Hey DEV! Dfinity Foundation today releases an API for Bitcoin-enabled canister smart contracts as part of the DFINITY Canister SDK.

The Developer Preview — which will operate via a locally-run bitcoind node — enables Rust and other programming languages that compile to Wasm to explore the new Bitcoin API and create sample projects that leverage bitcoin-powered smart contract capabilities.

This looks to pave the way for developers to contribute to the future of DeFi and Web3 without having to rely on risky bridging and wrapping protocols which are often exploited (as in the case of the recent $326M Wormhole bridge hack).

Check out this video on how it works. You can also see the project history on Dfinity’s forum. The integration is expected to be completed at the end of Q1.

The source code plus documentation of its API can be found in this GitHub repository: https://github.com/dfinity/bitcoin-developer-preview