« Newsletters

Computing on Bitcoin #70
December 19, 2025 - Week 51

Welcome to a new edition of Computing on Bitcoin news!
The Bitcoin scaling space keeps evolving at an incredible pace, driven by a growing community of builders and researchers focused on computation, interoperability, and decentralized security, all pushing Bitcoin beyond its traditional limits.
Let’s dive in.

01
Accelerating BitVM Challenges with a New GOAT Network Design

GOAT Network shared a post in which core contributor Kevin Liu outlines an update to its BitVM-based design that shortens the challenge period from 14 days to around one day.

02
Exploring Regulated Finance Integration Through BitVM

A new video explores how Bitcoin can integrate with regulated financial systems via BitVM, highlighting Metallicus’ BitVM testnet on Metal Blockchain to enable compliant interaction with bank-issued stablecoins and payments, without changing Bitcoin’s base layer.

Bitcoin is entering the banking system: BitVM, Metallicus and the future of cryptocurrencies.

youtube.com/@BruceStewart
In this video, we analyze how Metallicus is integrating a BitVM testnet into the Metal Blockchain to explore secure and compliant ways for Bitcoin to interact with bank-backed stablecoins, real-time payments, and institutional financial infrastructure, without modifying Bitcoin's base layer.

03
UPLC 2025: Advancing Smart Contract Research Toward BitVMX

IOHK published a recap of UPLC 2025, a conference at the University of Edinburgh focused on the evolution of Cardano’s programming languages and smart contract tooling. The event included discussions on formal verification, zk-SNARK integration, and compiling UPLC to RISC-V for execution on BitVMX, informing the roadmap toward Plutus V4.

eprint.iacr.org
🔗 UPLC 2025: building the future of Cardano’s programming languages

Development is often a solitary pursuit, but true innovation requires collision. The inaugural UPLC Programming Language Conference (UPLC 2025) offered a rare moment of convergence for the Plutus Core ecosystem. It was about the ‘hallway track’ – spontaneous deep dives and debates that happen when a diverse community gathers in one room.

04
BitVM3 Mainnet Targeted for 2026, Says Zest Protocol Co-Founder

Tycho Onnasch, Co-founder of Zest Protocol, claims that BitVM3 is on track for mainnet in 2026, marking a major step for programmable Bitcoin.

05
The BOB Report Signals Rapid Progress in Bitcoin DeFi and BitVM3

BitMEX Research published a detailed examination of the long-known “64-byte transaction” quirk in Bitcoin, showing how such transactions can be confused with Merkle tree internals and potentially exploited to deceive SPV clients.

hozk.io/news
🔗 The BOB Report (Dec 16, 2025)

Here we report on the progress of the @build_on_bob ecosystem, documenting recent significant releases, technical breakthroughs and general updates.
BOB implemented Cut-and-Choose for BitVM3 using Verifiable Secret Sharing Schemes and adaptor signatures, with related transactions submitted to @Bitcoin mainnet.

Thanks for reading this edition of Computing on Bitcoin News. As Bitcoin innovation moves faster than ever, we’ll keep highlighting the ideas, tools, and people building its future.
Wishing you a joyful holiday season from all the Fairgate team!
Until next time!

░Subscribe To Our Newsletter