Mercury Layer

Bitcoin off chain MPC Layer 2 protocol. First live state chain implementation.

[janusz @januszg_]

i think one thing i got right when researching bitcoin l2s was a strict classification for bitcoin native l2s versus sidesystems

because with truly bitcoin native L2s (ark, lightning), a centrally coordinated asset freeze is not possible at the protocol level. i'd argue also argue that a blind statechain (i.e. @mercurylayer) cannot do this style of censorship, either.

sidesystems (meaning any blockchain with a bridge to a host chain) on the other hand, are currently all capable of doing this and would have to if required.

building a trust-minimized rollup is incredibly hard. in this example, arbitrum's security council is nearly as distributed as it can get. but it can still take this type of action.

in bitcoin, added programmability via l2s/sidesystems will come with this tradeoff (among others). trust-minimization means that you have parent chain trust assumptions and a cryptographically secured mechanism to enter and leve the protocol. if the system includes a mechanism where any human operator(s) can freeze any user funds, then it it is not trust minimized.

all bitcoin sidesystems have human operators and can enforce this style of censorship.

worth considering when engaging with these systems.

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

@sethforprivacy Spark could not even do the blinded stuff that @MercuryLayer had working 2 years ago!

[Mercury Layer @mercurylayer]

@moneyball @BobMcElrath @TTrevethan @gregory_nico And in some ways less. No blinded signer which is the key innovation of @mercurylayer

[Bob McElrath @BobMcElrath]

@moneyball The code for Mercury Layer is sitting right here. It needs a new champion. Lightspark is basically the same protocol. Cc: @TTrevethan @mercurylayer @gregory_nico
https://t.co/y3L5s457C1

[Mercury Layer @mercurylayer]

@moneyball @BobMcElrath @TTrevethan @gregory_nico And in some ways less. No blinded signer which is the key innovation of @mercurylayer

[Mercury Layer @mercurylayer]

@ellipticurve @brian_trollz @spark No chance…

[Mercury Layer @mercurylayer]

RT @januszg_: Some thoughts on statechains

I used to say "Lightning is the only L2". I changed my mind and think protocols like @buildonsp…

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

Statechains are only interested when they are blinded. @mercurylayer implemented this two years ago, all open source…

[janusz @januszg_]

and as im asked quite often, an incomplete list of what im excited for:

-@citrea_xyz rollup w/ bitvm bridge
-@Strata_BTC rollup w/ bitvm bridge
-@botanix launching + research on spiderchain
-@babylonlabs_io and bitcoin staking in general
-@ArchNtwrk sidechain where VM interacts with L1 transactions
-@nomicbtc being used on cosmos chains
-@build_on_bob's roadmap and collab with @fiamma_labs on bitvm bridge
-@tBTC_project and @MezoNetwork potential integration
-@rootstock_io's upgrades with faster blocktimes and bridge
-tracking @Stacks sBTC adoption versus other derivative assets
-statechain protocols (@buildonspark & @mercurylayer)
-implementations of ark (@secondhq & @ArkLabsHQ), also past payments use cases
-shielded csv, payments protocol
-initial winner in LST tokens and seeing where they're primarily deployed // used
-sidechains like @fractal_bitcoin being used as a testing ground for CAT, etc.
-Lightning Network to continue as an L2 for sovereign & technical users and being integrated with various protocols
-whatever @TaprootWizards are doing
-whatever @char_btc is doing
-@StarkWareLtd and @l2iterative's research
-soft fork discussions
-some other projects in stealth

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

This guy has not heard of @mercurylayer or OpenDimes…

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

Bitcoin wasn’t hijacked; it was understood early that blockchains don’t scale easily, much like databases. How do Google/Amazon scale? With multiple DBs and caches. Bitcoin hasn’t cracked that yet—truth is, demand isn’t overwhelming.

This debate reminds me of my time at Merrill Lynch: a manager (with no coding experience) demanded I make risk calculations multithreaded. I told him it was dumb. He moved me off the team and spent millions on a multithreaded project—when it went live, it ran slower.

The point? Tools like multithreading—or increasing block size—are context-specific. They’re not magic fixes, and applying them blindly can backfire. Lessons from both Bitcoin and corporate life.

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

Originally i wanted to contribute to bitcoin because I was genuinely board in my 9 - 5 job and bitcoin looked like something that could change the world...

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

This is outrageous—a government official attacking Bitcoin without evidence of it being used in this way. Pure fear-mongering. Yet another dark day under one of the most clueless governments we’ve seen...

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

There’s been some confusion about what @mercurylayer is (and isn’t). The original concept explored a mechanism to send private keys via adaptor signatures. However, this wasn’t feasible at the time due to the lack of Schnorr signatures, plus the complexity of passing an adaptor signature between owners. The key innovation of @mercurylayer is the key update mechanism, allowing a private key to be updated while keeping the public key the same, enabling off-chain transfers. Later, we advanced this to make the process blinded.@TTrevethan #bitcoin #layer2

[Roxana λ (TheHat) @roxananasoi]

@davidmarcus @lightspark @aantonop Surprised to see you tagging Andreas in this conversation while breaching the actual ethos of open source software (esp in Bitcoin) and not crediting a single second the work of @mercurylayer @TTrevethan and @gregory_nico that’s been years in the making (since early 2020). :)

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

@davidmarcus @lightspark @aantonop https://t.co/wNILeXn5rH

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

Great to see another statechain. The more the merrier...

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

New xmas toys...

https://t.co/LrHnytBMRC

[House of Chimera @HouseofChimera]

What projects are building on state channels?

🔹 @mercurylayer enables Bitcoin UTXO transfers off-chain via shared key custody and statechains, allowing instant, zero-cost transactions without on-chain confirmation.
🔸The Lightning Network facilitates fast, low-cost Bitcoin transactions off-chain by creating payment channels between users, significantly enhancing scalability and reducing blockchain congestion.

[Nicholas Gregory @gregory_nico]

Really interested and well written paper on Bitcoin scaling via ZKPs. Some challenges around verifying ZKPs using polynomial operations, but the ideas are promising. Perhaps @mercurylayer’s MPC-based trusted setup could help with the initial covenant deployer, ensuring secure off-chain execution. Still need a lot more study on feasibility, but it’s exciting to see these innovations being explored for Bitcoin’s growth! #Bitcoin #zkProofs #Layer2