Immediately, a contract developer centered on Bitcoin and the Lightning Community, Super Testnet, unveiled his newest invention, Hedgehog, a protocol for asynchronous layer two bitcoin funds.
“It is a protocol much like the Lightning Community,” Tremendous Testnet acknowledged. “And that it’s a layer 2 for Bitcoin funds, solely on this one, not like the Lightning Community, the 2 events do not need to 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, in line with the venture’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 fee processing.
The protocol works by leveraging a primitive in Bitcoin script often called “revocable connectors.” These connectors are constructed on two much more primitive parts: revocable scripts and connector outputs. Revocable scripts enable both social gathering to revoke a transaction after a sure interval, including an additional layer of safety and management. Connector outputs let you 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 instance how Hedgehog channels function, think about a state of affairs the place Alice opens a channel with Bob by sending a specific amount of bitcoin right into a multisig handle. Utilizing the revocable connectors, Alice can then ship off-chain funds to Bob whereas he’s offline. These funds are embedded in a bit of textual content, much like a cheque, and could be despatched through e-mail or different communication strategies.
When Bob comes on-line, he has the choice to simply accept or reject the fee. If he accepts, he can cosign and broadcast the transaction to replace the channel stability. If he rejects, he can suggest an alternate transaction for Alice to contemplate.
One of many potential issues that Hedgehog wants to resolve is, as an example, if a celebration sends cash to their counterparty they lose the power to pressure shut the channel as a result of they don’t have the opposite social gathering’s signature. The protocol gives 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 handle if one social gathering turns into completely unavailable. By incorporating time-lock situations into the script, the protocol can be certain 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 concept for find out how to use Hedgehog channels to construct a federated CoinPool that he named Burrow. These focused on that may study extra about it here.
