We are proud to share an important milestone in BeL2’s journey to enhance Bitcoin’s capabilities on the Elastos SmartWeb! Today, we announce the release of the BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer, a tool designed to provide detailed verification and proof information for each block on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is a major milestone in BeL2’s mission to maintain Bitcoin’s security and decentralisation while expanding its functionality to deliver a new Bretton Woods DeFi system backed by Bitcoin. Let’s dive right in!
Launching the BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer
At Elastos, we empower Bitcoin with tools that enhance transparency, security, and trust in the blockchain. First, through merge-mining to provide ELA rewards to miners in return for their security, the BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer is developed to provide users with the ability to verify BTC transactions independently, ensuring that Bitcoin remains a secure and decentralized network while expanding its utility into smart contracts.
The BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer achieves this by converting each Bitcoin transaction into zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). These proofs allow for independent verification of transaction data without revealing any sensitive information. By creating a chain of proofs for every Bitcoin block, from the genesis block to the present, all historical and current transactions can be verified for accuracy and integrity, opening the door to smart contract verification innovation.
- Transaction Verification: The explorer lists transaction hashes and verifies them using ZKPs.
- Block Header Proofs: Ensures block headers are correctly linked to previous blocks.
- Merkle Tree Proofs: Verifies the list of transaction IDs in each block, maintaining transaction integrity.
The new BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer provides a user-friendly interface to browse and search all proofs and their details. Users can see the current block being processed, the sub-proofs being generated, and detailed block and transaction information, including the inputs and outputs used to produce the proofs. As BeL2 continues processing historical transactions to the current date, the aim is to achieve a fully functional full node. This will enable the operation of full nodes on BeL2’s network, which can be upgraded to arbiter nodes, collateralised with ELA and earning rewards for managing time-based execution and dispute resolution on the BeL2 protocol.
Verifying Bitcoin ZKP’s in EVM Ecosystems
We are here to enhance Bitcoin’s capabilities while maintaining its security and decentralisation using the Elastos SmartWeb. Integrating zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) into Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystems helps create a more interconnected blockchain environment. Elastos’ BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer converts Bitcoin transactions into zero-knowledge proofs. These proofs enable smart contracts on EVM-compatible blockchains to verify Bitcoin transactions without transferring assets, ensuring secure information sharing across chains.
Integrating ZKPs into EVM ecosystems allows Bitcoin transactions to interact with smart contracts on other chains like the Elastos Smart Chain. This expands Bitcoin’s utility, enabling participation in complex financial applications and decentralised services. The BeL2 ZKP Block Explorer provides the framework for generating and verifying ZKPs, ensuring Bitcoin’s protocol remains secure while enhancing its functionality across platforms.
BeL2 Technical Updates and Progress
- Improving Block Proof Capabilities with zkPOrder: Block proofing ensures the integrity of blockchain blocks, confirming that each new block is valid. BeL2’s extended block-proof capabilities using zero-knowledge proofs, allow stakeholders to verify transactions and blocks securely. BeL2’s ZKP verification contract now supports the verification of transactions in specific blocks and ensures several blocks are legitimate successors of a certain block, enhancing integrity and reliability.
- Ensuring Proof and App Consistency: Consistency checks are vital for ensuring that system proofs and apps are reliable. BeL2 have made progress by extending the bootloader output to support complex operations and upgrading the Solidity verifier to allow the registration of Cairo1 applications and the calculation of cryptographic hashes.
- Improving BeL2s Proof System: Improving BeL2’s proof system enhances performance and reduces costs. BeL2 have completed part of the Rust Cairo VM runner, leveraging Rust’s performance and safety.
StarkNet Grant Roadmap
Finally, BeL2 recently received a StarkNet grant! For more information, read here. Alongside BeL2’s ZKP node innovation into Arbiters, here is BeL2’s grant roadmap, which outlines the major milestones they aim to achieve up until October, supported by their recent grant from StarkNet:
- Building the Light Verification Solution on StarkNet (June 2024): Enable Bitcoin to interact with StarkNet, enhancing its utility in decentralised finance (DeFi) applications.
- Developing the Alpha Version of the Native Bitcoin Lending Solution (July 2024): Create a platform for lending and borrowing Bitcoin directly, providing greater financial flexibility for Bitcoin holders.
- Supporting Full Types of BTC Transactions and Threshold Signature (September 2024): Enhance the flexibility and security of Bitcoin transactions, supporting all transaction types and implementing threshold signatures.
- Launching the Testnet of the Native Bitcoin Lending Solution (October 2024): Test the Bitcoin lending solution in a controlled environment to ensure robustness and security before full deployment.
Elastos is committed to advancing the capabilities of Bitcoin while maintaining its foundational principles of security and decentralisation. The launch of BeL2’s ZKP Block Explorer is a significant step towards achieving the SmartWeb vision. Thank you for your continued support, and stay tuned for more updates as we continue to develop and innovate! Did you enjoy this article? Follow Infinity for the latest updates here!