What BATHRON is
BATHRON is an open programmable settlement protocol. It supplies a settlement unit, a set of conditions that consensus enforces, and a script engine that can assert facts about the Bitcoin chain. It does not supply products, liquidity, prices or interfaces — those come from independent builders on top.
Markets are one application of this layer. They are not the protocol.
The core, in one list
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin facts in consensus | Five predicates a script can assert about the Bitcoin chain, verified by every node — no designated oracle |
| Programmable settlement | Covenants, output introspection, hashlocks, timelocks, signature verification over arbitrary messages |
| M0 / M1 | M0 originates from consensus-verified Bitcoin destruction; M1 comes from the protocol's M0/M1 conversion and accounting rules. Neither is a redeemable claim on BTC — no peg, no reserve, no redemption |
| HU finality | One round of signatures, counted one Consensus Operator one vote |
| Confidential transfers | Sapling shielded values |
Each is documented with its code reference and its limits in Bitcoin-verifiable contracts and Programmable settlement.
What it deliberately is not
- Not a virtual machine. The engine is a script engine, not Turing-complete. The Bitcoin facts it can assert are a finite list of five, not an extensible API.
- Not an exchange. No matching engine, no order book, no listing committee in consensus.
- Not an issuer. M0 exists only against burned bitcoin. There is no reserve and no redemption
desk —
CheckA5Independent,CheckA6P1andCheckA7insrc/state/settlement_logic.cpp. - Not an oracle. It can check an attestation; it cannot produce one or judge its truth.
- Not a bridge. Bitcoin moves only through markets, never through a protocol-held reserve.
Reading the status labels
Every capability in this documentation carries one of five labels. They are not decoration:
ACTIVE IN CONSENSUS— the opcode or rule is enabled on the current public testnet. This says nothing about whether a product uses it.TESTED— has a test suite.DEMONSTRATED— an end-to-end flow has actually been run.AVAILABLE PRIMITIVE— composable with no consensus change; no product exists.TARGET NETWORK— the architecture being aimed at; not deployed.
An active opcode is not a product, and this documentation never uses activation to imply one.
The distinction matters most for the network itself: application building is open today, Consensus Operator admission is not. See The target open network and Status & claims, which prevails over any other page.