14 posts
Bitcoin Core merged support for Tor's proof-of-work defense mechanism on March 23, 2026. Nodes running as Tor hidden services can now automatically defend against denial-of-service attacks by requiring attackers to solve computational puzzles before connecting.
BIP392 defines output script descriptor format for silent payment wallets, enabling standardized integration across Bitcoin wallet software.
First release candidate for Bitcoin Core 31.0 introduces cluster mempool, a fundamental rewrite of transaction management logic that improves block template construction, eliminates ancestor/descendant limits, makes RBF incentive-compatible, and enables privacy-focused transaction broadcast via Tor/I2P.
BIP-376 fills a critical gap in Bitcoin's Silent Payments infrastructure by defining how hardware wallets can safely spend Silent Payment outputs through standardized PSBT fields.
A technical deep-dive into Bitcoin's privacy toolkit: how CoinJoin, PayJoin, and Silent Payments work, their trade-offs, and when to use each technique for maximum privacy.
Craig Raw's newly merged BIP-392 brings silent payment wallet interoperability to Bitcoin through standardized output script descriptors. Why this infrastructure work matters more than it sounds.
Silent Payments offer Bitcoin users strong privacy without interactive coordination, but spending those outputs has been a wallet UX challenge. BIP376 defines how to spend silent payment outputs using PSBTs, closing a critical gap and enabling hardware wallet support.
The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for Silent Payment Output Script Descriptors has been merged, providing a standardized way for wallets to handle privacy-preserving static addresses.
BIP392, merged March 5th, defines output script descriptors for silent payments. The new sp() descriptor format provides a standardized way for wallets to represent silent payment outputs, enabling interoperability and backup/recovery using existing descriptor infrastructure.
How Lightning went from experimental to institutional-grade in Q1 2026, with a $1M transfer proving enterprise viability and Cake Wallet's privacy-focused integration showing end-user readiness
The emerging Bitcoin privacy protocol now caps recipient outputs at 2,323 per transaction, eliminating a scanning attack that could have delayed blocks by minutes.
Three low-profile PRs merged in February 2026 strengthen Lightning tooling, transaction privacy, and eclipse attack resistance in Bitcoin Core 31.0.
Bitcoin nodes can now encrypt their connections by default, shielding transaction relay from ISP surveillance — but most users don't even know it exists.
The DOJ killed coinjoin in 2024. But Bitcoin privacy didn't die. It evolved. Silent Payments are the post-coinjoin privacy tool, and wallets are finally adopting them.