Computing on Bitcoin #112
October 23, 2026 - Week 43
Welcome to a new edition of Computing on Bitcoin News! Let's catch up on the latest research, developments, and conversations from across the Bitcoin ecosystem.
A new video explains BitVM’s optimistic computation model, from the original challenge-response protocol to BitVM2’s permissionless verification, covering bridge applications, security assumptions, on-chain dispute costs, and potential benefits of Bitcoin covenant upgrades.
Bitcoin Explained: BitVM
youtube.com/@MandelDuck
A new paper introduces Ziren, a production zkVM for MIPS32r2 execution developed by the ZKM Team and GOAT Network, describing its proving architecture, formal verification results, and potential use with BitVM bridges and dispute protocols for Bitcoin rollups.
eprint.iacr.org
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Ziren: Succinct Arguments for MIPS32 Execution
Proving MIPS32 execution requires preserving branch-delay semantics while controlling the cost of heterogeneous instruction constraints. We present Ziren, a production zkVM for MIPS32r2 that supports 77 user-mode integer instructions and has proved Ethereum mainnet blocks end to end. Its arithmetisation embeds the program-counter pair in per-opcode instruction frames, eliminating the central CPU table.
A new Bitcoin Takeover livestream from TABConf 8 features Citrea’s Ekrem Bal discussing privacy-focused rollups, BitVM2 and BitVM3 bridge designs, reduced operator collateral through Clementine v2, and potential applications including lending, vaults, and agent payments.
bitcoin-takeover.com
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S17 E47: Tabconf 8 Livestream with Kevin Loaec, Ekrem Bal, Spaces Protocol & The Bitcoin Pivot
On the last day of TABConf 8, I did another livestream from the hallways of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The recording was supposed to add up to one continuous stream. But the WiFi had other plans, so it became two: with a hard cut right after the credit union people and right before Peter Todd sat down.
A new report examines Taproot Wizards’ campaign to activate OP_CAT on Bitcoin, comparing its potential covenant use cases with alternatives such as CTV and CSFS, while highlighting BitVM2 as an approach enabling bridge functionality without a soft fork.
hoge.gg
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Taproot Wizards: The Ordinal That Wants to Reprogram Bitcoin
A four-megabyte wizard became a $37.5 million campaign to change Bitcoin's base layer. The collection's real price is the odds that OP_CAT ever activates.
Fairgate announced that they will present the paper "TOOP-Bridge: A Trust-Minimized Bitcoin Bridge Secure Under a Single Honest Operator" at BCCA2026 in Barcelona on November 16.
We're heading to Barcelona for #BCCA2026!
— Fairgate (@FairGateLabs) October 20, 2026
On November 16, Fairgate's Ramsès Fernández will present our paper, “TOOP-Bridge: A Trust-Minimized Bitcoin Bridge Secure Under a Single Honest Operator.”
Learn more: bcca-conference.org/2026/
That's all for this week's Computing on Bitcoin News. We'll be back with more updates, research, and ideas worth following.
Until next time,
The Fairgate Team