Alice: Ayush, great to have you here. Let's start from the beginning. How did you first get involved in Web3, and what drew you to Bitcoin and ZK?

Ayush: Thanks, Alice. My introduction to crypto was pretty personal. Back in 2016, I wanted to buy tech gadgets from Germany, but living in India, it was difficult due to financial restrictions. Bitcoin turned out to be the only viable payment method I could access. I didn’t have a credit card, just a bank account, so I used Bitcoin to complete the transaction. That was the first time I really saw its potential.

Later, around 2018, I dove into the space from a technical side after finishing my computer science degree. I joined Samsung Research and worked on authentication systems. If you use Samsung devices, you're likely interacting with some of my code. But Web3 had always interested me more personally, especially the idea of total freedom. I transitioned fully by joining Gnosis Builders as a tech lead, where I focused on bringing my security background into crypto.

Alice: That’s a strong transition from personal use to deep technical engagement. So today, LayerEdge is building a Bitcoin-backed secure internet. What do you see happening in the Bitcoin ecosystem in the next few years? Where does ZK fit in?

Ayush: Initially, I saw Bitcoin and Ethereum as similar, but Ethereum had smart contracts and enabled things like DeFi. Bitcoin was just being used for basic transactions. But with Taproot and BitVM, that changed. You can now simulate smart contracts in a limited form.

Bitcoin has the largest locked value of any chain, yet it’s underutilized. That’s why we started LayerEdge, originally as a Bitcoin Layer 2. But we soon realized most Bitcoin L2s weren’t actually secure. They didn’t leverage Bitcoin for security. So we pivoted to build a security stack that other chains could use to inherit Bitcoin’s security guarantees.

Alice: What kinds of tradeoffs do you see in other scaling solutions like sidechains, especially around security?

Ayush: Sidechains typically don’t inherit Bitcoin security. They just post block hashes to Bitcoin, but validators can still manipulate things. That’s not meaningful verification. For us, a real L2 must do two things: ensure state transitions are secured on Bitcoin and provide a trust-minimized bridge. Ideally trustless, but Bitcoin has limitations. Our model targets one-of-N honesty: if one validator is honest, the system holds.

Alice: Let’s go deeper into your architecture. You use both BitVM and ZK. What advantages do each provide, and how are they combined?

Ayush: BitVM lets us simulate smart contract behavior on Bitcoin. A proposer submits a state, verifiers can challenge it, and if no one successfully challenges it in time, the state is finalized. We use BitVM to verify state transitions and to build a trust-minimized bridge.

ZK comes in for proof aggregation. Most chains today are POS or ZK-based. So we accept ZK proofs from each chain, aggregate them recursively into a single proof, and submit that to Bitcoin. This way, Bitcoin only needs to verify one proof no matter how many chains we’re securing. It reduces cost by over 95%.

Alice: What are the tradeoffs with aggregation? When would a chain not need it?

Ayush: The tradeoff is dependence on LayerEdge. You're not posting directly to Bitcoin but through us. That introduces an intermediary step. But you reduce cost dramatically and still retain security because we use one-of-N validation. One honest node ensures correctness. It’s not bragging-rights native, but practically, it works.

Alice: On the verification side, what are the key challenges specific to Bitcoin?

Ayush: Bitcoin has no native smart contracts, so we rely on optimistic verification with challenge periods. Finality is delayed. You might wait 7 days for a strong guarantee, or 3 months for mathematical certainty. We’re working to reduce that using better hardware and BitVM2.

Alice: On that note, how are you planning to use BitVM2 and OP_CAT when available?

Ayush: With OP_CAT and BitVM2, we can improve efficiency significantly. BitVM2 allows us to split verifier functions into smaller chunks and run them sequentially on Bitcoin. That removes the need for challenge periods entirely. It would let us move from OP-ZK to true ZK verification directly on Bitcoin.

Alice: Your architecture also includes Babylon and Nubit. What were the motivations behind those integrations?

Ayush: We needed economic security to back our verification network. Bitcoin doesn’t support smart contracts, so we couldn’t implement slashing logic easily. Babylon brings in Bitcoin reserves to provide that capital layer.

We also wanted the verification process to be transparent and easy to audit. That’s why we partnered with Nubit for data availability. The Merkle tree of proofs is stored in their DA layer so that even a light node running on a phone can verify a single chain’s inclusion.

Alice: Are you supporting multiple proof systems?

Ayush: Yes, we view ourselves as a marketplace. Our clients are mostly app-specific chains. They should focus on building great apps, not on security plumbing. We support Groth16, Halo2, Plonk, and more—whatever a chain uses. We aggregate it and verify on Bitcoin.

Alice: Do clients control the frequency of their submissions?

Ayush: Yes. We have both fast and regular modes. Fast mode allows submission every Bitcoin block (~10 minutes). Regular mode aggregates every 3-4 blocks. Chains choose based on their latency and cost requirements.

Alice: Final question: Do you believe Bitcoin can reach parity with other ecosystems for DeFi in the next few years?

Ayush: Absolutely. The capital is there. We’re just missing infrastructure. LayerEdge aims to provide that - making Bitcoin the most secure foundation for decentralized applications.

Alice: Thanks Ayush. It’s exciting to see your approach to scaling Bitcoin securely and pragmatically. Looking forward to what LayerEdge brings next.

Ayush: Thank you, Alice.

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