DeFi, Smart Contracts for Bitcoin: Motion Proposal to Integrate BTC Network With the Internet Computer Approved by Community

A motion proposal to integrate Bitcoin (BTC) with the Internet Computer has reportedly been approved by community members.

According to an update shared with Crowdfund Insider, the plan should add smart contracts to Bitcoin via an application of Chain Key cryptography that will “directly integrate the networks.”

As mentioned in a blog post, the Internet Computer community is focused on shaping the blockchain’s feature and upgrade roadmap, with discussions currently taking place within the Developer Forum.

The DFINITY Foundation says that it is allocatiing R&D resources to the Internet Computer ecosystem in the “form of technical contributions.” Technical updates are “subject to community discussion, voting, and approval via motion proposals to the Network Nervous System (NNS).”

As noted in the update, a proposal (#20586) to initiate work for the “Direct Integration of the Internet Computer with the Bitcoin Network” was “submitted to the NNS on September 15, 2021 at 15:00 UTC. ”

Voting by neuron holders “ended 48 hours later on September 17, with 96.55% approval logged at a voting power of 301,806,620.”

As stated in the announcement:

“The DFINITY Foundation and Internet Computer Association, and by extension their corresponding neuron followers, abstained from early voting until the broader community of ICP neuron holders had a chance to vote on the proposal.”

At each stage of a proposal’s lifecycle, neuron holders may have the option to “direct the Foundation’s effort in making the Internet Computer more efficient, faster, and easier to use for developers. ”

The community will be deciding which updates are initiated and what code is adopted, allowing the Internet Computer “to evolve in real time.” The proposal for beginning work on integrating the Bitcoin and Internet Computer networks was “recently initiated by popular consensus,” the announcement revealed.

As mentioned in the blog post:

“There are many types of NNS proposals. This one is a Motion proposal that does not actively change the code of the Internet Computer, but it does provide an on-chain mechanism for the community to vote on the direction. This particular proposal, for example, was to approve the design and plan of the Bitcoin integration with the Internet Computer. It will take months and multiple NNS proposals to update the code.”

As explained in the announcement, Bitcoin is a payment network that does not have native support for smart contracts. The Internet Computer will be offering smart contracts that may “natively hold, send, and receive Bitcoin (without the need for bridges or private keys) through an application of Chain Key cryptography, which will directly integrate the networks.”

The scope of this feature is as follows:

“The integration of the Internet Computer with the Bitcoin blockchain with the following goals: (1) Making powerful smart contract functionality available for Bitcoin transactions; (2) enabling Bitcoin transactions with fast finality and low transaction cost.”

Smart contract support for Bitcoin should help with adding considerable value, “leveraging the combined strength of the Bitcoin network as the world’s digital gold reserve and the Internet Computer as a platform for securely and efficiently executing smart contracts.”

As noted in the announcement:

“An example class of applications that will become possible with this integration are decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, which can currently be implemented only with wrapped bitcoin and additional trusted entities on blockchains such as Ethereum. Moreover, bitcoin could be used for paying for any kind of services on the Internet Computer, opening up an endless number of application scenarios.”

For more details on this announcement, check here.



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