What are the highlights of BEVM, the BTC L2 project invested by Bitmain and the first to be connected by Binance?

24-04-30 14:21

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Recently, a BTC Layer2 project called BEVM announced that it had received investment from Bitmain, with a post-investment valuation of $200 million. The financing news has attracted considerable attention.

The focus is not on valuation, but on the investor Bitmain. Since its birth in 2013, Bitmain has dominated the global Bitcoin mining machine market with the world's leading Bitcoin mining machine research and development technology. Not only is its mining machine business the world's number one, but its mining farms and mining pool businesses have an absolute influence on the global Bitcoin miner community.

Since 2023, the popularity of Bitcoin inscriptions has stimulated the rapid development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, and some Bitcoin application projects and Layer2 projects that expand Bitcoin performance have emerged in an endless stream. However, under the premise that the Bitcoin ecosystem is very beneficial to the miner community, there is still a lack of leaders in the miner ecosystem like Bitmain.

Previously, many people thought that institutions like Bitmain would not be interested in the Bitcoin ecosystem, but this time, Bitmain's decisive move dispelled everyone's doubts.

Not only that, after BEVM went online on the mainnet, it launched an on-chain airdrop activity with the Binance Web3 wallet. BEVM is also the first BTC Layer2 project to be connected to the mainnet by Binance Web3.

So, as an investment by Bitmain and the first BTC Layer2 project connected by Binance, what are the highlights and advantages of BEVM that can stand out from a number of BTC Layer2 projects and gain support from two top institutions in the two major tracks of Crypto?

What is Taproot Consensus?

The author believes that before making such a strong support move, whether it is Bitmain Investment or Binance, the priority must be the security of the project, the technological innovation, and the long-term value and impact on their own brands. For a BTC Layer2 project, its technical foundation is the foundation of everything.

Before understanding BEVM, we need to know an important concept about Bitcoin Layer2 - Taproot Consensus. What is this "BTC Layer2 solution that is comparable to Rollup" called by the industry, and why has it received so much attention from the Bitcoin community?

Taproot Consensus was first proposed by the BEVM team in 2021 as a fully decentralized BTC Layer2 solution based on the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade.

Taproot Consensus=

Schnorr Signature+MAST+Bitcoin SPV Node Network, let's break them down one by one.

Schnorr Signature

Schnorr Signature is a digital signature algorithm introduced by Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade in 2021. Compared with elliptic curve signatures, Schnorr Signature can expand Bitcoin's multi-signature addresses to 1,000, that is, 1,000 Taproot wallet addresses can jointly manage the same BTC assets, and can ensure efficiency, security and privacy. The traditional Bitcoin multi-signature based on elliptic curve signature can only have a maximum of 15 addresses, while Schnorr Signature can achieve sufficient decentralization of multi-signature addresses.

However, it is not enough to simply achieve decentralization of multi-signature addresses. It is also necessary to achieve automation and intelligence of signatures, that is, it must be code-driven instead of relying on people to sign.

Imagine, if a BTC L2, whose custodial Bitcoin address still needs a group of people to sign one by one to execute entry and exit, how low is its efficiency? How can its security be guaranteed?

Therefore, after achieving decentralization of multi-signature addresses, MAST must be introduced to achieve automation and coding of signatures.

MAST is also one of the core technologies introduced by the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade. MAST stands for Merkle Abstract Syntax Tree, which uses Merkle trees to encrypt complex locking scripts, whose leaves are a series of non-overlapping scripts (for example, multi-signatures or time locks). When spending, only the relevant script and the path from the script to the Merkle tree root need to be disclosed. It can be simply understood that MAST is a "smart contract" running on the Bitcoin chain that can handle multi-signature payments (although it is different from Ethereum's smart contracts, it can play the role of a smart contract when applied to Bitcoin Schnorr multi-signature)

With MAST, Schnorr signatures can be made intelligent, automated, and coded, which means that the concept of "multi-signers" is eliminated here and replaced by code instructions. This is a very important point.

