications. Furthermore, the recap highlighted recent releases and release candidates, including Core Lightning 26.06.7, LND v0.21.3-beta, and LND v0.20.4-beta. Lastly, notable code and documentation changes were discussed, referencing specific pull requests in critical projects such as Bitcoin Core (#36111, #36032), Core Lightning (#9435), Eclair (#3368, #3366), and LND (#11090), underscoring continuous innovation and improvements within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #421

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #421 highlights two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Firstly, `average_gary` presented an innovative idea on Delving Bitcoin for mining pools to pay miners using `silent payments` directly within the `coinbase transaction`. This method aims to significantly improve miner privacy by allowing them to share a static silent payment address through a `Stratum v2` encrypted channel, thereby avoiding the privacy risks associated with compromised pool databases holding `xpub`s. To adapt `BIP352 silent payments` for coinbase transactions, which lack input public keys, the pool generates an ephemeral private key to derive a sending public key (`A_send`). This `A_send` is then hashed with the block height to ensure uniqueness and prevent malicious grinding, before being included in the `coinbase scriptSig` for the miner to scan. Feedback is currently sought to formalize this proposal. Secondly, the newsletter reported the responsible disclosure of a critical `denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability` impacting `Core Lightning (CLN)` nodes. `Erick Cestari` detailed this flaw on Delving Bitcoin, specifying that it affects `CLN versions prior to 25.09`.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #420 Recap Podcast

The Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #420 Recap Podcast featured discussions with Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt, joined by Níckolas Goline, Optout, Abubakar Sadiq Ismail, and Moonsettler. Key action items included a preparation alert for an upcoming Core Lightning (CLN) security release. News topics covered a discussion on universal opt-in replay protection, the HWI (Hardware Wallet Interface) repository transitioning into maintenance mode, and a request for comments regarding the use of block-range filters. Recent software releases highlighted BTCPay Server 2.4.3 and Eclair 0.14.2. The podcast also detailed notable code and documentation changes across several critical Bitcoin ecosystem projects. These included five specific Bitcoin Core pull requests: #34075, #35730, #35580, #35665, and #35933, signaling continuous protocol development. Additionally, significant updates were noted for various Lightning Network implementations, with Core Lightning #9374, Eclair #3342 and #3321, and LND #11008. The HWI project also saw a notable code change with #841, reflecting ongoing efforts in Bitcoin hardware wallet integration.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #420

This week's Bitcoin Optech Newsletter provides several crucial updates for the Bitcoin ecosystem. It relays an advance notice regarding a planned Core Lightning (CLN) security release, version v26.06.7. This security update will initially be released in an embargoed manner, meaning binaries will be available immediately but source code will be withheld for 14 days to mitigate potential exploitation. CLN operators preferring to wait for source code availability are advised to restart their nodes using the `--offline` flag to maintain onchain enforcement while preventing peer connections. The newsletter also summarizes a significant discussion on Delving Bitcoin concerning the implementation of a universal opt-in replay protection mechanism for potential future Bitcoin forks. This proposal, stemming from recent replay attack incidents on minority chains, suggests using the taproot annex to commit a 34-byte payload containing the previous block hash or, alternatively, a block height and hash suffix. Furthermore, the newsletter notes that the Hardware Wallet Interface (HWI) project, a critical tool for interacting with hardware wallets, is transitioning into maintenance mode. Lastly, it describes a request for comments on the use of block-range filters, along with regular announcements of new releases and release candidates for popular Bitcoin infrastructure software.

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TABCONF 8 x SNIRL 2: Come out and meet the stackers In Real Life!

While the article content provided is highly truncated, the title 'TABCONF 8 x SNIRL 2: Come out and meet the stackers In Real Life!' clearly announces a significant upcoming event for the Bitcoin community. TABCONF, or Taproot, Atomic Swaps, Bitcoin Conference, is a well-established Bitcoin-only event known for its focus on advanced protocol development, technical discussions, and fostering innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem. SNIRL, which stands for Stackers In Real Life, likely signifies a related in-person gathering designed to bring together 'stackers' – a term commonly used by individuals accumulating Bitcoin – for networking, collaboration, and community building. The article, despite its truncation, serves as an invitation for Bitcoin enthusiasts, developers, and researchers to attend these combined events to connect, share knowledge, and engage directly with the vibrant Bitcoin space.

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