OptiMine: Extending Bitcoin’s PoW Strength to Diverse Ecosystems
The BOB team is excited to announce the new merged mining protocol OptiMine (short for Optimistically Sequenced Merged Mining) that allows the re-use of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work to secure other networks, including sidechains and (ETH) rollups while retaining fast Block times and high TPS.
What is OptiMine?
OptiMine is a new merged mining protocol developed by the BOB team that enables any sidechain or rollup connected to an L1 chain to receive Proof-of-Work security from Bitcoin Miners.
Consider OptiMine as Bitcoin’s response to Ethereum’s restaking, aligning Bitcoin miners with the emerging wave of Bitcoin L2s.
This new mining technique addresses a critical gap in the blockchain security space and effectively combats the challenge of sparse block space and rising transaction fees. It is the first step towards BOB’s ultimate goal to achieve Bitcoin security for Bitcoin assets (BTC, Ordinals, BRC20) and Ethereum security for Ethereum assets (ETH, stablecoins, ERC20s) on L2s, thus uniting the strengths of both ecosystems.
Why OptiMine?
OptiMine does not require any changes to Bitcoin and can be implemented on top of any sidechain, standalone chain, or rollups. OptiMine requires no changes to Bitcoin and is adaptable to any sidechain, standalone chain, or rollups.
It positions BOB as the pioneering network connecting to Ethereum as a rollup, achieving a native L1/L2 bridge while inheriting Bitcoin PoW security. The ultimate goal is to achieve Bitcoin security for Bitcoin assets (BTC, Ordinals, BRC20,…) and ETH security for assets imported from Ethereum (ETH/stablecoins/ERC20s,…).
This aligns with BOB’s vision of being the connecting layer between the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems.
OptiMine accomplishes two key objectives at once:
- The enhancement of L2 solutions with Bitcoin’s PoW security, offering a powerful tool to make rollups more robust.
- Decentralize rollup sequencers by allowing rollups to sample Bitcoin miners into the sequencer set based on the amount of PoW performed.
OptiMine & the 2024 Bitcoin Halving
With the upcoming 2024 Bitcoin Halving, OptiMine will play a significant role in shaping security solutions for projects in the ecosystem. As such, OptiMine presents miners with additional incentives and rewards, which is especially beneficial in light of Bitcoin halvings that diminish direct mining rewards.
Thanks to its trustless & flexible nature, it will align Bitcoin L2 solutions with Bitcoin and Bitcoin miners which is important to ensure Bitcoin remains secure even after the upcoming halvings.
Final Thoughts
OptiMine’s dual capability, an industry first, addresses the need for flexible yet robust security techniques required by many L2s today. It introduces a new dimension of crypto-economic security, combining the robustness of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) with the flexibility and scalability of Ethereum and other EVM-compatible blockchains.
We are proud to be pioneering the advancement of novel innovations in the Bitcoin ecosystem & OptiMine is the first of our many steps towards making it easier to Build on Bitcoin.
Want to delve deeper into OptiMine and its workings?
Read the Technical paper here: https://www.gobob.xyz/optimine
About BOB
BOB (“Build on Bitcoin”) is a new BTC L2 stack with full EVM compatibility and inherits Bitcoin PoW security via a new merged mining protocol. BOB supports the Bitcoin stack, incl. Ordinals, Lightning, and Nostr, powered by cross-chain light clients, a universal Bitcoin smart contract SDK, and a Rust zkVM. In addition, BOB is connected to Ethereum as an OP stack rollup and has native access to USDC, USDT, ETH, and all other ERC20 tokens, as well as major exchanges with just 1-click.
Resources
- Website https://www.gobob.xyz/
- Docs: https://docs.gobob.xyz/
- X (Twitter) https://twitter.com/build_on_bob
- Telegram (Builders community) https://t.me/gobobxyz
- Discord https://discord.com/invite/interlay
