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Unleash Bitcoin's Potential with NEAR's Chain Signatures.

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What is Chain Signatures, in plain English?

Chain Signatures enable NEAR accounts, including smart contracts, to sign and execute transactions across multiple blockchains. By using Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and a distributed network of node operators, Chain Signatures can create a joint signature from an arbitrary payload, allowing NEAR users to control external blockchain accounts. This unlocks the next level of blockchain interoperability by giving ownership of diverse assets, cross-chain accounts, and data to a single NEAR account.

How is this different from wrapped BTC, cbBTC, synthetic BTC, or bridges?

Chain Signatures doesn’t wrap or move your BTC or assets at all. It’s not a bridge or a synthetic token. Instead, it lets users prove ownership and take actions from their native Bitcoin account using signatures. The assets stay on the Bitcoin blockchain, and NEAR just helps coordinate and verify actions securely using signatures, not token transfers.

Is this like a bitcoin-based message-passing system?

No, chain signatures is not a message-passing system. Chain signatures is a distributed signature generation system.

Is Near now some sort of Bitcoin Layer 2? How does it compare with them and what are the benefits?

NEAR isn’t a traditional Bitcoin Layer 2 - it doesn’t anchor to Bitcoin blocks or inherit Bitcoin’s security model. Instead, NEAR acts as a smart contract layer that lets developers build DeFi and other apps for Bitcoin users, without requiring bridges or wrapped assets. While it’s not a Layer 2 in the technical sense, it brings many Layer 2-like benefits - like lower friction and more functionality.

Is Near now some sort of Bitcoin Layer 2? How does it compare with them and what are the benefits?

NEAR isn’t a traditional Bitcoin Layer 2 - it doesn’t anchor to Bitcoin blocks or inherit Bitcoin’s security model. Instead, NEAR acts as a smart contract layer that lets developers build DeFi and other apps for Bitcoin users, without requiring bridges or wrapped assets. While it’s not a Layer 2 in the technical sense, it brings many Layer 2-like benefits - like lower friction and more functionality.

What’s the catch? Any added steps or weird UX flows?

Not really. The UX is designed to be simple and familiar. Users just sign transactions and messages with their Bitcoin wallet. There’s no need to wrap tokens, switch networks, or learn a new wallet.

Why was this built?

Chain Signatures was built to solve a key problem: Bitcoin is the most valuable and widely held crypto asset, but it's hard to use in modern apps without wrapping it or relying on bridges - both of which add risk and complexity.

Is this secure? Who controls the signatures?

A decentralized network of validators uses MPC (Multi-Party Computation) with additive key derivation to collaboratively generate signatures.The chain signatures network ensures that only a specific NEAR account or smart contract can sign using a given public key.

Has this technology been audited?

Yes. The audit for the Chain Signatures protocol has been conducted by Kudelski (https://kudelskisecurity.com/).

Behind the scenes, is the MPC assembling a private key?

No, the MPC uses additive key derivation to create signatures without revealing a private key.

What are the main points of failure (if any)?

The NEAR blockchain and the MPC operator network are the most important components. NEAR has had no downtime in nearly 4 years of mainnet, while maintaining the highest number of active addresses and the second most transactions per day of any chain.

Can I use my own Bitcoin wallet?

Yes!

Which apps support this?

*TBD*

Is liquidity an issue?

Not at all - NEAR Signatures doesn’t touch liquidity. Since there’s no wrapped BTC or asset bridging involved, there’s no need for liquidity pools, collateral, or market makers.

To integrate chain signatures, do we need to be capable of coding on Rust or is there any other way?

The most straightforward way to utilize chain signatures is through Rust smart contracts. It is also possible to interact with chain signatures through Aurora using cross contract calls. Aurora is an EVM execution environment built as a NEAR smart contract.

Is a specific wallet required to interact with chain signatures apps?

Nope!

Does the user need to go through a learning curve to interact with these products?

No, it is possible to simplify or even hide any blockchain interactions from the user.

What is the expected performance? (finality, latency, etc)

The latency is expected to be under 3 seconds on average. NEAR finality occurs in 1-2s, and any additional finality will depend on the chain the user is interacting with via chain signatures.

If there are NEAR transactions involved, does it increase the fees when swapping / transacting?

Each signature will incur a NEAR transaction fee of < $0.01. In many cases, since swaps on various chains can utilize simple transfers between EOAs instead of smart contract-based swaps, this cost will be more than made up for by the decrease in costs on the destination chain (especially true on Ethereum, Bitcoin, TON, and others).

