Recently, BTC Layer2 project BEVM announced that it has received investment from Bitmain, attracting significant attention. What makes BEVM worthy of Bitmain’s investment? This article will introduce the technology and development of BEVM.
Table of Contents:
What is Taproot Consensus?
Schnorr Signature
MAST (Merkle Abstract Syntax Tree)
Bitcoin SPV Node Network
Why is BEVM worth paying attention to in the BTC Layer2 space? Recently, a BTC Layer2 project called BEVM announced that it has received investment from Bitmain, with a post-investment valuation of $200 million. This financing news has attracted considerable attention.
The key point lies not in the valuation, but in the investor, Bitmain. Since its establishment in 2013, Bitmain has dominated the global Bitcoin mining machine market with its leading Bitcoin mining machine R&D technology. Not only is it the global leader in the mining machine business, but its mining farms and mining pools also have absolute influence in the global Bitcoin mining community.
Starting from 2023, the popularity of Bitcoin scriptures has stimulated the rapid development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, with a plethora of Bitcoin application projects and Layer2 projects to improve Bitcoin’s performance. However, despite the Bitcoin ecosystem being very favorable to the mining community, there has been a lack of leading figures in the mining ecosystem like Bitmain.
Many people previously believed that institutions like Bitmain would not be interested in the Bitcoin ecosystem, but Bitmain’s decisive action this time dispelled all doubts.
Furthermore, after BEVM went live, it launched an on-chain airdrop activity with the Binance Web3 wallet. BEVM is also the first BTC Layer2 project to be integrated into the Binance Web3 mainnet.
So, as an investment from Bitmain and the first BTC Layer2 project integrated by Binance, what are the highlights and advantages of BEVM that make it stand out among other BTC Layer2 projects and gain support from two top institutions in the crypto industry?
What is Taproot Consensus? In my opinion, whether it is Bitmain’s investment or Binance’s support, the priority consideration must be the project’s security, technological innovation, long-term value, and impact on its own brand. For a BTC Layer2 project, its underlying technology is the foundation of everything.
Before understanding BEVM, we need to know an important concept about Bitcoin Layer2 – Taproot Consensus. This is what the industry calls “a BTC Layer2 solution that can rival Rollup”. What exactly is Taproot Consensus, which has garnered significant attention from the Bitcoin community?
Taproot Consensus was first proposed by the BEVM team in 2021 based on the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade. It is a fully decentralized BTC Layer2 solution.
Taproot Consensus = Schnorr Signature + MAST + Bitcoin SPV Node Network. Let’s break it down one by one.
Schnorr Signature is a digital signature algorithm introduced in the 2021 Bitcoin Taproot upgrade. Compared to elliptic curve signatures, Schnorr Signature has the advantage of expanding Bitcoin’s multi-signature addresses to 1000. This means that 1000 Taproot wallet addresses can collectively manage the same BTC assets, ensuring efficiency, security, and privacy. Traditional Bitcoin multi-signatures based on elliptic curve signatures have a maximum limit of 15 addresses, while Schnorr Signature achieves sufficient decentralization of multi-signature addresses.
However, achieving decentralization of multi-signature addresses alone is not enough. It is necessary to achieve automation and intelligence in the signing process, i.e., code-driven signing instead of relying on manual signatures.
Imagine if a BTC Layer2 project requires a group of people to sign one by one for the custody addresses of Bitcoin, how inefficient and insecure would that be? Therefore, after achieving decentralized multi-signature addresses, MAST needs to be introduced to achieve automation and code-driven signing.
MAST is also one of the core technologies introduced in the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade. MAST stands for Merkle Abstract Syntax Tree, which uses Merkle trees to encrypt complex locking scripts. Its leaves are a series of non-overlapping scripts (such as multi-signatures or time locks). When spending, only the relevant scripts and the path from the script to the Merkle tree root need to be disclosed. In simple terms, MAST is a “smart contract” that operates on the Bitcoin chain and can handle multi-signature payments (although different from Ethereum’s smart contracts, it can achieve similar effects when applied to Bitcoin’s Schnorr multi-signature).
