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Bitcoin m̶a̶x̶i̶ pragmatist. Building @zapzapbot | rational idealist

Joined March 2008
Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)Photo by Simon Tennant (@imaginator)
A legendary start into 2025 with @RobinNakamoto in Miami at @saylor's
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This is a huge piece of work, and also the start of another chunk. Great work by @Arvolear and his team. Please have a read of the spec and give feedback.
Have been working on this mega spec for the last couple of weeks. Finally ready to share. A decentralized price oracle running on Liquid, powered by Simplicity. Hope this sees prod one day.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
This may be controversial and not privacy-preserving in the best way, but I still want to share this idea. A multisig protocol where it is just you, the front end, and the chain. No downtime. No other off-chain medium or service. Where Simplicity enables custom policy enforcement rules and multisig spending conditions. This is a very early experiment to showcase what can be developed with Simplicity. Thus, the paper is not affiliated with Blockstream.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Announcing the first-ever Simplicity CTF challenge! I've locked 0.01 LBTC in a contract. Your task is to find how to unlock it and claim the reward! I've also sent this challenge to our internal Blockstream chat. Here is the description. Good luck! github.com/Arvolear/simplici…
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Simon Tennant retweeted
We've just released SimplicityHL v0.6.0. Introducing imports, modules, dependencies, and source code flattening. Also, custom jet environments can now be implemented as dynamic libs and plugged into the compiler. Check out the full release! github.com/BlockstreamResear…
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Damn vulnerable Simplicity covenants #3. Use `jet::sig_all_hash()` to construct transaction topology messages properly. Otherwise, it's fairly easy to allow signature replay attacks.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Anatomy of a Simplicity UTXO. A high-level overview of how such UTXOs get created and spent. In a nutshell, it's just a fancy Taproot.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Simplicity is expanding what's possible to build on Bitcoin layer-2. Offering formally verified smart contracts and live on @Liquid_BTC, Simplicity is already powering a growing ecosystem of applications. This May, join developers at the forefront of Bitcoin innovation in Europe.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
What if building Simplicity contracts didn't require managing the entire toolchain yourself? @Arvolear at @blksresearch built Simplex - a Rust development framework with CLI tooling, SDK utilities, and local regtest integration for building high-assurance smart contracts. Artem will demo how it works at Simplicity Office Hours next Tuesday.
UTXO-based smart contracts are complex and difficult to comprehend. That's why we built Simplex. To make the life of a Simplicity developer a tiny bit easier. 100% rust. Now in alpha. Ready for use.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Replying to @LHodlemort
look i understand you’re not familiar with the problem domain of turing incomplete predicate-based language systems for cryptographic applications but you’re in luck! Russell O’Connor spent a decade working on the problem and it’s live on Liquid right now
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Doing God's work. Saturday afternoon. Friedrichstraße, Berlin.
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You're doing God's work! Simplex will be great.
Building a development framework for the chain no one uses. Sounds absurd, but no tooling = no devs. No devs = no dapps. No dapps = no users. You have to fucking start somewhere. I call it Simplex, by the way.
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Tune into Simplicity Office Hours 🔧 Ask questions, share ideas, and learn how high-assurance smart contracts on Bitcoin work. Every Tuesday, 8am PST. docs.simplicity-lang.org/off…
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Blockstream doesn’t get enough credit for its contributions to bitcoin research.
I don't know what this argument here is really about, but Blockstream has contributed to the quantum discussion more than just the paper you mention: - @real_or_random proved post-quantum security of the Taproot commitment scheme (eprint.iacr.org/2025/1307.pd…), which is essential for a Taproot-based upgrade path (groups.google.com/g/bitcoind…) - @real_or_random discovered in 2018 that commit-reveal schemes (first discovered by @adam3us) could be applied to obtain post-quantum security (bitcoinops.org/en/newsletter…). This is still the most compact signature scheme but it has other downsides. Variants appear from time to time on the ML. - Reviewed an earlier version of BIP 360, reported three vulnerabilities (groups.google.com/g/bitcoind…). - SHRINCS: 324-byte stateful post-quantum signatures with static backups (delvingbitcoin.org/t/shrincs…)
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Simon Tennant retweeted
Day 1 of the @Liquid_BTC bootcamp by @Blockstream — co-hosted by us as part of @satsconf_’s São Paulo Bitcoin Week — is done! Day 2 just kicked off — 70 participants diving into Simplicity today, gearing up for the hackathon on Thursday!
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fun fact: the most trivial Simplicity contract that compiles down "just spend this coin" (fn main() { () }) compiles as "JA==" (yes in many languages). This is purely coincidental. blockstream.info/liquidtestn…
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Simplicity is the best thing to come to Bitcoin. And we're only just getting started.
The latest $128M Balancer exploit is a reminder of something fundamental: most smart contracts today rely on audit-based hope. Developers write complex code, auditors review it, and everyone hopes there are no hidden logic flaws. But hope isn’t assurance.
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For an opportunity to get hands-on with Simplicity smart contracts and learn from experts at @Blockstream, @Boltzhq + @Vinteum_org, join us for the upcoming Liquid Bootcamp and Simplicity Hackathon in São Paulo, Brazil, early Nov. Details + application: liquid.net/bootcamp
New milestone unlocked! We've implemented a STARK verifier for @StarkWareLtd 's Stwo prover in Simplicity by @blksresearch This is not a toy exercise anymore – it's a real modern proving system. More about the results and challenges 🧵👇
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Nothing says end of summer like going on a boat ride and bringing your Jade.
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