The Quantum Issue: Quantum Isn’t Coming For Your Bitcoin

This article, published in Bitcoin Magazine and authored by Brandon Black, addresses the 'Quantum Issue' concerning Bitcoin. It posits that quantum computing is not an imminent threat to Bitcoin's security, specifically by exploring the significant challenges and obstacles that could prevent the successful development and deployment of a viable quantum computer.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #424 Recap Podcast

This article is a recap podcast for Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #424, featuring discussions with Gustavo Flores Echaiz, Mike Schmidt, Ahmet Kurt, and Jan B. Key news includes a proposal for a post-quantum Lightning Network. The podcast addresses selected Q&A from Bitcoin Stack Exchange, covering topics such as the drawbacks of using a sum instead of SHA256 for amounts in Taproot signature messages, the necessity of resyncing after a post-BIP110 fork, and whether a Bitcoin node can build a partial UTXO set for validating new transactions. It also highlights recent releases and release candidates, including Bitcoin Core 32.0rc2, Core Lightning 26.06.8, and LDK v0.3-rc2. Furthermore, the recap details notable code and documentation changes across various projects, including Bitcoin Core (#34566), BIPs (#1951, #2224), Core Lightning (#9507, #9508, #9509, #9510, #9513), and LND (#11198, #11146, #11132), all directly contributing to the advancement of the Bitcoin protocol and Lightning Network.

Sat & Nah (Satoshi Nakamoto): The Economic Engine of Hyperbitcoinization

Researchers propose Zcash-style private Bitcoin transfers without a soft fork

Researchers are proposing a novel method to enable private transactions on the Bitcoin network, dubbed "Shielded Bitcoin." This approach aims to introduce Zcash-style privacy features, utilizing zero-knowledge proofs and encrypted notes to obfuscate transaction details. A key aspect of this proposal is its design to achieve these privacy enhancements without necessitating a soft fork, meaning it would not require changes to Bitcoin's fundamental consensus rules. However, the initiative is currently facing scrutiny from other researchers regarding its potential limitations, particularly concerning the true extent of anonymity it can provide and its resilience against future quantum computing threats.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #424

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #424 introduces a significant proposal for enhancing the Lightning Network (LN) with post-quantum security, dubbed PQLN. This initiative, detailed by Ahmet Kurt on Delving Bitcoin, aims to upgrade LN's offchain protocols to withstand quantum computer attacks, building upon prior layer-by-layer analyses. A supporting paper and a functional implementation based on rust-lightning are available for testing. The proposal specifically targets offchain components, deliberately avoiding modifications to onchain operations, which would necessitate Bitcoin consensus changes. Key modifications include: Gossip (BOLT7) is updated to distribute post-quantum keys (ML-DSA and ML-KEM) directly through node_announcement messages, which also carry ML-DSA signatures. channel_update messages include only the signature, and keys are pinned to prevent fraudulent substitutions. The channel_announcement message remains unchanged due to its reliance on onchain funding keys. Transport (BOLT8) is modified to implement a hybrid Noise handshake, utilizing two ML-KEM encapsulations—one for the pinned static key and another for a new ephemeral key to ensure forward secrecy, without employing in-band negotiation.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #423 Recap Podcast

The Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #423 Recap Podcast, featuring Mark Erhardt, Gustavo Flores Echaiz, and Mike Schmidt, delved into recent Bitcoin ecosystem developments. Key discussions covered news items such as Vardiff controllers for slowing miners, Utreexo improvements for initial block download, and a new BIP draft for unspendable internal keys. Updates to services and client software included BitBoxApp's integration of Spark-based Lightning payments, the Covenants.diy script editor, and the EntropyLab offline key calculator. The podcast also highlighted the Eclair 0.14.3 release and several significant code and documentation changes across Bitcoin Core, including pull requests #35445, #36076, #36150, #36174, #34743, #36081, #35975, and BIPs pull request #2241.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #423

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #423 covers an analysis of mining pool difficulty controllers, a proposed improvement for Utreexo’s initial block download (IBD), and a draft BIP for specifying unspendable taproot internal keys. The newsletter details Eric Price’s findings on how variable difficulty (vardiff) controllers, used by mining pools, can strand miners that slow down. Vardiff controllers adjust a miner's share difficulty based on their share submission rate. The issue arises when a miner slows, and the controller, updating only upon receiving shares, fails to lower the difficulty, leaving the miner stuck with a target suited for their previous, higher speed. Price argues that parameter adjustments are insufficient because the controller cannot estimate a rate from shares that don't arrive. His proposed fix is a timer that automatically lowers difficulty after a set interval passes without a share from the miner. While the Stratum v2 reference implementation has a similar mechanism, it recovers slowly for long-lived connections, and Ckpool recomputes only on shares. Price released a 'shaping proxy' for testing this behavior, and Anthony Towns suggested handling such adjustments within local proxies or gateways in Stratum v2 and DATUM deployments.

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #422 Recap Podcast

The Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #422 Recap Podcast, featuring Mark “Murch” Erhardt, Mike Schmidt, Adam Gibson, and Rob Segers, delves into significant developments within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Key discussions included a new protocol for probabilistic coinjoin and covert betting, along with an update on the progress of silent payments light clients, both crucial for enhancing Bitcoin privacy and usability. The podcast also covered important software releases, specifically LDK v0.3-rc1 and v0.2.6 for the Lightning Network Development Kit, and BTCPay Server 2.4.4. Furthermore, the recap highlighted numerous notable code and documentation changes across core Bitcoin projects, including several pull requests merged into Bitcoin Core (e.g., #35949, #34931, #36048, #36123, #36176), Core Lightning (#9434), LND (e.g., #11061, #11125, #11064), and BTCPay Server (e.g., #7561, #7559), showcasing ongoing development and improvements to Bitcoin's foundational layers and applications.

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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