The Open Source Map of The Bitcoin Protocol Ecosystem
Layer 2
The Lightning Network
Taro
Description: Taro leverages Taproot to enable the issuance and exchange of Layer 2 assets.
Learn More: Lightning Labs Docs
Eltoo
Description: Eltoo is an additional execution layer for the Lightning Network that enables better upgradability of channels.
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
Lightning Cross-Chain Atomic Swaps
Description: atomic swaps provide the guarantee to their participants that they will receive the asset from their counterparts once the swap is completed, or the swap will not go through al all.
Learn More: Lightning Engineering Blog
Loop
Description: Loop is an interoperability solution that enables users to manage liquidity between on-chain balances and lightning channels.
Learn More: Lightning Labs
Atomic Multipath Payments (AMP)
Description: AMPs enable Lightning users to manage their liquidity more uniformly and spend funds spread across multiple channels at once.
Learn More: Bitcoin-dev List
Faraday
Description: Faraday is an analytics tool for node operators active on the Lightning Network.
Learn More: Lightning Engineering Blog
Pool - Lightning Channel Lease (LCL) Protocol
Description: Pool implements a clearing house that enables Lightning users to auction the liquidity available within their channels when needed and receive passive income when doing so.
Learn More: Pool
Thora: Atomic And Privacy-Preserving Multi-Channel Updates
Description: Thora implements the functionality of Lightning through via more generic topologies beyond payment paths.
Learn More: Research Paper
CryptoMaze: Privacy-Preserving Splitting of Off-Chain Payments
Description: A proposal for a secure and privacy-preserving atomic multi-path payment protocol.
Learn More: Research Paper
D-LNBot: A Scalable, Cost-Free and Covert Hybrid Botnet on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network
Description: A proposal for a hybrid botnet that covertly and efficiently communicates over the Lightning Network.
Learn More: Research Paper
Boomerang: Redundancy Improves Latency and Throughput in Payment-Channel Networks
Description: A routing protocol designed to be used on top of multi-path routing schemes to construct redundant payment paths free of counterparty risk.
Learn More: Research Paper
Spear: Fast Multi-path Payment with Redundancy
Description: A routing protocol inspired by Boomerang that is better optimized for existing Lightning Network implementations.
Learn More: Research Paper
REBAL: Channel Balancing for Payment Channel Networks
Description: A channel rebalancing protocol that attempts to improve upon latency by re-routing transactions from intermediate nodes around a unidirectional channel rather than propagating the failure back to the source.
Learn More: [Research Paper](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9614304#:~:text=REBAL maximizes the extent to,failure back to the source.)
Sleepy Channels: Bitcoin-Compatible Bi-directional Payment Channels without Watchtowers
Description: A proposed implementation protocol without watchtowers that does not require parties to be persistently online.
Learn More: Research Paper
HIDE & SEEK: Privacy-Preserving Rebalancing on Payment Channel Networks
Description: A channel rebalancing protocol designed to preserve the privacy of its users.
Learn More: Research Paper
WebFlow: Scalable and Decentralized Routing for Payment Channel Networks with High Resource Utilization
Description: An optimized routing protocol for Lighting payments.
Learn More: Research Paper
Periscope: Censorship-Resistant Off-Chain Traffic Tunneling
Description: A privacy protocol that tunnels the internet traffic between two hosts over a stream of Lightning micro-transactions embedded with data.
Learn More: Research Paper
LNGate: Powering IoT with Next Generation Lightning Micro-payments using Threshold Cryptography
Description: A protocol that enables IoT devices to use the Lightning Network through untrusted gateway nodes.
Learn More: Research Paper
FPPW: A Fair and Privacy Preserving Watchtower For Bitcoin
Description: An alternative design for the Lighting Network that attempts to increase privacy and security through an accompanying Watchtower.
Learn More: Research Paper
BFastPay: A Routing-free Protocol for Fast Payment in Bitcoin Network
Description: A routing protocol that leverages a network of arbitrators to settle payments.
Learn More: Research Paper.)
n-HTLC: Neo Hashed Time-Lock Commitment to Defend Against Wormhole Attack in Payment Channel Networks
Description: A design for Lighting HTLCs that attempts to defend against Wormhole attack.
