Chapter 17: Introducing Taproot
On June 12, 2021, the Bitcoin network reached consensus to activate the Taproot upgrade, which was then deployed on November 14 with block 709,632. It was the biggest change to Bitcoin since the Segwit upgrade of 2017, but also a continuation of SegWit development. (The original SegWit was 'segwit v0' while Taproot is 'segwit v1').
The most fundamental expansion of Taproot is the ability to use a single address to combine rules for key paths (e.g., unlocking an address with a private key) and script paths (e.g., unlocking an address per the rules of a Bitcoin Script, or more properly, with Tapscript). Essentially, P2TR integrates both P2WPKH and P2WSH.
But the Taproot upgrade actually combines three different BIPs and most of its functionality isn't available in Bitcoin Core, which can leave it somewhat difficult to grasp. The following chapters attempt to make it more graspable.
Objectives for This Chapter
After working through this chapter, a developer will be able to:
- Update Their Bitcoin Core Environment to Taproot
Supporting objectives include the ability to:
- Understand the Taproot Update
- Understand the Components of the Taproot Update