Taproot Assets Alpha, a new feature that enables users to produce and transfer digital assets over the Lightning Network, has been released by Lightning Labs.
Taproot seeks to strengthen the security, scalability, and privacy of the Bitcoin (BTC) network. Users can write intricate scripts that run on the Bitcoin blockchain and are hidden behind a single public key. As a result, the transaction size, expense, and information disclosed to third parties might be decreased.
The new service was developed using Taproot by Lightning Labs, the leading Lightning Network developer. Thanks to this new capability, users can now issue and transfer digital assets on the Lightning Network.
These assets can stand in for various things, including reward points, gaming tokens, stablecoins, NFTs, and more. Tapscript, a programming language that enables users to specify the terms and conditions for issuing and transferring their assets, is used to build Taproot Assets.
Users can enter details about their purchases, such as the total supply, the expiration date, the transfer fees, and the redemption choices. Users can design multi-signature systems that need several parties’ approval to complete transactions.
Using Lightning channels, payment channels that work on the Bitcoin network, Taproot Assets are moved. Users don’t need to wait for block confirmations or pay exorbitant fees to transmit and receive assets in seconds.
Users can exchange purchases with other users or with Bitcoin using atomic swaps. Any wallet or program that supports Lightning and Taproot can use Taproot Assets.
Also, users don’t need any new gear or software to integrate Taproot Assets into their current Lightning infrastructure. Therefore they can gain from Lightning and Taproot’s improved privacy and security features.
Taproot Assets’ alpha version has been made available by Lightning Labs for testing and user input. The most recent version of LND (v0.3), which supports Taproot Assets, is available for download from the GitHub source. Users can also join the Taproot Assets Telegram channel to communicate with the Lightning Labs team and other users.
