Taproot’s soft fork introduces the notion of Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree (MAST) in order to enhance the Bitcoin network’s scripting capabilities and anonymity.
Between blocks 709,488 and 709,632, the Bitcoin (BTC) network successfully implemented the Taproot soft fork after a 90 percent lock-in consensus among miners and mining pools. The achievement marks the first significant update for Bitcoin since August 2017, when the Lightning Network and Segregated Witness were launched (SegWit).
The Taproot patch attempts to enhance the Bitcoin network’s scripting capabilities and anonymity. The soft fork does this by introducing the idea of Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree (MAST). According to a website devoted to Taproot that is maintained by notable Bitcoin developer Hampus Sjöberg:
“[MAST] may contribute to the efficiency and privacy of smart contracts by disclosing just the necessary portions of the contract while spending.”
Sjöberg told Cointelegraph that Taproot activation demonstrates that Bitcoin is capable of doing network upgrades again, which is critical for the Bitcoin network’s sustainability. “I believe that is the biggest victory,” he said.
Sjöberg, who is also the inventor of the Blixt Wallet Bitcoin Lightning wallet, feels that the Taproot improvement enables the exploration of off-chain capabilities without unduly burdening the Bitcoin network’s nodes.
Additionally, Sjöberg feels that MAST may contribute to the improvement of the earlier Lightning Network’s privacy “if the Lightning implementations choose to use Taproot.” The developers of the different Lightning Network node implementations convened only a few weeks ago in Zurich, Switzerland, at the LN Summit 2021 to examine prospective upgrade paths:
“Among the topics covered at the discussion was whether it is better to improve Lightning in tiny iterations or all at once.” Additionally, Sjöberg demonstrated how payment channels may be rendered indistinguishable from conventional transactions by using Taproot for the Lightning Network:
“It is impossible to determine if a Taproot transaction is a standard payment or a Lightning channel transaction. This is critical for Bitcoin’s fungibility and consequently its resilience to censorship.”
Taproot’s activation was achieved due to Speedy Trial, a soft fork deployment strategy that needs 90 percent of miners to notify the upgrade’s deployment. As Sjöberg explains, “the signaling technique operates in 2016 block periods, which means that 90 percent, or 1815 of the 2016 blocks, must signal for ready within a 2016 block period.”
In June 2021, Bitcoin miners reached a 90% consensus for the first time, and Sjöberg announced the achievement through Twitter:
However, the Taproot update ends Speedy Trial deployments, and future Bitcoin network improvements will need new soft fork deployment techniques. “While Taproot enables a plethora of options, the first thing I’d want to see is a “MuSig 2″ transaction.” Sjöberg offered the following advice to other Bitcoin developers:
“While we should never take anything in Bitcoin for granted, I personally hope to see “Cross-Input Signature Aggregation” as a future Bitcoin soft fork.”
The Bitcoin network has experienced multiple community-driven hard and soft forks during the course of its almost 13-year life. While the Taproot update has yet to demonstrate its benefits, the Lightning Network continues to grow.
On Sept. 28, the Lightning Network celebrated a 160 percent rise in nodes over the previous 12 months, as well as a 170 percent increase in channel count since January 2021.
Prior to the Taproot soft fork on Nov. 11, Bitcoin’s network capacity had reached an all-time high of 3,220 BTC, approximately worth $210 million.
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