Bitlayer secures 31.5% of Bitcoin's hashrate to bring smart contracts to BTC

Bitlayer, a Bitcoin Layer-2 solution utilizing the BitVM framework, has secured significant support from major mining pools, bolstering its viability on the Bitcoin network. Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool, collectively controlling 31.5% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, have committed to supporting Bitlayer’s BitVM implementation. This development is crucial for BitVM’s functionality, as it requires miners to include custom Taproot transactions containing complex verification logic. Without miner cooperation, these non-standard transactions (NSTs), while valid under Bitcoin’s consensus rules, would be rejected by standard Bitcoin Core software.

Antpool CEO Andy Chow highlighted the significance of this partnership, emphasizing the potential for increased network activity and revenue generation for miners through expanded Bitcoin use cases. He stated that growing fee markets are crucial for miners’ long-term financial sustainability as block rewards diminish over time. The involvement of these large mining pools is a strong indicator of BitVM’s potential for mainstream adoption. Antpool alone commands 17.2% of the hashrate, with F2Pool and SpiderPool contributing 8.2% and 6.1% respectively. This combined 31.5% hashrate ensures transaction inclusion within roughly one in three blocks, sufficient for initial testing, prototyping, and early-stage applications.

While this level of support may not yet enable fully functional deployment, it represents a substantial step forward. Bitlayer assures that a multi-layered contingency plan is in place to address potential future challenges, including strategies for expanding mining pool partnerships and mitigating risks associated with shifts in Bitcoin Core policy or weakening hashrate support. BitVM, introduced by Robin Linux in 2023, allows for complex smart contract execution off-chain while maintaining on-chain verification, resembling optimistic rollups. Bitlayer’s implementation aims to seamlessly integrate Bitcoin into decentralized finance (DeFi) systems and Layer-2 networks, opening up new possibilities for Bitcoin’s functionality and utility.