Learn More: Research Paper
LightPIR: Privacy-Preserving Route Discovery for Payment Channel Networks
Description: A routing protocol that attempts to enable users to discover a shortest path for their payments without revealing any information about the endpoints of the transaction
Learn More: Research Paper
Omni
Omni DEX
Description: A decentralized exchange built atop Bitcoin’s Omni Layer.
Learn More: Github
Identity
Microsoft ION
Description: A Decentralized Identity (DID) protocol built atop Bitcoin.
Learn More: Official Website
Data Anchors
Open Timestamps
Description: A data anchoring protocol that enables users to prove timestamps atop Bitcoin.
Learn More: Official Website
Statechains
Mercury Protocol
Description: A statechain implementation which enables users to leverage a trusted third party, referred to as the statechain entity (SE), to transfer funds offchain.
Learn More: Github
Sidechains
Liquid
Description: a Bitcoin sidechain that enables private transactions as well as the the creation of assets.
Learn More: Official Website
Issued Assets
Mining Derivatives
Description: The Blockstream Mining Note (BMN) enables miners to better hedge their positions.
Learn More: Official Website
Volcano Bond
Description: The Volcano Bond is the first sovereign bond issued on a blockchain. It provides a framework for the issuance of sovereign debt on-chain.
Learn More: Press Release
Drivechain
Description: a sidechain that attempts to increase the throughput and functionality of the Bitcoin network.
Learn More: Official Website
Elements
Description: a sidechain toolkit that enables users to deploy federated sidechains and blockchains featuring Confidential Transactions and Issued Assets.
Learn More: Official Website
Blockstack
Description: a tokenized sidechain that leverages Bitcoin for block checkpointing.
Learn More: Official Website
Rootstock
Description: a tokenized sidechain that leverages Bitcoin for block checkpointing.
Learn More: Official Website
KEEP
Description: a tokenized sidechain that governs, tBTC, a “wrapped” version of Bitcoin that can be used in other blockchains.
Learn More: Official Website
Performance & Usability
Schnorr Signatures
Description: A new signature scheme that iterates upon Bitcoin’s current signature scheme, ECDSA.
Learn More: Blog Post
Neutrino
Description: A scheme that represents the contents of a block in a condensed fashion, thereby enabling applications to more easily determine whether a transaction has been included in a block.
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
Erlay
Description: A more efficient transaction relay protocol that increases node connectivity and at the same time reduces bandwidth usage.
Learn More: Research Paper
BTCPay
Description: A decentralized payment processing protocol.
Learn More: Research Paper
uTreeXo
Description: A protocol that employs checkpoints (proofs) as a way to decrease the size of the blockchain that users need to maintain.
Learn More: Official Website
libMiniSketch
Description: a library that enables the implementation of better connectivity between nodes.
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
Revault
Description: a custody protocol which enables the implementation of transaction clawbacks.
Learn More: Research Paper
Output Script Descriptors
Description: A framework for the creation of strings which contain useful information related to a UTXO.
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
Assume UTXO
Description: A protocol that optimizes the process of Initial Blockchain Download (IBD) so that new nodes can sync faster and be more quickly utilized.
Learn More: Github
Blockstream Satellite
Description: A protocol for the synchronization of nodes over satellite.
Learn More: Official Website
Smart Contracts
Covenants (OP_CTV)
Sapio
Description: A Bitcoin scripting language powered by OP_CTV, a new opcode that enables the creation of smart contracts, amongst other things.
Learn More: Official Docs
Taproot
MuSig 2
Description: A next-gen multisig protocol that enables key aggregation.
Learn More: Research Paper
Graftroot
Description: A protocol for the generalization of Taproot which enables the delegations of the signatures of a bitcoin transaction.
Learn More: Bitcoin-Dev Link
Tapscript
Description: A scripting language for Taproot transactions. ****
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
P2TR
Description: A new type of address for Taproot-powered transactions.
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
Scriptless Scripts
Description: A scheme for the creation of private, off-chain smart contracts which leverage Adaptor Signatures.
