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Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2022 11:40:52 -0400
From: "John Light" <bitcoin-dev@lightco.in>
To: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org
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Subject: [bitcoin-dev] Validity Rollups on Bitcoin
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Hi all,

Today I am publishing "Validity Rollups on Bitcoin", a report I produced=
 as part of the Human Rights Foundation's ZK-Rollup Research Fellowship.

Here's the preface:

> Ever since Satoshi Nakamoto first publicly announced bitcoin, its supp=
orters, critics, and skeptics alike have questioned how the protocol wou=
ld scale as usage increases over time. This question is more important t=
han ever today, as blocks are increasingly full or close to full of tran=
sactions. So-called "Layer 2" (L2) protocols such as the Lightning Netwo=
rk have been deployed to take some transaction volume "offchain" but eve=
n Lightning needs to use=C2=A0_some_=C2=A0bitcoin block space. It's clea=
r that as bitcoin is adopted by more and more of the world's population =
(human and machine alike!) more block space will be needed. Another thre=
ad of inquiry concerns whether bitcoin's limited scripting capabilities =
help or hinder its value as electronic cash. Researchers and inventors h=
ave shown that the electronic cash transactions first made possible by b=
itcoin could be given new form by improving transaction privacy, support=
ing new types of smart contracts, and even creating entirely new blockch=
ain-based assets.
>=20
> One of the results of the decade-plus research into scaling and expand=
ing the capabilities of blockchains such as bitcoin is the invention of =
the validity rollup. Given the observed benefits that validity rollups h=
ave for the blockchains that have already implemented them, attention no=
w turns to the question of whether they would be beneficial for bitcoin =
and existing bitcoin L2 protocols such as Lightning, too. We explore thi=
s question by examining validity rollups from several angles, including =
their history, how they work on a technical level, how they could be bui=
lt on bitcoin, and what the benefits, costs, and risks of building them =
on bitcoin might be. We conclude that validity rollups have the potentia=
l to improve the scalability, privacy, and programmability of bitcoin wi=
thout sacrificing bitcoin's core values or functionality as a peer-to-pe=
er electronic cash system. Given the "trustless" nature of validity roll=
ups as cryptographically-secured extensions of their parent chain, and g=
iven bitcoin's status as the most secure settlement layer, one could eve=
n say these protocols are a=C2=A0_perfect match_=C2=A0for one another.

You can find the full report here:

https://bitcoinrollups.org

Happy to receive any comments and answer any questions the bitcoin dev c=
ommunity may have about the report!

Best regards,
John Light