Are you still wondering what is Taproot in Bitcoin network? In this article, I will discuss it in detail and explain to you the impact it has had on the Bitcoin network.
Cryptocurrency is no longer the new kid on the block, with Bitcoin being the first of its kind and paving the way for other digital currencies. With each new innovation, the Bitcoin network has continued to evolve to meet the demands of its users, and Taproot is one of those updates.
Understanding what is Taproot in the Bitcoin network
Taproot is a soft fork (upgrade) to the Bitcoin network that enabled users to use a single transaction to do multiple things. According to The Block, “the upgrade went live when the Bitcoin blockchain reached block 709,632 at 5:15 UTC time” on Sunday, November 14th, 2021, “which was mined and replayed by F2Pool.“
This upgrade is designed to increase the privacy, scalability, and efficiency of the Bitcoin network. Taproot is also designed to make the Bitcoin network more flexible and secure by allowing users to create complex transactions without having to create multiple layers of complexity.
Taproot is designed to benefit Bitcoin network users in several ways. One major way is to reduce the cost associated with creating and executing transactions on the Bitcoin network. Additionally, Taproot also made the Bitcoin network more private, as users were able to hide their intentions when creating transactions. Taproot reduces the risk of double spending and other malicious attacks. It also reduces the amount of data that needs to be stored and processed. This will reduce the strain on the network and ensure that transactions can be completed quickly and efficiently.
Other updates to the Bitcoin network
The Bitcoin Taproot isn’t the first or only change made to the Bitcoin network to improve its efficiency. We also had the Lightning Network (LN) and the Segregated Witness (SegWit).
The Lightning Network is a second-layer solution designed to make Bitcoin more scalable. It works by utilizing a network of payment channels that allow users to exchange payments without the need to broadcast each transaction to the Bitcoin blockchain. This means that transactions can be processed much faster and with lower fees than if they were done on the traditional Bitcoin network. By utilizing payment channels, the Lightning Network can process many more transactions than the main chain, making it much more suitable for applications like micropayments. Additionally, transactions are much faster, taking only seconds to complete, and fees are significantly lower due to the reduced need for broadcasting transactions to the blockchain.
SegWit, on the other hand, or Segregated Witness is a protocol upgrade for Bitcoin that was introduced in 2017. It was designed to address the scalability issues of the Bitcoin network. SegWit is an acronym for Segregated Witness, and it’s a protocol that was proposed by the Bitcoin Core developers in order to increase the number of transactions that can be processed on the network.
SegWit is designed to help the network scale better, and it has a number of advantages over the traditional Bitcoin protocol. It allows for faster transaction times, lower fees, and more efficient use of the blockchain’s space. SegWit also provides additional security to the network by allowing for new signature types, which makes it harder for malicious actors to steal coins.
Who updates the Bitcoin network
The Bitcoin network is the first blockchain ever created by a yet-to-be-identified person with the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. After its creation, it’s faced so many challenges and lots of developers around the world have continued to propose different solutions, while some solution has been implemented as well to further boost the efficiency of the entire network.
Because Bitcoin is open source, it’s open to everyone to contribute to it. However, there needs to be a consensus among all users, or most of the users before an update is effected on the Bitcoin network. Else, this could lead to a split of the Bitcoin chain.
Some known splits (usually referred to as hard fork) in the past includes: Bitcoin Cash, forked at block 478558 on 1 August 2017, Bitcoin SV, forked at block 556766, on 15 November 2018, and Bitcoin Gold, forked at block 491407, on 24 October 2017.
Conclusion
Now you know what is Taproot in Bitcoin Network. It is a proposed and already implemented upgrade to the network that is designed to bring a number of benefits to users. Taproot increased privacy, scalability, and flexibility, as well as contributed to its decentralization. Additionally, it also reduces the cost associated with creating and executing complex transactions, as well as reduces the strains on the Bitcoin network.