Robin Linus has demonstrated covenants on Bitcoin without requiring a softfork by using a quirk in the legacy OP_CHECKMULTISIG, referred to as Binohash, to achieve a collision-resistant transaction hash readable inside Bitcoin Script. This innovation allows for the creation of a proof-of-concept transaction that has already been mined on the Bitcoin mainnet, potentially eliminating the need for a Bitcoin light client in BitVM bridges by reducing trust assumptions and enhancing security, all without any consensus changes. With an honest cost of less than $50 in GPU computing and approximately $40 in transaction fees, this development reflects ongoing efforts to explore smart contract-like features within Bitcoin, highlighting the network’s capability to surprise and inspire further protocol exploration without necessitating upgrades.
Binohash introduces Bitcoin covenants sans softfork
