Bitcoin Can Gain Privacy Features Without Changing Base Layer: Stacks Founder

Stacks sees privacy as one of three areas of future Bitcoin development, with quantum resistance and BTC yield products also on the roadmap. Bitcoin could gain confidential transaction capabilities without compromising the public auditability of its total supply. This is according to Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali, who outlined the project’s privacy plan in a recent interview with Scott Melker. Confidential Transactions at the Execution Layer With interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies growing, especially around Zcash, Melker asked Ali if Bitcoin could incorporate privacy features of its own without sacrificing transparency. “We’re not going to get privacy directly at the Bitcoin base layer, nor do I think we should, because Bitcoin supply should be auditable,” the Stacks co-founder replied. However, he added that confidential transactions could operate on an execution layer built above Bitcoin, where some details could be hidden without preventing users from auditing the underlying supply. “You should be able to audit that this is the total number of coins in circulation,” he stated. “But you can absolutely have confidential transactions on the execution layer. Nothing is stop...