Learn More: Github
Simplicity
Description: A low-level programming language that enables more expressive smart contracts to be built upon Bitcoin.
Learn More: Github
Stateless Contracts
BitML
Description: A new programming language for expressive Bitcoin smart contracts.
Learn More: Research Paper
FastKitten
Description: An off-chain smart contract framework which leverages trusted computing environments (TEEs) for the execution of complex Bitcoin smart contracts.
Learn More: Research Paper
Balzac
Description: A toolkit for the development of Bitcoin smart contracts featuring an abstract programming language, an analyzer and a compiler.
Learn More: Documentation
Echo
Description: A framework for the creation of interoperable smart contracts.
Learn More: Github
PARTICL
Description: A protocol for the creation of Bitcoin smart contracts enabled by the BIP 65 opcode.
Learn More: Documentation
tBTC
Description: A Bitcoin-backed ERC-20 token enabled by the KEEP network.
Learn More: Github
Privacy
CoinJoin
JoinMarket
Description: A marketplace that enables the creation of CoinJoin transactions.
Learn More: Github
Zerolink
Samourai
Description: A privacy-preserving protocol with an accompanying wallet.
Learn More: Official Website
Wasabi
Description: A privacy-preserving protocol with an accompanying wallet.
Learn More: Official Website
Whirpool
Description: one of the obfuscation technologies used by the Samourai wallet.
Learn More: Official Website
SNICKER
Description: A protocol that enables the creation of so-called Simple Non-Interactive Coinjoin with Keys for Encryption Reused, or SNICKERs, which are non-interactive CoinJoins.
Learn More: Github
Value Shuffle
Description: A coin mixing protocol based on CoinJoin and with compatibility with Confidential Transactions.
Learn More: Research Paper
JoinPool
Description: A protocol that enables users to share the ownership of a UTXO and attain privacy in doing so.
Learn More: Bitcoin Optech
Dandelion
Description: A network protocol that attempts to preserve the privacy of network participants.
Learn More: Research Paper
Confidential Transactions
Bulletproofs
Description: A non-interactive zero-knowledge proof protocol that can obfuscate the amounts transacted on-chain.
Learn More: Research Paper
CoinSwap
Description: A privacy-preserving solution that leverages atomic swaps to break the link of senders and receivers of Bitcoin.
Learn More: Bitcoin Wiki
Differential Privacy Mixers
Description: A mixing mechanism for transaction obfuscation that makes use of differential privacy.
Learn More: Research Paper
Clover: an Anonymous Transaction Relay Protocol for the Bitcoin P2P Network
Description: A transaction relay protocol that attempts to hide the communication between network participants.
Learn More: [Research Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.00376#:~:text=Clover%3A an Anonymous Transaction Relay Protocol for the Bitcoin P2P Network,-Federico Franzoni%2C Vanesa&text=The Bitcoin P2P network currently,distributed through all participating nodes.)
AToM: Active Topology Monitoring for the Bitcoin Peer-to-Peer Network
Description: A framework for monitoring the topology of the Bitcoin network which helps in the identification of network-level privacy attacks.
Learn More: Research Paper
Donner: UTXO-Based Virtual Channels Across Multiple Hops
Description: A framework for the creation of payment channels with strong privacy assurances.
Learn More: Research Paper
Mining
Stratum
Stratum V2
Description: A protocol that improves the efficiency and decentralization of multiple processes related to Bitcoin mining.
Learn More: Research Report
FIBRE
Description: The Fast Internet Bitcoin Relay Engine (FIBRE) is a protocol that enables for the low-latency relay of Bitcoin blocks.
Learn More: Official Website
BetterHash
Description: A mining protocol which served as the basis for Stratum V2.
Learn More: Github
Braiins OS+
Description: An open source mining firmware.
Learn More: Official Website
Bonanza Mine
Description: A new scheme for the construction of ultra-low-voltage Bitcoin Mining ASICs
Learn More: Research Paper
Moonwalk: NRE Optimization in ASIC Clouds
Description: A theoretical framework for the creation of ASIC clouds.
Learn More: Research Paper