Origin Stories The @idealgroup is a team of three people, bootstrapped with no outside investors, who have written approximately 4,000 lines of code to implement shielded client-side validation on Bitcoin. They have no plans to issue a token. Their funding model is based on grants and direct support from people who want the technology to exist. Robin Linus has stated publicly that they will never launch a token because doing so would compromise the integrity of the research. Bitcoin Takeover S17E4 with @robin_linus, @therealyingtong and @therealyingtong

Following on the side stage at zk14, @therealyingtong from @idealgroup presented work on private payments based on client-side validation. This approach moves proof validation to the client side, ensuring a minimal footprint on the Bitcoin L1. youtu.be/PY6IrNIEWP8?si=pvh0…

"Payments Maximalism: Digital Gold vs Cypherpunk Cash" by @robin_linus of @idealgroup Robin examines how Satoshi imagined Bitcoin payments, scaling, and compares to the reality of on-chain throughput today.

See you this Thursday in Rome 🏛️ 🗓️ 17.30 📍 Urbe Hub (lnkd.in/dn4EZJ3c) Shaping and Defending the Techno-Political Evolution: Cryptography, Open Source, and Public Goods. A Meetup dedicated to fostering solidarity among: ​​- zk researchers and applied cryptographers - open source and human rights advocates ​​- developers and hacktivists ​​- internet freedom and grassroots movements SPEAKERS: @jaromil x @DyneOrg Cryptographer, PhD Philosophy, & "godfather of European anarchist hacking movement", active player at European encryption scene @SterlinLujan x @Logos_network Long-lasting freedom advocate, parallel societies facilitator, Author @therealyingtong & @liameagen x @idealgroup Applied cryptographers with experience in @Zcash, Geometry, ZK Proofs, @IACR_News @alpeh_v x independent development Silviculture Society x @ethereumfndn, Cypherpunk Retreat fellow @PG_CDG x @web3privacy Mother & coo of the movement, Rome-born activist behind @ETHRome, @urbeEth, @CryptoCanal AGENDA 🗓️ - 17.30 > 20.00 | Talks & Open Debate - 20.00 > 21.00 | Aperitivo in Urbe Hub Terrace ​​Website: web3privacy.info/

Bitcoin Evolution The garbled circuit scheme that the BitVM Alliance/bitvm.org, Alpine and Citrea/ @citrea_xyz have been building with is called Yao's garbled circuits. The tables it generates are approximately 40 to 50 gigabytes each, and you need roughly ten of them, one per operator per watchtower. The total off-chain data burden is enormous. The @idealgroup's new scheme called Argo generates a garbled Groth16 proof at 15.5 megabytes and takes under 100 milliseconds to compute on a laptop. That is a reduction of more than 1,000 times in both size and compute time. Bitcoin Takeover S17E04 with @robin_linus

Shielded CSV is a private payments protocol that moves state validation client-side, relying on consensus only for data availability and double-spend prevention. This enables high throughput, low latency, and compatibility with offline-first architectures.

{ ideal } is at Bitcoin 2026! Catch us on two panels this Tuesday: - 13:00 - 13:30, "Using Bitcoin as Money, Privately" (@robin_linus, @obi, @sethforprivacy, @EricSirion) - 15:30 - 16:00, "Argo, BitVM Bridges & Shielded CSV" (@liameagen, @robin_linus, @therealyingtong)

Liam is working with @idealgroup co-founders to improve how to verify proofs in Bitcoin (without a softfork). Points out how BitVM lets you show a proof is *invalid*

Ying Tong Lin (@therealyingtong) co-founder of @idealgroup, opens day two of @btcplusplus Villains Edition with a talk on nullifiers and client side validation

Argo enables optimistic verification of Groth16 proofs on constrained environments like Bitcoin. This can be used to build lightweight bridges, L2s, fair exchange protocols, and more:

Bitcoin is scaling every day ⬇️⬇️ ⬇️⬇️ BitVM is growing scaling like crazy Two talks at the #2026MITBitcoinExpo (April 11-12 in Cambridge) are exploring the cutting edge of that function tech. From @robin_linus and @liameagen (Check out the topics in the comments)

