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Protocol Overview

What This Page Explains

This page introduces the protocol for a new technical reader before detailed specs. It explains the problem, the main actors, the main objects, and where to read next.

Why It Matters

The protocol aims to let wallets perform confidential state transitions anchored to Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Layer 1 without requiring a shared operator for basic use.

Plain-Language Concept

At a high level, a sender wallet constructs a confidential transition, a prover/runtime produces proof artifacts, the transaction is carried and settled on BCH, and the receiver wallet recovers the result. The system is protocol-first: runtime and wallet are reference implementations of the protocol contract, not the protocol definition.

Technical Detail

1. What Problem Is Being Solved?

The protocol is designed to support confidential transfer semantics while keeping BCH settlement and self-custody in the base path. It does this by combining a private witness with a bounded verifier-facing public boundary.

2. Main Actors

  • sender
  • receiver
  • sender wallet
  • receiver wallet
  • prover/runtime
  • verifier acceptance path
  • BCH chain as public settlement anchor

3. Main Objects

  • state cell
  • note and note commitment
  • nullifier
  • continuation output
  • Public Inputs version 1 (PIv1), wire magic "PIV1"
  • Proof Blob version 1 (PBv1), wire magic "PBV1"
  • transaction carrier bytes and receiver recovery payload

4. Reading Path For Newcomers

  1. System Flow
  2. How One Transfer Works
  3. Direct-Spend Sequence
  4. State Cell And Continuation Semantics
  5. Public Inputs And ABI
  6. Verifier Acceptance Spec
  7. Public vs Hidden (Current Path)
  8. Public Observables
  9. Model C Architecture
  10. Detailed Specs Overview

5. Current Truth Boundary

Always separate:

  1. current truth
  2. proof-enforced semantics
  3. artifact-described behavior
  4. public observables
  5. future optional aggregation

This publication does not claim full metadata closure or whole-system fully zero-knowledge deployment today.

Code Mapping