SEE MORE

What is Chain Signatures, in plain English?

Chain Signatures enable NEAR accounts, including smart contracts, to sign and execute transactions across multiple blockchains. By using Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and a distributed network of node operators, Chain Signatures can create a joint signature from an arbitrary payload, allowing NEAR users to control external blockchain accounts. This unlocks the next level of blockchain interoperability by giving ownership of diverse assets, cross-chain accounts, and data to a single NEAR account.

How is this different from wrapped BTC, cbBTC, synthetic BTC, or bridges?

Chain Signatures doesn’t wrap or move your BTC or assets at all. It’s not a bridge or a synthetic token. Instead, it lets users prove ownership and take actions from their native Bitcoin account using signatures. The assets stay on the Bitcoin blockchain, and NEAR just helps coordinate and verify actions securely using signatures, not token transfers.

Is this like a bitcoin-based message-passing system?

No, chain signatures is not a message-passing system. Chain signatures is a distributed signature generation system.

Is Near now some sort of Bitcoin Layer 2? How does it compare with them and what are the benefits?

NEAR isn’t a traditional Bitcoin Layer 2 - it doesn’t anchor to Bitcoin blocks or inherit Bitcoin’s security model. Instead, NEAR acts as a smart contract layer that lets developers build DeFi and other apps for Bitcoin users, without requiring bridges or wrapped assets. While it’s not a Layer 2 in the technical sense, it brings many Layer 2-like benefits - like lower friction and more functionality.

Is Near now some sort of Bitcoin Layer 2? How does it compare with them and what are the benefits?

NEAR isn’t a traditional Bitcoin Layer 2 - it doesn’t anchor to Bitcoin blocks or inherit Bitcoin’s security model. Instead, NEAR acts as a smart contract layer that lets developers build DeFi and other apps for Bitcoin users, without requiring bridges or wrapped assets. While it’s not a Layer 2 in the technical sense, it brings many Layer 2-like benefits - like lower friction and more functionality.

What’s the catch? Any added steps or weird UX flows?

Not really. The UX is designed to be simple and familiar. Users just sign transactions and messages with their Bitcoin wallet. There’s no need to wrap tokens, switch networks, or learn a new wallet.

Why was this built?

Chain Signatures was built to solve a key problem: Bitcoin is the most valuable and widely held crypto asset, but it's hard to use in modern apps without wrapping it or relying on bridges - both of which add risk and complexity.

Is this secure? Who controls the signatures?

A decentralized network of validators uses MPC (Multi-Party Computation) with additive key derivation to collaboratively generate signatures.The chain signatures network ensures that only a specific NEAR account or smart contract can sign using a given public key.

Has this technology been audited?

Yes. The audit for the Chain Signatures protocol has been conducted by Kudelski (https://kudelskisecurity.com/).

Behind the scenes, is the MPC assembling a private key?

No, the MPC uses additive key derivation to create signatures without revealing a private key.

What are the main points of failure (if any)?

The NEAR blockchain and the MPC operator network are the most important components. NEAR has had no downtime in nearly 4 years of mainnet, while maintaining the highest number of active addresses and the second most transactions per day of any chain.

Can I use my own Bitcoin wallet?

Yes!

Which apps support this?

*TBD*

Is liquidity an issue?

Not at all - NEAR Signatures doesn’t touch liquidity. Since there’s no wrapped BTC or asset bridging involved, there’s no need for liquidity pools, collateral, or market makers.

To integrate chain signatures, do we need to be capable of coding on Rust or is there any other way?

The most straightforward way to utilize chain signatures is through Rust smart contracts. It is also possible to interact with chain signatures through Aurora using cross contract calls. Aurora is an EVM execution environment built as a NEAR smart contract.

Is a specific wallet required to interact with chain signatures apps?

Nope!

Does the user need to go through a learning curve to interact with these products?

No, it is possible to simplify or even hide any blockchain interactions from the user.

What is the expected performance? (finality, latency, etc)

The latency is expected to be under 3 seconds on average. NEAR finality occurs in 1-2s, and any additional finality will depend on the chain the user is interacting with via chain signatures.

If there are NEAR transactions involved, does it increase the fees when swapping / transacting?

Each signature will incur a NEAR transaction fee of < $0.01. In many cases, since swaps on various chains can utilize simple transfers between EOAs instead of smart contract-based swaps, this cost will be more than made up for by the decrease in costs on the destination chain (especially true on Ethereum, Bitcoin, TON, and others).

SEE MORE