LibraryInteroperability2024Design paperCorpus record
Babylon: Bitcoin staking as a timestamp and slashable bond
Babylon. Babylon Labs.
Babylon publishes a way to lock bitcoin in a Bitcoin script and use that lock as a bond for another network, with slashing expressed as a Bitcoin transaction rather than as a wrapped token.
A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.
Babylon publishes a way to lock bitcoin in a Bitcoin script and use that lock as a bond for another network, with slashing expressed as a Bitcoin transaction rather than as a wrapped token.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 6
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
Bitcoin staking that wraps BTC on another chain is a different design. If the docs you cite do not contain a wrap, do not add one.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The proposal
Babylon publishes a way to lock bitcoin in a Bitcoin script and use that lock as a bond for another network, with slashing expressed as a Bitcoin transaction rather than as a wrapped token.
Claim 03 · Paper model
The mechanism
The lock is a Bitcoin output with a script the docs specify. The slash path is a signature or covenant the docs specify.
Claim 04 · Paper model
The bound
This note states no amount staked and no yield.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
Bitcoin staking that wraps BTC on another chain is a different design. If the docs you cite do not contain a wrap, do not add one.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading Babylon's docs. A liquid staking token built on top is a further protocol.
02 The proposal
Observation
What the study says
Babylon publishes a way to lock bitcoin in a Bitcoin script and use that lock as a bond for another network, with slashing expressed as a Bitcoin transaction rather than as a wrapped token.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading Babylon's docs. A liquid staking token built on top is a further protocol.
03 The mechanism
Observation
What the study says
The lock is a Bitcoin output with a script the docs specify. The slash path is a signature or covenant the docs specify.
Model
What has to hold
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
04 The bound
Observation
What the study says
This note states no amount staked and no yield.
Model
What has to hold
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01The lock is a Bitcoin output with a script the docs specify. The slash path is a signature or covenant the docs specify.
- 02A consumer network treats that lock as collateral. The consumer's consensus is not Bitcoin's consensus.
- 03Finality of the lock follows Bitcoin. Finality of the consumer chain follows the consumer. They are two clocks.
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the name has to mean
The cut
Babylon publishes a way to lock bitcoin in a Bitcoin script and use that lock as a bond for another network, with slashing expressed as a Bitcoin transaction rather than as a wrapped token.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A script bug is a bitcoin-loss bug. The consumer chain's token does not contain it.
What actually moves
The cut
A consumer network treats that lock as collateral. The consumer's consensus is not Bitcoin's consensus.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A script bug is a bitcoin-loss bug. The consumer chain's token does not contain it.
What a later deployment may change
The cut
Finality of the lock follows Bitcoin. Finality of the consumer chain follows the consumer. They are two clocks.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A script bug is a bitcoin-loss bug. The consumer chain's token does not contain it.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
You are reading Babylon's docs. A liquid staking token built on top is a further protocol.
Model · Not re-measured
The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.
Model · Not re-measured
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
A script bug is a bitcoin-loss bug. The consumer chain's token does not contain it.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
Bitcoin staking that wraps BTC on another chain is a different design. If the docs you cite do not contain a wrap, do not add one.
What the design proposes
- The lock is a Bitcoin output with a script the docs specify. The slash path is a signature or covenant the docs specify.
- A consumer network treats that lock as collateral. The consumer's consensus is not Bitcoin's consensus.
- Finality of the lock follows Bitcoin. Finality of the consumer chain follows the consumer. They are two clocks.
How the mechanism is specified
- The lock is a Bitcoin output with a script the docs specify. The slash path is a signature or covenant the docs specify.
- A consumer network treats that lock as collateral. The consumer's consensus is not Bitcoin's consensus.
- Finality of the lock follows Bitcoin. Finality of the consumer chain follows the consumer. They are two clocks.
What this page does not treat as proven
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Slashable bond
- A locked output that can be spent to a penalty path if a documented condition is met.
- Consumer chain
- A network that wants the bond. It is not Bitcoin.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
Protocols
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.