What Is Bitcoin Taproot?

Bitcoin (BTC) being the king of all cryptocurrencies bears a major force that can impact the performances of the crypto space. As such, the leading coin has geared concerns for necessary advancements aimed at keeping the industry growing. In a bid to further elevate the performance and potentials of Bitcoin, some certain upgrades have been initiated. One of such upgrade mechanisms is the “Bitcoin Taproot”.

Most notably, the need for an improved privacy and security function for the flagship cryptocurrency is deemed inevitable. As such, the Bitcoin Taproot has been innovated to basically address the issue. More precisely, Bitcoin Taproot is a technological upgrade proposed to basically improve the performance of Bitcoin in regard to the privacy and smart contracts. It is majorly focused on the privacy and security functions of cryptocurrency. Thus, anonymizing complex transactions executed with Bitcoin.

How Does Taproot Work in the Bitcoin Network?

In 2018, Taproot was introduced by Bitcoin core contributor Gregory Maxwell. His aim was to initiate a kind of mechanism that is capable of hiding the visuality of a Bitcoin script neither the combination of multiple scripts.

With Taproot, every Bitcoin transaction that requires certain conditions like multi signatures, timelocks, and the likes has tendencies of appearing as similar as single transactions. Taproot would hide all conditions, including sophisticated and activated conditions a Bitcoin transaction requires, leaving just the final activated condition. In other words, the functionality of Taproot in the Bitcoin network is capable of ensuring that all forms of transactions either P2P or smart contract are not distinguishable.

Regardless of the public nature of the Bitcoin blockchain, Taproot has the tendency of making the cryptocurrency a private one. In particular, it denies intruders the ability to monitor the transactions carried out on the network. It only reveals details about the initial sender and the final receiver.

Taproot integrates with other similar upgrades like Schnorr Signatures and MAST which complement each other for better efficiency.

Schnorr Signatures

Without the implementation of Schnorr Signatures, the essence of the proposed Taproot technology may be evitable. Schnorr Signatures is a Bitcoin upgrade that allows transactions on the network to accommodate multiple scripts. Quite interestingly, the functionality of Schnorr Signatures does not end there, it further merges the concerned scripts to become one. In addition, it gives Bitcoin users the opportunity to sign once even when using diverse wallets.

A prominent cryptographer Claus Schnorr was the one who introduced Schnorr Signatures. The primary aim of the initiative was aggregating multiple signatures in a bitcoin transaction into a single signature.

MAST Solutions

Before the initiation of the Bitcoin Taproot, there was the idea of a Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree, usually dubbed “Bitcoin MAST”.

MAST is an upgrade for Bitcoin which rolled the ball to the whole improvement proposal process for Bitcoin. This refers to multiple scripts used to execute Bitcoin transactions and the way they are joined together. Although MAST tends to offer enjoyable and advanced features to Bitcoin users, it is, however, vulnerable to danger when complex expense conditions are adopted. Thus, putting the privacy of the involved transactions is at stake.

With efforts to complement the lapses that come with the use of MAST to carry out Bitcoin transactions, taproot has introduced the system of threshold signatures to make these complex transactions appear in disguise of normal transactions.

Pay-to-Taproot

The taproot innovation has brought into existence the idea of a new script type, usually called Pay-to-Taproot.

It complements the Schnorr Signatures and MAST as it gives room for users of the network to make Bitcoin payments into Schnorr public keys as well as scripts provided within the Merkle tree.

Users may pay for public keys in order to keep any backup options that they have initially intended to keep undisclosed.

Benefits that Taproot brings to Bitcoin

Taproot is very beneficial to the Bitcoin network. Therefore, it has triggered massive support from developers.

The functionality of Bitcoin Taproot allows users to enjoy certain benefits. As a result, it is increasing the potentials of global enthusiasm for Bitcoin.

• Privacy. The key to Taproot’s intended benefits is privacy. This is also the major aim of the upgrade. Taproot tends to cause an upgrade that would turn the public nature of Bitcoin into a private one.
• Improved Security Benefits. With the features of the Bitcoin Taproot integrating with those of Schnorr Signatures and MAST, the protocol guarantees Bitcoin users due to security when carrying out transactions on the network. The output of this upgrade will help curtail certain security risks involved with using bitcoin as the network would stop being malleable.
• Lower Transaction Cost. The implementation of Bitcoin Taproot will require lesser transaction costs considering the reduced amount of data the network would require for transactions. The anonymizing effect will cause the blockchain to accommodate more transactions per block.

Conclusion

Considering the promising features that tend to come with the implementation of the Bitcoin Taproot, the adoption of the cryptocurrency may reach mainstream adoption in no time. Its implementation with Schnorr Signatures will cause an impressive efficiency in the performance of Bitcoin.

Users can have their transactions as discreet as they may desire with less complexity. Taproot is an intended upgrade that has become much expected and supported within the crypto space. The rate of adoption among Node operators will determine how fast the protocol will be fully activated in the industry.