March 29, 2024

Preparations began for the Taproot bitcoin protocol update

Preparations began for the Taproot bitcoin protocol update

Six months after the publication of the proposal to improve the Bitcoin network Taproot, the crypto community began to actively discuss the procedure for its implementation.

In January, the development team proposeda protocol update that improves scripts and instructions attached to each transaction. This will allow you to create wallets with multiple owners, add more complex functions such as multitasking transactions, temporary locks, and also increase the level of confidentiality of some operations.

The problem is that taproot activation requiresconducting a soft fork, as in the case of SegWit,support of the majority of network participants and a long wait for acceptance. Therefore, the developers proposed a hybrid system that would allow the update to be rejected if there is no consensus within a year, and then a deferred activation procedure.

However, even if changes are quickly agreed upon, the transition process can take months or even years.

According to the developers, although Taproot will boostthe privacy of the bitcoin network, but transactions can still be traced using special tools, so scammers and criminals will not be able to get any benefit from this.

In parallel with the improvement of the main network, severalteams are working on second-level solutions. We previously announced the release of a specification for a new authentication system for the Lightning Network that replaces traditional accounts with tokens.

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