Bitcoin's biggest upgrade in four years, Taproot, goes live

Taproot, the first bitcoin (BTC-USD) upgrade in four years, just went live, and the update provides more transaction privacy and efficiency and opens the potential for smart contracts. At the heart of the change is the use of "Schnorr signatures" vs. the "Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm" the Bitcoin blockchain previously used. The new digital signatures basically make multi-signature transaction unreadable, bitcoin miner Alejandro De La Torre told CNBC. While users can still look up any transaction sent on Bitcoin using a public explorer, details of some of the more complex transactions under Taproot will be able to be hidden, CoinDesk reports. The Schnorr signatures combine multiple signatures into one, thereby reducing the amount of data stored in the blockchain. More than 90% of miners have indicated that they plan to upgrade to Taproot, CoinDesk said. The activation still has to work its way through the system. Users won't be