Bitcoin Unleashes New Era as First Zero-Knowledge Proof Verified on Mainnet

Bitcoin has entered a new era after verifying its first zero-knowledge (ZK) proof on mainnet, thanks to BitcoinOS (BOS). This breakthrough occurred at 11:22 pm UTC on July 24 and paves the way for increased functionality and scalability. According to Edan Yago, co-founder of BOS, 'This represents an era where Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold.' He added that it's now also an operating system and a platform for decentralized applications.

Yago explained that BitSNARK, the ZK Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge verification software library, enables developers to create 'near-trustless bridges' between the mainnet and layer-2 rollups. This means that a single Bitcoin transaction can now be used for private transactions and smart contracts.

With this upgrade, Bitcoin is no longer limited to just being a payment system. It can now handle decentralized services and activities like DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and DeFi (Decentralized Finance). Yago emphasized that Bitcoin can now introduce new features without soft forks or consensus changes.