Computing on Bitcoin #88
May 08, 2026 - Week 19
Welcome to a new edition of Computing on Bitcoin News!
Research and development around Bitcoin-native computation continue to accelerate, with new proposals exploring scalability, interoperability, and advanced verification systems.
Here’s a new updates selection from across the ecosystem.
A new article from GOAT Network outlines how developers can transform AI agents into economic agents capable of handling payments, identity, and onchain workflows. The guide highlights GOAT’s BitVM2-secured infrastructure and AgentKit tooling for integrating Bitcoin-backed settlement, x402 payments, and ERC-8004 identity into agent applications.
goat.network/news
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From Standard Agent to Economic Agent
GOAT Network’s agent stack is designed specifically to bridge this gap - and the GOAT AI Builder Grants Program is now live to support builders looking to build economic agents and monetize their services.
A new presentation by Ekrem Bal at bitcoin++ examines the security assumptions behind BitVM3 and Binohash in Bitcoin bridge constructions.
BitVM3, Binohash vs soft forks | EkremBAL | bitcoin ++
@bitcoin++
BitVM3 and Binohash are exciting developments, but their impact on Bitcoin bridge security is often misunderstood. BitVM3 mainly improves collateral efficiency, making bridge constructions more capital efficient, while Binohash enables new forms of transaction introspection in Bitcoin Script with important limitations.
A new presentation by Dr. Srivatsan Sridhar introduces BABE, a Bitcoin proof-verification protocol designed to significantly reduce the storage and setup costs associated with BitVM3-style systems.
BABE: Verifying Proofs on Bitcoin Made 1000x Cheaper by Dr. Srivatsan Sridhar
youtube.com/@IITB Trust Lab
Endowing Bitcoin with the ability to verify succinct proofs has been a longstanding problem with important applications such as scaling Bitcoin and allowing the Bitcoin asset to be used in other blockchains trustlessly.
A new research post by the Stax team proposes using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) as verifiers for BitVM-style bridges to simplify fixed-lie protection mechanisms.
ethresear.ch
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TEE-as-Verifier for BitVM-style bridges: collapsing the canonical-label distribution problem
TEE-as-Verifier for BitVM-style bridges: collapsing the canonical label distribution problem.
Context. We’re building Stax, a BTC L2 with a BitVM-class bridge. Equivocation-only protection has been live on signet since2026-04-23, and we’re now designing the fixed-lie defence for Phase 3.
A new announcement from Zest Protocol introduces Bitcoin Collateral Vaults, enabling users to borrow stablecoins while keeping BTC self-custodied on Bitcoin Layer 1. The rollout builds on recent BitVM developments.
tradingview.com/news
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Stacks’ Zest Protocol Launches Bitcoin Collateral Vaults, Extending BTC Lending to Bitcoin Layer 1
Self-custodial vaults let users borrow stablecoins against BTC that never leaves the Bitcoin chain. Unveiled Wednesday at Draper Summit 2026.
Zest Protocol, on Wednesday, introduced Bitcoin Collateral Vaults, a self-custodial lending product that lets Bitcoin holders borrow stablecoins without moving their BTC off the Bitcoin base layer.
A new article by discusses the evolution of BitVM and its role in enabling advanced computation on Bitcoin without modifying the base layer.
publish0x.com
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Who say that Bitcoin was too dumb to compute ?
Bitcoin is a pet rock. It’s digital gold, sure, but it’s dumb. It doesn’t do anything. If you want decentralized finance, if you want smart contracts, if you want the future of the internet, you have to wrap your Bitcoin and move it to Ethereum, or Solana, or whatever the flavor-of-the-month blockchain is.
A new presentation by Damian Chen from the Starknet Foundation introduces stkBTC, a privacy-focused wrapped Bitcoin design using zero-knowledge proofs on Starknet. The talk outlines a roadmap toward BitVM-based verification.
Bringing Privacy to Bitcoin
youtube.com/@bitcoin++
The talk begins with worrying data on the growing number of wrench attacks against Bitcoin holders, AI-powered deanonymization, and why privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and authorized mixers don't work as solutions. stkBTC launches on May 12 with display keys for regulatory compliance and a roadmap toward fully decentralized BitVM verification.
A new quarterly update from GOAT Network outlines progress across its BitVM2 roadmap, AI infrastructure stack, and Bitcoin-secured systems for agent payments, identity, and developer tooling.
goat.network/news
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The GOAT Q1 Newsletter - A New Era
Q1 was the quarter GOAT Network defined what it's building toward - Bitcoin-secured Infrastructure for the Digital Economy - and shipped the foundational AI stack to make it real: x402 as the native payment rail, ERC-8004 as native agent identity, and AgentKit as the developer entry point. This recap covers what shipped, who's building on it, and how it sets up Q2: putting the stack into practice through the GOAT AI Builder Grants Program
Thanks for reading!
As the ecosystem continues to expand into new technical frontiers, we will keep bringing you the builders and research driving this next chapter forward.
The Fairgate Team