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As discussed in previous episodes, Taproot is a Bitcoin protocol upgrade that will make smart contracts more compact, private and flexible. Van Wirdum and Provoost also discussed the Taproot upgrade process in prior episodes, including the Speedy Trial activation method adopted by Bitcoin Core.
About a week ago, the Speedy Trial signaling threshold was reached, which means Taproot is locked in and will activate later this year. The hosts went into further detail about what this means exactly, and what needs to happen before Taproot can ultimately be used on the Bitcoin network safely. Provoost also explained how upcoming Bitcoin Core releases will handle the Taproot upgrade, and what the Bitcoin Core wallet software will and will not enable, while also touching on potential use cases enabled by the upgrade.
Finally, van Wirdum and Provoost discussed the Speedy Trial activation process itself, and in particular the lessons learned by it, which could in turn inform future soft fork upgrades. They also briefly speculated on which protocol upgrades may be next in line.
This podcast is perfect for people who want to learn more about the technical side of Taproot. Van Wirdum and Provoost always provide great insight into the ongoing improvements and advancements of Bitcoin, and Taproot promises to be one of the most important updates in a long time.
Please enjoy this detailed and eye-opening conversation between van Wirdum and Provoost.