BitcoinOS has successfully completed the transfer of Bitcoin to Cardano and vice versa without a bridge, ushering in a new era of cross-chain interoperability.
BitcoinOS has marked a significant milestone in the field of blockchain interoperability by successfully announcing the first bitcoin transfer transaction between two blockchains – Bitcoin and Cardano – without the need for traditional bridges. This demonstration was executed on the mainnet and opens up new prospects for cross-chain interoperability in the cryptocurrency space.
Breakthrough technology with zero-knowledge proof
At the core of this achievement is the use of BitSNARK – a zero-knowledge proof system developed by BitcoinOS. During the demonstration, 1 Bitcoin was wrapped into xBTC, a programmable token capable of moving between blockchains without the need for custodial intermediaries.
This cross-chain transaction process consists of four main steps: First, BTC is wrapped into xBTC on the Bitcoin blockchain. Next, xBTC is transferred to the Sundial wallet on Cardano without using a bridge. After that, xBTC is forwarded to the Handle wallet to confirm ownership. Finally, the token returns to Bitcoin and is unwrapped back into the original BTC.
Source: BitcoinOS
The entire process was carried out in collaboration with Sundial Protocol – a layer 2 solution bridging Bitcoin and Cardano – and Handle, Cardano's digital identity platform.
Edan Yago, a key member of BitcoinOS, emphasized the significance of this achievement: “This model proves that Bitcoin can expand its smart contract capabilities while maintaining the original security of the blockchain.” He also mentioned that this technology could be scaled to other UTXO blockchains like Litecoin or Kaspa.
Sheldon Hunt, founder of Sundial Protocol, called this a “turning point for the entire blockchain ecosystem,” while Jonah Peralta from Handle described it as a “breakthrough that allows Bitcoin to activate smart contracts and expand processing capabilities while retaining the original security layer.”
This technology addresses many long-standing issues in the blockchain space such as custodial risk, fragmented liquidity between ecosystems, and the smart contract limitations of Bitcoin. By applying zero-knowledge proofs, BitcoinOS has embedded programming logic directly into Bitcoin transactions, enabling the deployment of layer 2 solutions with full security derived from the Bitcoin network.
This achievement opens up prospects for BitcoinOS to engage more deeply in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications across multiple blockchains without the need for bridges, while also laying the groundwork for the development of safer cross-chain applications in the future.