So, who will issue the instructions?

Then the Bitcoin SPV Node Network (Bitcoin Light Node Network) will issue the instructions.

That is, the network composed of Bitcoin light nodes running on the BTC second-layer network relies on the BFT network consensus to drive MAST to issue instructions, not driven by any organization or person, which achieves complete decentralization.

Why use the Bitcoin SPV Node Network instead of the ordinary POS node network? Because Bitcoin light nodes can synchronize Bitcoin layer data, and can verify payments conveniently and securely without complete transaction records, that is, SPV (Simplified Payment Verification, abbreviated as SPV, is a simple payment verification scheme proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto in the Bitcoin white paper).

Therefore, we can summarize:

Schnorr Signature allows Bitcoin multi-signature addresses to be expanded to 1,000, realizing the decentralization of multi-signature addresses.

MAST realizes the coding of multi-signature management, which does not rely on people to sign, but relies on code drive.

Bitcoin Light Node Network realizes the multi-signature driven by Bitcoin light node network consensus, and fully realizes decentralized Bitcoin cross-chain and management.

And Schnorr Signature+MAST+Bitcoin SPV Node Network jointly built a fully decentralized BTC Layer2 solution - Taproot Consensus.

Why has BEVM become a BTC L2 worth paying attention to?

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 rare thing is that Taproot Consensus is a second-layer solution built entirely on Bitcoin native technology. It does not introduce any technology other than Bitcoin, nor does it make any changes to the Bitcoin code. Instead, it is a culmination of the three native technologies of Bitcoin Schnorr Signature, MAST, and Bitcoin SPV Node Network.

It can be said that this is the most native and decentralized BTC L2 solution at present, so it is described by the community as a Bitcoin second-layer solution that can be compared with Ethereum second-layer Rollup.

On the other hand, most of the other Bitcoin second-layer solutions on the market are copied from Ethereum second-layer solutions. For example, if we forcefully introduce ZK-Rollup into Bitcoin, first of all, Bitcoin miners only verify data related to Bitcoin transactions, and will not and cannot verify other data such as ZKP. Since Bitcoin Rollup cannot obtain the security of Bitcoin Layer 1 like Ethereum Rollup, then, whether it is ZK-Rollup or OP-Rollup, it is meaningless for Bitcoin Layer 2. This is a completely copycat solution that does not have any professionalism or rigor.

Of course, there are so-called Layer 2 solutions like RGB and BitVM that seem to be halal, but RGB and BitVM are still just trying to make more expansions in Bitcoin's limited block space and minimalist UTXO model, which is not only contrary to the purity of Bitcoin, but also difficult to truly realize Bitcoin's Layer 2 expansion. After all, based on UTXO, only simple asset issuance can be done. To achieve greater scalability of Bitcoin, Bitcoin must be jumped to the second layer in a trustless way to realize the expansion of application scenarios.

At present, the Taproot Consensus Bitcoin second-layer solution proposed by BEVM not only completely inherits Bitcoin's native technology, but also allows Bitcoin to jump to the second layer in a completely decentralized manner without destroying any Bitcoin code and consensus, to achieve unlimited scalability. This is a Bitcoin second-layer solution that truly combines native innovation and practical implementation.

After all, only by achieving decentralization and trustlessness can the problem of BTC Layer2 asset security be solved. Only by solving the problem of asset security can the on-chain ecology and applications of Bitcoin be built steadily and permanently.

And safe and sustainable long-term development may be the most important criteria for leading institutions such as Bitmain and Binance to choose to support ecological projects. Undoubtedly, BEVM just meets these principles.

The author believes that this is the only answer for BEVM to stand out from many BTC Layer2.

Because, mid-level institutions choose to sprint growth quickly, while head institutions choose to be steady and long-term, which is an unchanging law in any field.