A collective of prominent Bitcoin developers is celebrating a significant advancement on the leading blockchain. They have presented a technique for incorporating programming features called covenants, which may enable essential functionalities such as innovative wallet features and more effective layer-2 protocols.

Notably, this method doesn't necessitate alterations to Bitcoin's core code, a process often complicated by the requirement for consensus necessary to approve substantial upgrades termed soft forks.

The announcement was made on Thursday in a research paper titled, "ColliderScript: Covenants in Bitcoin via 160-bit hash collisions."

The publication arrives as Bitcoin seeks to enhance programmability and integration of additional layers that facilitate the development of applications on the network while aiming to maintain its strong security.

A Collective Effort

The team spearheading this research includes Ethan Heilman, known for his work on the OP_CAT technique that might boost Bitcoin's programmability. Other contributors to the documentation encompass Victor Kobolov, Avihu Levy from StarkWare, and Andrew Poelstra, who leads research efforts at Blockstream.

Robin Linus, noted for his developments surrounding BitVM, remarked on the paper's practicality, expressing optimism regarding its innovative concept but highlighting that implementation costs could surpass $10 million.

StarkWare's official account on X noted the potential of this discovery, emphasizing that it could render covenants achievable on Bitcoin without necessitating a soft fork, despite current computational demands.