Drivechains BIP 300

Resources

  • https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/28311
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDjEEX0ASxY
  • Hace falta un soft-fork
  • Transaction are not signed by cryptografic key but by hashpower bitcoin
  • It can take 3 to 6 months to get funds from drivechain to base layer
  • Could a drivechain become more valuable than the base BTC layer?

Introduction

A drivechain allows bitcoins to be "pegged" to a secondary blockchain, enabling them to be used within that blockchain's ecosystem for various applications

Peg-in

Moving coins from the main Bitcoin blockchain to a drivechain (a type of sidechain)

  1. Locking Coins on the Main Chain: The process begins with the user sending their bitcoins to a specific address on the Bitcoin blockchain that is designated for transfers to the drivechain.
  2. Creating a Cryptographic Proof: When the coins are locked on the Bitcoin blockchain, a cryptographic proof of this transaction is generated.
  3. Submitting the Proof to the Drivechain: The user or an intermediary then submits this cryptographic proof to the drivechain..
  4. Pegging Coins on the Drivechain: Once the proof is verified, the equivalent amount of coins is made available to the user on the drivechain.
  5. Consensus and Security Mechanisms: To secure this process, drivechains rely on consensus mechanisms among participants and possibly involve miners or validators in the pegging process.
  6. Transparency and Verification: The entire process is transparent and verifiable by all network participants.

Peg-out

  1. Initiation: A user initiates a peg-out transaction on the sidechain, indicating that they wish to transfer their coins back to the main Bitcoin blockchain. This involves specifying the amount and the destination address on the main chain.
  2. Locking or Burning on the Sidechain: To prevent double-spending, the coins on the sidechain are typically locked or burned.
  3. Proof of Locking or Burning: The sidechain generates cryptographic proof that the coins have been appropriately locked or burned.
  4. Submission to the Main Chain: The cryptographic proof, along with the peg-out request, is submitted to the main Bitcoin blockchain.
  5. Validation and Release: Miners or validators on the main Bitcoin blockchain verify the proof of locking or burning from the sidechain. If the proof is valid and meets the required consensus rules, the equivalent amount of bitcoins is released to the specified destination address on the main chain.

Validation Process

  • In Bip300, txns are not signed via cryptographic key. Instead, they are "signed" by hashpower, over time. Like a big multisig, 13150-of-26300, where each block is a new "signature".
  • Hashpower as Signatures: In the context of BIP300, transactions that peg-out coins from a sidechain back to the main Bitcoin blockchain are not "signed" in the conventional sense with a cryptographic key. Instead, they are "signed" by accumulating hash power over a defined period. This approach is akin to a multisignature mechanism but uses the concept of hash power as the "signatures."
  • The approval of a peg-out transaction requires that it be included by miners over a predetermined number of blocks. This is similar to accumulating a certain number of signatures in a multisignature setup, but in this case, each "signature" is actually a block mined that includes approval for the peg-out.
  • Consensus Threshold: The transaction is considered approved once it achieves a specified threshold of miner approval within a certain window of blocks. For example, if the requirement is for the transaction to be included in a certain proportion of blocks within a window of 26,300 blocks, reaching this threshold effectively means the transaction is "signed" by hash power.
  • Where miners include that extra data?
    • Coinbase Transaction - contains a section for arbitrary data
    • OP_RETURN Outputs