Bitcoin Gets Shielded Transactions Without Fork Thanks to PIPEs

Misha Komarov, founder of [[alloc] init] and co-founder of =nil; Foundation, is working to bring Zcash-style shielded transactions to Bitcoin without a fork. This is made possible by a cryptographic primitive called PIPEs (Bitcoin Private Input/Output Encryption), which turns witness encryption into ordinary Bitcoin signature verification.

The process works by transforming zero-knowledge proof verification into signature verification, eliminating the need for soft or hard forks. Shielded transactions would be about four times larger and more expensive than normal ones, but the verifier is purely cryptographic rather than a company or person.

Komarov's team is working with Sanjam Garg, the inventor of witness encryption, to implement this technology. They are also running open hacking challenges on the scheme to ensure its security.