DeFi News Official TheBitTimes.com

Zero-knowledge proofs have powered the development of Ethereum layer 2s — and now they’re coming to Bitcoin. Bitcoin (BTC) users will soon be able to make use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to expedite the process of verifying individual blocks and, eventually, the entire blockchain.  Swiss-based nonprofit ZeroSync Association is developing tooling which allows users to validate the state of the Bitcoin network without having to download the blockchain or trust a third party for verification. ZeroSync Association is an organization that was formed to develop and maintain open-source software that enables succinct zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) on the Bitcoin blockchain. The group makes use of StarkWare’s proprietary zero-knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge (zk-STARK) validity proofs to generate ZKPs for the Bitcoin network. The tool promises to overhaul the process of verifying the Bitcoin blockchain, which still requires node operators to download a large amount of d...

The increasing popularity of Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, will impact posively the security of the Bitcoin network and attract developers to the ecosystem, according to Ordinals proponent Udi Wertheimer. Bitcoin (BTC) NFTs will have a positive impact on Bitcoin ecosystem by improving its security and incentivizing developers to build on the network, according to independent developer Udi Wertheimer.  The number of newly created Ordinals, also referred to as "inscriptions", have been spiking in recent weeks, causing a surge in transaction Fees and average block size on the Bitcoin block chain.  According to Wertheimer, Bitcoin NFTs are going to be beneficial for Bitcoin's security budget: by driving up transaction fees, the creation of Ordinals will incentivize miners to secure the network while the revenue from mining reward will be decreasing with each Bitcoin halving. “Because the block space is scarce and because there's demand for stuff like inscriptions, there...