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Bitcoin Layer 2 Rootstock Verifies Zero-Knowledge SNARK

  • Zero-knowledge SNARK (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) refers to a process where one can demonstrate knowledge without revealing that information and without the prover and verifier interacting.
  • "The development represents a major leap forward for the BitVMX proving system, demonstrating the ability to challenge and validate the execution of a SNARK verifier on-chain," Rootstock's team said.

A team of developers from Rootstock Labs and Fairgate say they've succeeded in the technological breakthrough of interactively verifying a SNARK proof – a powerful type of cryptography in many blockchain systems – on the main Bitcoin network.

The demonstration could represent a major advance in making the largest blockchain more accommodating to faster, cheaper layer-2 networks, with programmability similar to what's currently possible on Ethereum and other networks.

The SNARK was verified using a modified version of Robin Linus's BitVM design, known as BitVMX, that the team developed independently. Linus developed BitVM as a computing paradigm designed to allow Ethereum-style smart contracts on Bitcoin.

Zero-knowledge SNARK (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) refers to a process where one can demonstrate knowledge without revealing that information and without the prover and verifier interacting.

The verification took place on Bitcoin's mainnet on Thursday, having been completed in a testnet environment the day before.

"The development represents a major leap forward for the BitVMX proving system, demonstrating the ability to challenge and validate the execution of a SNARK verifier on-chain," Rootstock's team said in an emailed statement on Thursday. "This breakthrough opens the door for replicating this process with any program compiled to the RISC-V architecture, utilizing BitVMX’s general-purpose virtual CPU."

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CORRECTION (July 26, 19:00 UTC): Corrects fourth paragraph to say the verification took place on Bitcoin's mainnet instead of Rootstock's