With MAST, Schnorr signatures can be made intelligent, automated, and code-driven, eliminating the concept of “multi-signers” and replacing it with code instructions. This is a very important point.
But who issues the instructions? They are issued by the Bitcoin SPV Node Network.
The Bitcoin SPV Node Network is a network composed of Bitcoin lightweight nodes running on the BTC Layer2 network. It relies on BFT network consensus to drive MAST to issue instructions. It is not driven by any organization or individual, achieving complete decentralization.
Why use the Bitcoin SPV Node Network instead of a regular POS node network? Because Bitcoin lightweight nodes can synchronize Bitcoin Layer1 data and can conveniently and securely verify payments without the complete transaction record, thus achieving Simplified Payment Verification (SPV), which Satoshi Nakamoto proposed in the Bitcoin whitepaper.
In summary:
Schnorr Signature: Allows Bitcoin multi-signature addresses to expand to 1000, achieving decentralization of multi-signature addresses.
MAST: Achieves code-driven management of multi-signatures, eliminating the need for human signatures and relying on code.
Bitcoin Light Node Network: Uses the Bitcoin lightweight node network consensus to drive multi-signatures, achieving complete decentralization of Bitcoin cross-chain and management.
Schnorr Signature + MAST + Bitcoin SPV Node Network together build a fully decentralized BTC Layer2 solution called Taproot Consensus.
Why is BEVM worth paying attention to in the BTC Layer2 space? On the other hand, Taproot Consensus was proposed by the BEVM team, and BEVM is the first BTC Layer2 use case of Taproot Consensus.
The most remarkable aspect is that Taproot Consensus is built entirely on native Bitcoin technology, without introducing any technology outside of Bitcoin or making any changes to the Bitcoin code. Instead, it combines the three native technologies of Bitcoin: Schnorr Signature, MAST, and Bitcoin SPV Node Network.
One could say that this is currently the most native and decentralized BTC Layer2 solution, which is why it is described by the community as a Bitcoin Layer2 solution that can rival Ethereum’s Layer2 Rollup.
On the other hand, most of the other Bitcoin Layer2 solutions on the market are simply copying Ethereum’s Layer2 solutions. For example, solutions that forcibly introduce ZK-Rollup to Bitcoin. First, Bitcoin miners only validate Bitcoin-related data and cannot verify other data such as ZKP. Since Bitcoin Rollup cannot achieve the same security as Ethereum Rollup on the Bitcoin Layer1, ZK-Rollup or OP-Rollup have no meaningful impact on Bitcoin Layer2. These solutions are completely unprofessional and lack rigor.
Similarly, there are seemingly clear Layer2 solutions like RGB and BitVM. However, RGB and BitVM are still trying to do more within Bitcoin’s limited block space and minimal UTXO model. This not only contradicts the purity of Bitcoin but also makes it difficult to truly expand Bitcoin’s Layer2. After all, based on UTXO, only simple asset issuance can be done. To achieve greater scalability for Bitcoin, it is necessary to move Bitcoin to Layer2 in a trustless manner to expand application scenarios.
Currently, the Taproot Consensus Bitcoin Layer2 solution proposed by BEVM not only fully inherits Bitcoin’s native technology but also allows Bitcoin to move to Layer2 in a completely decentralized manner without breaking any Bitcoin code or consensus, achieving infinite scalability. This is a truly innovative and practical Bitcoin Layer2 solution.
After all, only by achieving decentralization and trustlessness can we solve the issues of BTC Layer2 asset security. By solving the issue of asset security, we can steadily and sustainably build the on-chain ecosystem and applications of Bitcoin.
And security and sustainable long-term development are perhaps the most important criteria for top institutions like Bitmain and Binance to choose to support ecosystem projects. Undoubtedly, BEVM meets these principles perfectly.
In my opinion, this is the only answer that allows BEVM to stand out from the crowd of BTC Layer2 projects. While mid-level institutions choose to pursue rapid growth, top institutions choose steady and long-term development, which is an unchanging rule in any field.