Bitcoin Covenant Proposals: Miner Trust and Recursion
CTV, CSFS, and MATT draw the line between allowed and forbidden differently, and each encodes a distinct bet on miner honesty and script recursion.
№ 050BitcoinBitcoin Transaction Pinning and Lightning Force-Closes
Transaction pinning can trap Lightning Network force-closes at uncompetitive fee rates, burning timelocks. The mechanics, the stakes, and the fixes in progress.
№ 051BitcoinBitcoin Erlay Fanout Phase: Peer Selection Explained
Erlay's fanout phase pushes transactions to a randomized peer subset, not the whole network. A close look at the mechanism, its privacy logic, and its limits.
№ 052BitcoinBitcoin Output Script Versioning and Covenant Enforcement
How Bitcoin's script versioning lets developers add spending rules without breaking old nodes. The mechanics, tradeoffs, and a worked example.
№ 053BitcoinBitcoin Sighash Flags: Partial Signing Explained
Sighash flags let Bitcoin signers commit to only part of a transaction, the mechanics, the real tradeoffs, and what each flag actually does.
№ 054BitcoinBitcoin Silent Payments: Unique Addresses via BIP-352
BIP-352 lets senders derive a fresh Bitcoin address from your published keys alone, no coordination, no on-chain fingerprint. The mechanism, plainly explained.
№ 055BitcoinBitcoin Erlay Protocol: Cutting Node Bandwidth by 40%
Erlay uses set reconciliation to cut Bitcoin node bandwidth ~40%. The mechanism, a worked example, and an honest account of the latency trade-off.
№ 056BitcoinBitcoin Transaction Pinning and Fee Bumping Reliability
Transaction pinning can trap a Lightning channel close at a low fee rate, blocking CPFP and RBF. The mechanics, the stakes, and the fixes underway.
№ 057BitcoinBitcoin Covenant Proposals: Security Assumptions Compared
CTV, CSFS, APO, and CAT rest on structurally different trust models. A mechanical breakdown of what actually separates them, and why it matters.
№ 058BitcoinBitcoin Script and Recursive Covenants: The Opcode Gap
Bitcoin Script cannot inspect its own outputs, making recursive covenants impossible today. The mechanics, the proposals, and the tradeoffs, examined plainly.
№ 059BitcoinBitcoin Tapscript: Conditional Spending, Hidden Branches
Tapscript lets Bitcoin transactions spend one condition while keeping all others permanently hidden. The exact mechanism, with a worked example.
№ 060BitcoinBitcoin Output Scripts and UTXO Set Growth Explained
P2PKH, P2SH, P2WPKH, and P2TR each leave a different footprint on Bitcoin's UTXO set, the tradeoffs affect every full node running today.