Let’s take a closer look at the technical timelines and rollout plan as it stands today. Off the top, I’m excited to share that Core Developers now have locked-in the optimal release strategy for sBTC and Nakamoto and are still confident in their projections to start the Nakamoto release at the time of Bitcoin halving. This aligns nicely with other work going on in the ecosystem to maximize and support Nakamoto and tee the ecosystem up for success and growth.

During the latest design cycles, Core Developers have also been able to sort out a the basics of a release strategy for sBTC which is expected can quickly follow the Nakamoto upgrade after the network demonstrates stability following the release. With the multitude of testing strategies and resources in place, technical contributors are expecting a smooth rollout for Nakamoto, meaning sBTC can be released approximately 2-3 months after. This sequencing of hardforks maximizes the predictability and safety of both upgrades by reducing overall complexity.

Progress on sBTC will continue throughout the first quarter of 2024 as Nakamoto is prioritized and finalized, including a focus on signer activation (see this exciting news from Figment), Clarity WASM work, and the Revealer API. Almost all the remaining technical work for sBTC is scoped and can be picked up by contributors as resources from Nakamoto clear.

It is worth pointing out that in the initial version of the roadmap, Nakamoto and sBTC were penciled in for release together, but as work has progressed, it’s become more clear that separate hard forks are beneficial for several reasons:

• When originally projected, the first version of sBTC with the Nakamoto release was likely to be limited, the goal at the time being to ‘get something in the hands of builders’ ASAP. However, the WG sprinted hard in October and delivered the sBTC Developer Release so builders can already get started as-is.
• By releasing Nakamoto first, which represents a number of complex changes to the chain, there is an opportunity to observe it in production before layering on sBTC. This limits the surface area that has to be analyzed if issues arise.
• Core developers have also noted this is a better situation for both testing and overall security, security being a top value proposition of the network. This path enables the initial release of sBTC to be more robust and tested than were it to be released in tandem with Nakamoto.

As we head toward the Nakamoto release, there are several important milestones you can track progress on. We’ve highlighted those that are of particular interest (like testnets!), but you can always jump to Github for further details.

For questions or comments, please connect with the appropriate Working Group or the sBTC Resident.