bitcoin-dev
Combined summary - ColliderScript: Covenants in Bitcoin via 160-bit hash collisions
The paper discusses a groundbreaking approach to cryptographic verification in Bitcoin transactions, particularly focusing on the balance between complexity and practicality within the scripting limitations of Bitcoin.
It proposes an innovative method for creating and spending covenants in Bitcoin that does not require soft forks, using Tapscript. This technique simplifies the creation of covenants, equating it to generating a transaction with Pay-to-Witness-Script-Hash (P2WSH) output, though it admits the spending process is considerably complex. The computational demand for spending such covenants is highlighted as significantly high, necessitating resources comparable to the entire Bitcoin network's output over approximately 33 hours. This underlines a potential need for specialized ASICs to make the practical deployment of these covenants feasible.
Moreover, the paper elucidates on the methodology behind these covenants, clarifying that despite their computational intensity, they are not intended to replace the covenant opcode due to both their high computational cost and the restrictions imposed by transaction size limits. It hints at a delicate balance between computational cost and transaction size, suggesting inherent trade-offs in covenant design. An intriguing application of Tapscript for Lamport signatures is also discussed, suggesting its capability to future-proof Bitcoin transactions against quantum computing threats by enabling secure coin spending post-cryptographic breaches.
The core innovation lies in the equivalence check mechanism between two algorithm sets: traditional signature validation processes and re-implemented cryptographic operations within the Bitcoin script framework. This includes executing basic cryptographic operations under Bitcoin's scripting language limitations and ensuring logical equivalence without direct comparison during script execution. The objective is to adjust data-carrying transactions until both scripts produce the same hash outcome for a variable y
, thereby passing the equivalence check and allowing further validations related to signature restrictions and covenant checks within a block's 4MB weight limit.
Security concerns regarding potential vulnerabilities and the risk of transaction data forgery despite the equivalence check are raised, suggesting the necessity for protocol enhancements. The discussion opens up avenues for robust testing and analysis in cryptographic protocol development.
For those interested in a deeper understanding of the technicalities involved in constructing equivalence checks within Bitcoin scripts and the implications for Bitcoin’s future development, the full paper is accessible at colliderscript.co/colliderscript.pdf. This detailed exploration includes the novel function dGen, which bridges conventional Bitcoin script (Big Script) with an optimized version (Small Script), thus enabling previously impractical validation of transaction conditions and enforcing covenants on the blockchain in a computationally efficient manner.