Skip to content

Commit de0ff36

Browse files
committed
[BIP-119] Slim down motivation, add more references
1 parent b1791c2 commit de0ff36

File tree

1 file changed

+26
-119
lines changed

1 file changed

+26
-119
lines changed

bip-0119.mediawiki

Lines changed: 26 additions & 119 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -39,125 +39,24 @@ The recommended standardness rules additionally:
3939
4040
==Motivation==
4141

42-
Covenants are restrictions on how a coin may be spent beyond key ownership. This is a general
43-
definition based on the legal definition which even simple scripts using CSV would satisfy.
44-
Covenants in Bitcoin transactions usually refer to restrictions on where coins can be transferred.
45-
Covenants can be useful to construct smart contracts. As covenants are complex to implement
46-
and risk of introducing fungibility discriminants they have not been seriously considered for
47-
inclusion in Bitcoin.
48-
49-
This BIP introduces a simple covenant called a *template* which enables a limited set of highly
50-
valuable use cases without significant risk.
51-
52-
A few examples are described below, which should be the subject of future non-consensus
53-
standardization efforts.
54-
55-
===Congestion Controlled Transactions===
56-
57-
When there is a high demand for blockspace it becomes very expensive to make transactions. A large
58-
volume payment processor may aggregate all their payments into a single O(1) transaction commitment
59-
for purposes of confirmation using CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY. Then, some time later, the payments can
60-
be expanded out of that UTXO when the demand for blockspace is decreased. These payments can be
61-
structured in a tree-like fashion to reduce individual costs of redemption.
62-
63-
The below chart showcases the structure of these transactions in comparison to
64-
normal transactions and batched transactions.
65-
66-
<img src="bip-0119/states.svg" align="middle"></img>
67-
68-
A simulation is shown below of what impact this could have on mempool backlog
69-
given 5% network adoption, and 50% network adoption. The code for the simulation
70-
is provided in this BIP's subdirectory.
71-
72-
<img src="bip-0119/five.png" align="middle"></img>
73-
<img src="bip-0119/fifty.png" align="middle"></img>
74-
75-
===Payment Channels===
76-
77-
There are numerous payment channel related uses.
78-
79-
====Batched Channel Creation====
80-
81-
Using CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY for Batched Channel Creation is similar to the use for Congestion Control,
82-
except the leaf node transactions are channels instead of plain payments. The channel can be between
83-
the sender and recipient or a target of recipient's choice. Using an CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY, the
84-
recipient may give the sender an address which makes a tree of channels unbeknownst to them.
85-
These channels are time insensitive for setup, as all punishments are relative timelocked to the
86-
penultimate transaction node.
87-
Thus, coins sent using a congestion controlled transaction can still enjoy instant liquidity.
88-
89-
====Non-Interactive Channels====
90-
91-
When opening a traditional payment channel, both parties to the channel must participate. This is
92-
because the channel uses pre-signed multi-sig transactions to ensure that a channel can always be
93-
exited by either party, before entering.
94-
With CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY, it’s possible for a single party to construct a channel which either
95-
party can exit from without requiring signatures from both parties.
96-
These payment channels can operate in one direction, paying to the channel "listener" without need
97-
for their private key to be online.
98-
<img src="bip-0119/nic.svg" align="middle"></img>
99-
100-
====Increased Channel Routes====
101-
102-
In the Lightning Network protocol, Hashed Time Locked Contracts (HTLCS) are used in the construction
103-
of channels. A new HTLC is required per route that the channel is serving in.
104-
In BOLT #2, this maximum number of HTLCs in a channel is hard limited to 483 as the maximum safe
105-
size to prevent the transaction from being too large to be valid. In common software implementations
106-
such as LND, this limit is set much lower to 12 HTLCS. This is because accepting a larger number of
107-
HTLCS makes it more difficult for transactions to confirm during congested periods as they must pay
108-
higher fees.
109-
Therefore, similarly to how congestion control is handled for normal transaction, lightning channel
110-
updates can be done across an CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY tree, allowing nodes to safely use many more
111-
HTLCS.
112-
Because each HTLC can have its own relative time lock in the tree, this also improves the latency
113-
sensitivity of the lightning protocol on contested channel close.
114-
115-
===Wallet Vaults===
116-
117-
This section will detail two variants of wallet vault that can be built using
118-
CTV. Wallet vaults are a useful tool when greater security is required for
119-
cold storage solutions, providing default transactional paths that move funds
120-
from one's cold storage to a hot wallet.
121-
122-
One type of cold wallet can be set up such that a customer support desk can,
123-
without further authorization, move a portion of the funds (using multiple
124-
pre-set amounts) into a lukewarm wallet operated by an isolated support desk.
125-
The support desk can then issue some funds to a hot wallet, and send the
126-
remainder back to cold storage with a similar withdrawal mechanism in place.
127-
This is all possible without CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY, but CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY
128-
eliminates the need for coordination and online signers, as well as reducing
129-
the ability for a support desk to improperly move funds. Furthermore, all such
130-
designs can be combined with relative time locks to give time for compliance
131-
and risk desks to intervene. This is a 'Coins at Rest' or 'Optically Isolated'
132-
vault, and is shown below.
133-
134-
<img src="bip-0119/vaults.svg" align="middle"></img>
135-
136-
An alternative design for vaults is also highly effective and simpler to
137-
implement in Sapio, a smart contract programming language. In this design, the
138-
user commits to a single UTXO that contains a program for an annuity of
139-
withdrawals from cold storage to a hot wallet. At any time, the remaining
140-
balance for the annuity can be cancelled and funds locked entirely in cold
141-
storage. The withdrawals to the hot wallet can be 'cancelled' before a maturity
142-
date to ensure the action was authorized. These sort of vaults strongly benefit
143-
from non-interactivity because the withdrawal program can be set up with cold
144-
keys that are permanently offline, except in case of emergency. The image below
145-
shows an instance of this type of wallet vault created with Sapio in Sapio
146-
Studio. These types of wallet vault can also be chained together by taking
147-
advantage of CTV's scriptSig commitment. This type of vault is a 'Coins in Motion'
148-
variant where the coins move along the control path.
149-
150-
<img src="bip-0119/vaultanim.gif" align="middle"></img>
151-
152-
===CoinJoin / Payment Pools / Join Pools ===
153-
154-
CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY makes it much easier to set up trustless CoinJoins than
155-
previously because participants agree on a single output which pays all
156-
participants, which will be lower fee than before. Further each participant
157-
doesn't need to know the totality of the outputs committed to by that output,
158-
they only have to verify their own sub-tree will pay them. These trees can
159-
then, using a top-level Schnorr key, be interactively updated on a rolling basis
160-
forming a "Payment Pool".
42+
Covenants are restrictions on how a coin may be spent beyond key ownership.
43+
This is a general definition based on the legal definition which even simple
44+
scripts using CSV would satisfy. Covenants in Bitcoin transactions usually
45+
refer to restrictions on where coins can be transferred. Covenants can be
46+
useful to construct smart contracts. As covenants are complex to implement and
47+
risk of introducing fungibility discriminants they have not been seriously
48+
considered for inclusion in Bitcoin.
49+
50+
This BIP introduces a simple covenant called a *template* which enables a
51+
limited set of highly valuable use cases without significant risk. BIP-119
52+
templates allow for non-recursive fully-enumerated covenants with no dynamic
53+
state. CTV serves as a replacement for a pre-signed transaction oracle, which
54+
eliminates the trust and interactivity requirements. Examples of uses include
55+
wallet vaults, non-interactive payment channel creation, congestion controlled
56+
batching, efficient to construct discreet log contracts, and payment pools,
57+
among many others. For more details on these applications, please see the
58+
references.
59+
16160

