Through a recent mailing list, programmer Pieter Wuille has unveiled a new programming language designed specifically to create smart contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain.
This programming language, called Miniscript, aims to simplify the compilation of smart contracts or conditions on how to spend bitcoin; the project has required more than a year of development and the collaboration between Andrew Poelstra and Sanket Sanjalkar.
“Miniscript is a project we’ve been working on for the past year or so, and is now at a stage where I’d like to get it some more attention.”
The programming language is based on Script, which is the basic language for writing smart contracts on Bitcoin and which allows, for example, to specify certain conditions when spending bitcoin or to schedule the unfreezing of funds.
Open-source codes are available for both C++ and Rust, hence from now on all developers can start testing Miniscript in order to improve the project by allowing additional functions to be integrated.
“Miniscript is designed for Bitcoin as it exists today (primarily P2WSH), and does not need any consensus changes. That said, we plan to extend the design to support future script changes Bitcoin may include”, the email explains.
