BitVM3 & The Garbled Circuits Revolution | with BitVM creators Robin Linus & Liam Eagen

About this episode

This episode discusses the evolution of BitVM and the introduction of garbled circuits with its creators Robin Linus and Liam Eagen.

In 2023, Robin Linus introduced BitVM—aimed at enabling the verification of zero-knowledge proofs on Bitcoin for trust-minimized bridging. Since then, BitVM has been implemented by teams like Citrea and others—bringing what was once considered an impossible goal to life and paving the way for production-ready ZK rollups on Bitcoin. Cryptographer and SNARK researcher Liam Eagen (formerly Blockstream and Alpen Labs) has been a key collaborator from day one, spearheading major efficiency improvements to BitVM proof systems—including the development of garbled circuit schemes affectionately referred to as “BitVM3.” In this episode of Bitcoin Rails, I sit down with Robin and Liam to discuss BitVM’s evolution following the integration of garbled circuits—an upgrade that improved efficiency by more than 1,000x over prior implementations. In more detail, we discuss: - The origins of BitVM and its early success (+ Liam’s initial skepticism and what changed his mind) - Garbled circuits, the Glocks scheme, and the Argo improvement - How these new schemes and the development of “Binohash” effect permissionless verification of BitVM proof systems - Robin and Liam’s new venture @idealgroup…

People in this episode

Host: Isabel Foxen Duke

Guests: Robin Linus, Liam Eagen

Topics covered

• BitVM
• zero-knowledge proofs
• Bitcoin
• garbled circuits
• ZK rollups
• cryptography

Keywords

• BitVM
• zero-knowledge proofs
• Bitcoin
• garbled circuits
• ZK rollups
• cryptography
• Binohash
• idealgroup

Sponsors

Best In Slot, Spark

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Citrea, Blockstream, Alpen Labs, idealgroup

Products: BitVM, Binohash, Best In Slot, Spark

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