16261
==Detailed Specification==
16362

@@ -725,6 +624,14 @@ for older node versions that can be patched but not upgraded to a newer major re
725624
*[https://fc16.ifca.ai/bitcoin/papers/MES16.pdf Bitcoin Covenants]
726625
*[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=278122.0 CoinCovenants using SCIP signatures, an amusingly bad idea.]
727626
*[https://fc17.ifca.ai/bitcoin/papers/bitcoin17-final28.pdf Enhancing Bitcoin Transactions with Covenants]
627+
*[https://github.com/jamesob/simple-ctv-vault Simple CTV Vaults]
628+
*[https://github.com/kanzure/python-vaults Python Vaults]
629+
*[https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2022-January/019808.html CTV Dramatically Improves DLCs]
630+
*[https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2022-April/020225.html Calculus of Covenants]
631+
*[https://rubin.io/bitcoin/2021/12/10/advent-13/ Payment Pools with CTV]
632+
*[https://rubin.io/bitcoin/2021/12/11/advent-14/ Channels with CTV]
633+
*[https://rubin.io/bitcoin/2021/12/09/advent-12/ Congestion Control with CTV]
634+
*[https://rubin.io/bitcoin/2021/12/07/advent-10/ Building Vaults on Bitcoin]
728635
729636

730637
===Note on Similar Alternatives===

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)