Statechains have come back to the realm of dicussion.
After Lightning, Liquid sidechain and Risk sidechain, a new Layer 2 protocol is proposed.
https://twitter.com/SomsenRuben/status/1135866719141076993http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/bitcoin-core-dev-tech/2019-06-07-statechains/many more links in this medium article:
https://medium.com/@RubenSomsen/statechains-non-custodial-off-chain-bitcoin-transfer-1ae4845a4a39In short, Statechains are novel in the sense that they allow you to change UTXO ownership off-chain, while preserving a large degree of censorship resistance due to the ability to withdraw on-chain. It is non-custodial, which naturally reduces risk and makes it easier for the Statechain entity from a regulatory point of view. The end result is a unique layer two protocol with its own distinct strengths and weaknesses
https://youtu.be/ncpjRsHHUiA?t=5900 @shinobi and @nopara commentary
My summary of that, but please correct me where I am wrong.
-requires schnorr sigs and eltoo, also sighash anyprevout, which may take some time
-adds liquidity to lightning without opening channels from mainchain
-could interact with lightning to split up the locked utxo, and/or remove the federation
-could also use blinded sigs, adding a layer of privacy
I find it absolutely intriguing and full of possibilities for the current direction of bitcoin here.
Do you like the sound of it and are there any major downsides?