Alright, so here we go. I’m just diving into this whole Statechain thing like it’s some weird puzzle, okay? And let me just say, these things were dreamt up by Ruben Somsen back in ’18. It was all about using this eltoo proposal—gotta admit, “eltoo” sounds like a funky dance move, but whatever. Then, CommerceBlock had their say in ’21 with Mercury, and not stopping there, they threw in Mercury Layer by ’24. New year, new stuff, right?
So, Statechains? A bit like trying to explain why your left shoe always ends up untied, complex and bafflingly mysterious. There’s the original, then the variations; who keeps track? Let’s compare them to Ark or Lightning—you know, those guys. Centered around a single server that plays conductor. But hey, don’t get confused, they don’t operate on vUTXOs like Ark. They’re more about deleting key shares, which apparently makes them “trustless.” Or at least mostly. Maybe.
Anyway—oh, hang on. Right, back to the beginning—you’re supposed to move around a whole UTXO off-chain using a coordinator. No liquidity needed like Lightning. Sounds kinda freeing, doesn’t it?
So Somsen had this grand plan. Statechains—pre-signed transactions that let you walk away with your UTXO whenever. Like a personal bailout. They used this fancy ANYPREVOUT, but now it’s more about CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY, which is a mouthful—or brainful? Basically, it’s like a script that allows any UTXO tied up in it to be spent. Like an open contract.
Imagine this: Bob has coins, finds this server guy and deposits with something called a transitory key. Big word, bigger confusion. Anyway, Bob locks his stash in a multisig, which is basically a group handshake between his keys and this server dude. Then, through this odd dance, Bob can pass this whole deal onto Charlie. Phew. I’m sweating just thinking about it.
The kicker? Adapter signatures. Fancy way of saying the signatures are half-baked until they’re cooked with secret sauce data. Dead end for thieves, applause for legit owners. Keeps everything honest, so they say.
But oh, the trust game. Statechain owners better hope servers play it cool, or someone’s stealing all the cookies. Fortunately, there’s a paper trail proving the bad guys if things go south. Just don’t pretend it’s foolproof.
Now, swinging to the Mercury twist, these guys ditched the need for a softfork. They whipped up something that, as they say, doesn’t require cozying up to a full-blown fork to work. Easy? I wouldn’t say that. Curious, though.
The big change? No more passing that transitory key—instead, users and servers play this multi-party computation game to piece together keys without ever holding the full set. More keys, less grip, I guess. As long as servers delete old pieces, it seems safer. Maybe.
And about that transaction signing—Mercury Layer takes it a step up with blind signing, because why not make things more mysterious? Servers sign stuff, but see nothing. Eyes wide shut.
Stacking these guys up with other layers makes me wonder if we’re baking a cake or building a skyscraper. Stick a Lightning Channel on a Statechain and you’ve got a state-o-lightning-cake-layer…thing. A bit next-level if you ask me.
Wrapping it up—are Statechains perfect? Nah, but they’re good at playing the trust-minimal game. Low on liquidity needs, lots of UTXO freedom. Two versions have tried living in reality and kinda fizzled. Maybe it’s the trust gig that scares people, or terrible marketing. Who knows.
The thing about open-source? Well, it’s like that mix tape you made—always sitting there, hoping for its moment. Whether people jump in now or later, it waits. And that’s a wrap. Or maybe not. Who’s counting?