BITCOIN RAILS #53: BITVM3 & THE GARBLED CIRCUITS REVOLUTION | with BitVM creators @robin_linus & @liameagen 🔗 YOUTUBE: youtu.be/KvGmeoNzmvk 🌿 SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/episode/15V… In 2023, @robin_linus introduced BitVM—aimed at enabling the verification of zero-knowledge proofs on Bitcoin for trust-minimized bridging. Since then, BitVM has been implemented by teams like @citrea_xyz and others—bringing what was once considered an impossible goal to life and paving the way for production-ready ZK rollups on Bitcoin. Cryptographer and SNARK researcher @liameagen (formerly @Blockstream and @AlpenLabs) has been a key collaborator from day one, spearheading major efficiency improvements to BitVM proof systems—including the development of garbled circuit schemes affectionately referred to as “BitVM3.” In this episode of Bitcoin Rails, I sit down with Robin and Liam to discuss BitVM’s evolution following the integration of garbled circuits—an upgrade that improved efficiency by more than 1,000x over prior implementations. In more detail, we discuss: - The origins of BitVM and its early success ( Liam’s initial skepticism and what changed his mind) - Garbled circuits, the Glocks scheme, and the Argo improvement - These new schemes and the development of “Binohash” effect permissionless verification of BitVM proof systems - Robin and Liam’s new venture @idealgroup with cryptographer @therealyingtong their ultimate vision for actuating shielded CSV with “the ultimate BitVM bridge.” Shout-outs to @JeremyRubin, @ekrembal, @zkchesterton, @EliBenSasson, and Pieter Wuille in this episode. This episode of Bitcoin Rails is powered by: - Best In Slot (@bestinslotxyz) - the leading API for Ordinals and BRC20 data aggregation and indexing. - Spark (@lightspark) - a statechains implementation advancing Bitcoin-powered payments. - Citrea (@citrea_xyz) - a leading Bitcoin rollup technology and BitVM alliance contributor. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 03:40 Birth of BitVM and Individual Contributions 11:03 Liam’s Initial Skepticism 14:13 Joining Alpen Labs 16:22 Garbled Circuits: Explained 24:34 Jeremy Rubin’s Role 34:32 The Glocks Scheme 38:23 Leaving Alpen Labs 41:15 Founding the Company Together 42:50 Business Model, Vision, and Funding 52:01 Babylon Collaboration and the BABE Protocol 57:01 Permissionless Verification Breakthrough 01:00:26 Bridge Architecture Components 01:02:31 Bitcoin Light Client Dependancy 01:15:32 Final Thoughts

Binohash: Transaction Introspection Without Softforks A first transaction has been mined demonstrating a limited form of covenants using only existing Bitcoin script functions. This development potentially eliminates the need for a Bitcoin light client in BitVM bridges, simplifying the construction and improving security. We hope this development furthers research on the possibility of creating introspection and covenants-style functionality on Bitcoin without the need for softforks, and advances discussions on the usability of covenants in Bitcoin and the use-cases they enable. Many thanks to everyone at @idealgroup, as well as @PortlandHODL and the Slipstream team at @MARA for patching their nodes to mine these wacky transactions. Full paper in the comments 👇

@robin_linus, creator of BitVM and a PhD student at Stanford University, will be at the #MITBitcoinExpo2026. He’s building the future of Bitcoin with projects like BitVM and ZeroSync -- see him in person in April in Cambridge! Get your tickets now at Mitbitcoinexpo.org #FreedomForAll #BitcoinBoston #BTCxMIT

We're thrilled to announce OPNEXT speaker @robin_linus of @idealgroup! ✅ Inventor of BitVM1, 2, & 3 ✅ Explorer of exotic Bitcoin Scripts ✅ @CoinDesk most influential 2024 "Adversarial mindset is the essence of Bitcoin"

An ideal gathering of friends ✨

How blockchains should be built.

Institutions would benefit from Privacy!

BITVM3: Are Garbled Circuits the Key to Scale by @robin_linus Creator of BitVM and Co-founder of @ZeroSync_ Full video below 👇🧵

ZKPs on Bitcoin by: - @david_seroy of @AlpenLabs - @VolokhIlia of @StarkWareLtd - @therealyingtong of @idealgroup - @ProofOfKeags Full video below 👇🧵