BIP: OP_OPTX_KNOT — Topological Witness Extension for ML-DSA

[jett22JOE]

Summary

• Introduces OP_OPTX_KNOT (0xc0) and OP_OPTX_KNOT_VERIFY (0xc1) — new script opcodes for knot-theoretic proof verification in SegWit v2 P2MR transactions (BIP-360)
• Augments ML-DSA (CRYSTALS-Dilithium) with a PSPACE-hard topological invariant layer via the Topological Key Derivation Function (TKDF)
• Composite post-quantum security: breaking OPTX requires solving both a lattice problem AND computing knot polynomial invariants

Specification Highlights

• Wire format: ~48 bytes additional witness overhead per input (+1.27% over baseline Dilithium payload)
• DoS bounds: Max 16 crossings, 7 strands, 128 word length, validation weight 750
• Activation: BIP-9 version bits, NOP-expansion pattern (same as BIP-65 OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY)
• Requires: BIP-360 (Pay to Quantum Resistant Hash)

Reference Implementation

• C++ knot proof library: jettoptx/astroknots (src/crypto/knotproof/)
• Python TKDF bindings: test/functional/test_framework/optx_knot.py
• Upstream target: btq-ag/btq-core Phase 7 branch

Test plan

• Trefoil (3₁) and figure-eight (4₁) test vectors validated on ARM64 (Jetson Orin Nano)
• Testnet4 deployment with NOP-fallback pre-activation behavior
• Full knot invariant verification post-activation on modified btq-core

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Co-Authored-By: Hedgehog Multimodal joe@jettoptics.ai

_{"Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." — Luke 18:31}

[murchandamus]

Thanks for your submission. Unfortunately, there are multiple issues here.

• Neither the idea nor the BIP draft has been discussed on the mailing list before the PR was opened.
• The linked Reference Implementation either doesn’t exist or is private.
• The document looks low-quality: the proposal is laden with technical jargon, but the formulas and specific parameters are insufficiently explained to make the document comprehensible, let alone for the proposal to be implementable.
• The document fails basic formatting requirements.
• The content strikes me as AI slop.

I will be closing this PR as premature. Please only request to reopen this PR or resubmit your proposal once it has been discussed on the mailing list and respondents encouraged you to proceed to a BIP submission. When you resubmit, please make sure that your submission passes basic formatting requirements.