Protocol Layer Architecture

The protocol layer (blvm-protocol) provides Bitcoin protocol abstraction that enables multiple Bitcoin variants and protocol evolution.

Architecture Position

This is Tier 3 of the 5-tier Bitcoin Commons architecture (BLVM technology stack):

1. Orange Paper (mathematical foundation)
2. blvm-consensus (pure math implementation)
3. blvm-protocol (Bitcoin abstraction) ← THIS CRATE
4. blvm-node (full node implementation)
5. blvm-sdk (developer toolkit)

Purpose

The blvm-protocol sits between the pure mathematical consensus rules (blvm-consensus) and the full Bitcoin implementation (blvm-node). It provides:

Protocol Abstraction

Multiple Variants: Support for mainnet, testnet, and regtest
Network Parameters: Magic bytes, ports, genesis blocks, difficulty targets
Feature Flags: SegWit, Taproot, RBF, and other protocol features
Validation Rules: Protocol-specific size limits and validation logic

Protocol Evolution

Version Support: Bitcoin V1, V2 (planned), and experimental variants
Feature Management: Enable/disable features based on protocol version
Breaking Changes: Track and manage protocol evolution

Core Components

Protocol Variants

BitcoinV1: Production Bitcoin mainnet
Testnet3: Bitcoin test network
Regtest: Regression testing network

Network Parameters

Magic Bytes: P2P protocol identification
Ports: Default network ports
Genesis Blocks: Network-specific genesis blocks
Difficulty: Proof-of-work targets
Halving: Block subsidy intervals

For more details, see the blvm-protocol README.

BLVM Documentation