What is Taproot?
A 2021 soft fork adding Schnorr signatures and a scheme that makes complex spending conditions look like ordinary single-key spends.
Taproot lets a multi-party or conditional spend, when everyone cooperates, appear on-chain identically to a simple payment. That improves both privacy and efficiency.
Schnorr signatures also allow key and signature aggregation, reducing the on-chain cost of multisig arrangements.
Related terms
Digital signature
Cryptographic proof that the holder of a private key authorised a specific transaction, verifiable by anyone…
Keys & custodyMultisig
A spending condition requiring several signatures out of a set, such as two of three.
NetworkSoft fork
A rule change that tightens what is valid, so old nodes still accept new blocks.
Security & scamsPrivacy (on-chain)
Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous: every transaction is public forever, and addresses can often be…
This definition is part of the Bitcoin Logical glossary. For the fuller explanation, start with Apprendre, or see the live numbers on Le Signal Bitcoin.