In the present day, a contract developer targeted on Bitcoin and the Lightning Community, Tremendous Testnet, unveiled his newest invention, Hedgehog, a protocol for asynchronous layer two bitcoin funds.
“This can be a protocol much like the Lightning Community,” Tremendous Testnet said. “And that it’s a layer 2 for Bitcoin funds, solely on this one, not like the Lightning Community, the 2 events do not must each be on-line, it is asynchronous. One social gathering can ship the opposite cash then they’re offline.”
One of many options of Hedgehog channels is its simplicity in comparison with lightning channels, based on the mission’s Github. State updates in Hedgehog channels solely require the sender to suggest an replace, which the recipient can then settle for at their comfort. This asynchronous nature permits for extra flexibility and effectivity in cost processing.
The protocol works by leveraging a primitive in Bitcoin script referred to as “revocable connectors.” These connectors are constructed on two much more primitive elements: revocable scripts and connector outputs. Revocable scripts permit both social gathering to revoke a transaction after a sure interval, including an additional layer of safety and management. Connector outputs mean you can assemble a pre-signed transaction spending a separate UTXO alongside the connector output, permitting the transaction to be invalidated by spending the connector output by itself.
As an example how Hedgehog channels function, take into account a situation the place Alice opens a channel with Bob by sending a certain quantity of bitcoin right into a multisig tackle. Utilizing the revocable connectors, Alice can then ship off-chain funds to Bob whereas he’s offline. These funds are embedded in a chunk of textual content, much like a cheque, and could be despatched by way of e mail or different communication strategies.
When Bob comes on-line, he has the choice to just accept or reject the cost. If he accepts, he can cosign and broadcast the transaction to replace the channel steadiness. If he rejects, he can suggest another transaction for Alice to contemplate.
One of many potential issues that Hedgehog wants to unravel is, for example, if a celebration sends cash to their counterparty they lose the flexibility to power shut the channel as a result of they don’t have the opposite social gathering’s signature. The protocol supplies a conditional revocation mechanism. This mechanism goals to permit the sender to revoke a earlier state conditionally, giving each events a window of time to override the transaction if wanted.
Moreover, Hedgehog addresses the problem of funds being caught in a multisig tackle if one social gathering turns into completely unavailable. By incorporating time-lock situations into the script, the protocol can be sure that funds can nonetheless be accessed after a sure interval, even when one social gathering is unable to supply their signature.
Tremendous Testnet posted that he has an thought for the best way to use Hedgehog channels to construct a federated CoinPool that he named Burrow. These focused on that may be taught extra about it right here.