Pillar page

What is Bitcoin Hyper?

A Bitcoin Layer 2 rollup that uses the Solana Virtual Machine as its execution environment. Explained from first principles through to the full architecture.

⚠ Documented vs promised

This site consistently distinguishes between what is documented and verifiable (in production on devnet) and what is promised or still in development. You will find this distinction made explicit throughout the page.

The three-layer architecture

Layer 3 — Applications DeFi · NFT · DEX · Lending · Wallet · Gaming · Oracle · Compliance SVM programs (Rust/Anchor) Layer 2 — Hyper Rollup Execution SVM / Sealevel Sequencing Centralised → decentralised Data Availability Under research ⚠ Bridge Canonical Bridge (testing) Layer 1 — Bitcoin (settlement) Security · Immutability · Finality · OP_RETURN · Taproot
1

Bitcoin — the settlement layer

Bitcoin acts as the final notary. The Hyper rollup periodically publishes its state commitment (a Merkle root of the current state) to Bitcoin via OP_RETURN or Taproot. This anchoring ensures that the rollup's history is protected by Bitcoin's own security: rewriting it would require rewriting Bitcoin's transaction history.

Status: ✓ Architecture documented in the whitepaper | Periodic anchoring in development

2

Hyper Rollup — the execution layer

The heart of the system. It has four core components: execution (the SVM with Sealevel parallelisation), sequencing (transaction ordering, centralised at launch), data availability (where the full transaction data lives — still under research), and the bridge (the BTC↔Hyper canonical bridge, under testing on devnet).

Status: ✓ SVM running on devnet | ⚠ DA and forced inclusion in development

3

Applications — the user layer

Everything that can be built on top: DeFi protocols, DEXs, NFT marketplaces, lending, stablecoins, games and compliance tools. Programs are written in Rust with the Anchor framework — the same tooling as Solana. An existing Solana program should run on Hyper with minimal changes (RPC endpoint plus network configuration).

Status: ✓ First SVM programs tested on devnet | Application ecosystem taking shape

The four components of a rollup

Every rollup — not just Bitcoin Hyper — is built on these four foundations.

⚡

Execution

The virtual machine that runs the smart contracts. In Hyper: the SVM with the Sealevel runtime for parallelisation. Transactions that touch different accounts run in parallel, increasing throughput.

✓ Running on devnet
⬡

Sequencing

The component that determines transaction ordering. It decides who pays what and when, with implications for MEV and censorship. At launch: a single, centralised sequencer. Roadmap: decentralisation within two to four years.

⚠ Centralised at launch
⚓

Settlement

The periodic anchoring of the state commitment to Bitcoin. Each anchor publishes the Merkle root of the updated state. The frequency is adaptive: more frequent anchoring means faster finality, but higher Bitcoin fee costs.

◎ In development
📦

Data availability

Where the full data for every transaction is stored and made available. If the data is not publicly available, the rollup is technically a validium. As of 28 April 2026, the final solution is still under research.

⚠ Under research

💡 Key takeaways

  • • Bitcoin Hyper is a rollup: off-chain execution, with security anchored to Bitcoin
  • • It uses the SVM (Solana VM) — full programmability and Solana compatibility for developers
  • • At launch: a centralised sequencer and a federated bridge — with a two-to-four-year decentralisation roadmap
  • • Data availability and forced inclusion are still in development: critical pre-mainnet milestones
  • • It is not a sidechain: ultimate security derives from Bitcoin, not from its own validators