Within approximately 3 days, Bitcoin’s Taproot will go live. It is arguably the most anticipated and vital upgrade to the BTC network since the Segregated Witness (SegWit) improvement in 2017.
This upgrade comprises three Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs): Tapscript, Schnorr Signatures, and Taproot. They are collectively called the Taproot upgrade that seeks to incorporate more private and efficient ways of transacting with Bitcoin.
Will smart contracts become a reality on the BTC network?
Given that the Taproot upgrade consists of three BIPs, it seeks to incorporate smart contracts into the Bitcoin network because it will become more space-saving and private by aggregating multiple signatures into a single signature output.
The BTC network is a public ledger because anyone can see on-chain transactions. Therefore, it’s not private, and the Taproot improvement intends to offer an integrated privacy solution.
Smart contract capabilities are some of the factors making blockchains like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) boom because they are needed in rising sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT).
This upgrade will also boost the Lightning Network’s privacy by making its channels resemble regular BTC transactions. The Lightning Network has been going parabolic because it enables off-chain transactions to be undertaken on the Bitcoin network, which is cheaper and faster.
Bitcoin’s hashrate rises
According to Bitcoin mining company Blockware Solutions:
“Since the Chinese miner migration summer, we’ve seen hash rate (orange) come back online aggressively. With this, Bitcoin has undergone 8 consecutive positive difficulty adjustments. We remain bullish on the growth and decentralization of Bitcoin hash rate around the world.”
The hashrate is used to measure the processing power of the BTC network. It allows computers to process and solve problems that enable transactions to be approved and confirmed across the network.
The surge in hashrate can be attributed to the fact that the United States has emerged as the largest BTC mining hub following the crypto mining ban by Chinese authorities in May.
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