On October 29, Phoenix Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet with integration to the Lightning Network (LN), announced a new version of its application that introduces “Taproot channels”, with which it seeks to reduce the costs of operations on the main network by up to 20%.
The developers noted that the new version incorporates “full support for Taproot”allowing you to take full advantage of the efficiency and privacy improvements offered by this update on the Bitcoin network.
In Bitcoin, a transaction on-chain It is the one that is registered directly in the base layer. Each one involves the payment of a commission to the miners, which may vary depending on network congestion.
In this case, the new version of Phoenix takes advantage of the features of Taproot, an improvement implemented in 2021 to make transactions more compact and less expensive in terms of space and commissions.
Phoenix “Taproot channels” allow open and manage LN payment channels using Taproot-compatible addresses.
That means operations are more efficient and private: the system reduces the amount of data visible on the network and reduces storage costshence the 20% “discount” when executing a transaction.
Taproot channels reduce on-chain footprint and improve payment privacy
The team behind Phoenix Wallet also highlighted that the footprint of those transactions (on-chain footprint) is indistinguishable from the P2TR transaction type (Pay-to-Taproot, payment to Taproot) as long as the channel is not forcibly closed.
In other words, from the network perspective, a Taproot channel transaction looks the same as a regular transactionwhich reinforces the privacy of Bitcoin traffic.
This implementation ties directly into Bitcoin’s Taproot update, which expanded the capabilities of the Bitcoin language. scripts and improved efficiency in signature validation.
Taproot allows multiple spending conditions to be combined into a single public key, reducing the size and complexity of transactions.
By incorporating those advantages into the Lightning Network, Phoenix is aiming for a cheaper and more private system for moving funds on and off the main chain.
In addition to support for Taproot, Phoenix reported that the new version (2.7.0 on Android and iOS, and 0.7.0 on servers) adds multiwallet functionalitythat is, the possibility of managing several wallets from the same device.
Upcoming updates to the Phoenix Bitcoin wallet
Finally, the Phoenix team advancement that its next development will include V3 transactions and commission-free commitments.
The V3 transactions are a proposed new format for Bitcoin that seeks to improve the way transactions they spread and confirm on the networkmaking the use of space in the blocks more efficient.
For their part, commission-free commitments will allow payment channels to be kept open without depending on variations in the cost per transaction in the main chain, thus avoiding users having to constantly adjust rates according to network congestion.