👋 Hi everyone,
We all know the challenges of working with raw Bitcoin Script. Raw Bitcoin Script is notoriously difficult. Mental stack management is error-prone, and security bugs are a constant worry.
I’ve spent some time developing 🎼
Bithoven—an experimental, high-level imperative Bitcoin smart contract language designed to bridge the gap between complex contract logic and the Bitcoin Script.
The goal is simple: write readable, compile-time-safe code that compiles down to efficient, native Bitcoin Script (supporting Legacy, SegWit, and Taproot).
Why Bithoven?- Imperative Syntax: Write logic using familiar if, else, and return statements instead of mental stack juggling.
- Type Safety: First-class support for bool, signature, string, and number types to prevent common runtime errors.
- Multiple Spending Paths: Define complex contracts (like HTLCs) with distinct execution branches and input stack requirements.
- Targeted Compilation: Support for legacy, segwit, and taproot compilation targets via pragmas.
- Native Bitcoin Primitives: Built-in keywords for timelocks (older, after), cryptography (sha256, checksig), and verification (verify).
✨
Bithoven in a nutshell:Instead of writing raw opcodes like
OP_IF <timeout> OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY..., Bithoven allows you to define logic clearly. Here is the actual code for a Hashed Time-Locked Contract:
pragma bithoven version 0.0.1;
pragma bithoven target segwit;
(condition: bool, sig_alice: signature)
(condition: bool, preimage: string, sig_bob: signature)
{
// If want to spend if branch, condition witness item should be true.
if condition {
// Relative locktime for 1000 block confirmation.
older 1000;
// If locktime satisfied, alice can redeem by providing signature.
return checksig (sig_alice, "0245a6b3f8eeab8e88501a9a25391318dce9bf35e24c377ee82799543606bf5212");
} else {
// Bob needs to provide secret preimage to unlock hash lock.
verify sha256 sha256 preimage == "53de742e2e323e3290234052a702458589c30d2c813bf9f866bef1b651c4e45f";
// If hashlock satisfied, bob can redeem by providing signature.
return checksig (sig_bob, "0345a6b3f8eeab8e88501a9a25391318dce9bf35e24c377ee82799543606bf5212");
}
}
🛠️
Try it out:I’ve put together a Web IDE so you can experiment with the syntax and see the compiled output instantly—no installation required.
Web IDE: https://bithoven-lang.github.io/bithoven/ide/Documentation: https://bithoven-lang.github.io/bithoven/docs/GitHub: https://github.com/ChrisCho-H/bithoven⚠️
Current Status: Bithoven is free, open-source software. Please note that the project (and its accompanying academic paper) is currently under review and in the experimental stage.
I would be incredibly grateful for any feedback, code reviews, or contributions from the Bitcoin community. If you think this approach has potential, a Star ⭐ on GitHub would mean a lot!
Thanks for checking it out!
