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Evolution of Rollups on Bitcoin

Unwrapping rollups one layer at a time

Lets see the Bitcoin Roadmap from 2013 to Now,

Increased roadmap

ZK Rollups are a layer-2 scaling solution that perform transaction execution outside the main blockchain (layer-1) while maintaining data integrity and security through proofs.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), Segregated Witness (SegWit), Blockchain Bridges collectively lay the groundwork for implementing ZK Rollups on Bitcoin.

Trust-Minimized Rollups

Lets Understand, How can we build a trust-minimised Rollup using ZK

Trustless Zk rollup

Main Limitations

  • Bitcoin Cannot Verify the ZK Proof by Design

  • UTXO Model Constraints - Validity on Multi Sig

Bitcoin Rollups

BitVM whitepaper made things interesting by showing the ways for ZK proof verifications within the Bitcoin ecosystem with "1 / n trust assumptions", paving the way for enhanced scalability and security.

bitVM

Limitations

  • Dishonest Sequencer

  • Data Availability Layer

If Sequencer goes rogue, Shared Sequencer Can we be a one of the solution but data should be available, for which introducing Data availability layers is required

With Data Availability Layer,

Data availability layer

Inspiration from Validium, Sovereign Rollups

Data availability can be posted anywhere off chain for

  • Cheaper Transactions

  • Scalable Transactions

It can be posted on the any DA layers,

  • Celestia DA

  • Bitcoin DA

  • Other DA Layers.

Limitations with this, How can they cross compose and share liquidity ?

But this can solved with the ZKPs which allows the Interactions with all the DA layers can be trustless allowing cross compute and shared liquidity

da-layer

Challenges in building Rollups on Bitcoin

Non-Turing completeness

Bitcoin's non-Turing complete nature limited its utility, only shifted after Ordinals

No Existing Frameworks

The absence of established frameworks on Bitcoin for rollup development has been a significant barrier

Complex Development

Missing familiar tech stacks, increasing the complexity to create rollup on Bitcoin.

Skepticism around Trust Assumptions

Skepticism from the Community due to Trust Assumptions in the rollup solutions