Meta: A Renaissance for Building on Bitcoin

[nud3l]

Abstract

We propose a three milestone roadmap to deliver a Bitcoin-enhanced and OP Stack-compatible rollup for Bitcoin. The rollup allows builders to write Rust and EVM smart contract with native integrations for both Bitcoin and Ethereum data and assets.

Motivation

Rollups and bridges targeting Bitcoin should align with its core values: decentralization, scarcity, and immutability. While Ethereum is advancing with rollups as a core scaling solution, emphasizing user experience and privacy, Bitcoin lags in adopting experimental features due to its emphasis on security and resilience. Bitcoin's robust and defensive stance makes it harder to integrate innovations rapidly.

The BOB collective provides a solution to this problem. BOB core values are:

• Experimentation. Technology (rollups, ZK, AI, …), art (NFTs, …), organization (DAOs), and entertainment (social, …). We don’t close off BOB to areas but instead want a diverse space of innovators.
• Real-world impact. The innovations made should have an improvement for people by giving them access to Bitcoin values. BOB is an enabler to bring the BTC advantages to new and existing use cases.
• Freedom of choice. Projects deployed on BOB should also be able to deploy on other rollups and chains. Builders should focus on unique values of the product without having to worry about platform risk of BOB.

The technical product developed by the BOB collective follows from these values. BOB is three things:

1. A builder platform that allows anyone to create novel applications:
   • BOB supports Rust smart contracts. Bitcoin innovation (ord, LN, nostr, BDK) happens to a great deal in Rust, a mature and well-designed language. This allows innovation for new use cases without having to rewrite logic.
   • BOB is EVM-compatible. Novel applications and mature tooling already exist on EVM chains. Innovators can build on top of these applications. BOB seeks full EVM compatibility to provide freedom of choice and prevent re-inventing the wheel.
2. A novel BTC bridge that allows users and builders access to BTC and Bitcoin data (BRC20s, ordinals, …).
3. A rollup that allows users and builders access to ETH, ERC20s, and Ethereum data (NFTs, ENS, …).

BOB will be the catalyst for the “building on Bitcoin” renaissance. The movement combines the Bitcoin core values with new avenues of thought. BOB is a Bitcoin-augmented rollup for free experimentation and innovation with real-world impact.

Specification

The goal of this proposal is to launch BOB as a rollup before the Bitcoin halving 2024.

Milestone 1: Middle Ages

Deliver a proof of concept implementation of the BOB stack rollup and builder platform.

Target completion: End of September 2023

Goals

• Builders can spin up a local testnet
• Builders can deploy Rust smart contracts on the local testnet
• Builders can deploy EVM smart contracts on the local testnet
• Users can interact with a local testnet via EVM interfaces (wallets, ethers.js)
• Completed design for a novel Bitcoin bridge
• Alpha-stage documentation for the rollup design and how to build on it

Milestone 2: Early Renaissance

Deliver a testnet deployment of the BOB stack rollup, BTC bridge, and builder platform.

Target completion: Mid December 2023

Goals

• Public testnet is available to builders
• Builders can deploy Rust smart contracts on the hosted testnet
• Builders can deploy EVM smart contracts on the hosted testnet
• Users can interact with the hosted testnet via EVM interfaces (wallets, ethers.js)
• Block explorers available for hosted testnet
• Proof of concept implementation for Bitcoin bridge on testnet
• Beta-stage documentation for the bridge and rollup design and how to build on it

Milestone 3: Renaissance

Deliver a mainnet deployment of the BOB stack rollup, BTC bridge, and builder platform.

Target completion: Mid March 2024

Goals

• Public mainnet is available to builders
• Builders can deploy Rust smart contracts on mainnet
• Builders can deploy EVM smart contracts on mainnet
• Onboarded multiple teams to both testnet and mainnet
• Users can interact with the mainnet via EVM interfaces (wallets, ethers.js)
• Block explorers available for mainnet
• MVP implementation for Bitcoin bridge on mainnet
• Mature documentation for the bridge and rollup design and how to build on it