The Birth of Sound Money Web3: LitVM Mainnet Rollout

Creating a truly native smart contract layer for Litecoin is no small feat. It must be trustless, future-proof, and true to Litecoin’s core principles. After more than a year of tireless exploration, iteration and core component development, we’re excited to reveal the rollout strategy of LitVM - Litecoin’s virtual machine.

LitVM’s mainnet will be rolled out over several phases, beginning with a high-performance EVM-compatible rollup powered by zkLTC, and concluding with a transition to Litecoin as the canonical settlement layer. With testnet right around the corner and mainnet launch coming shortly after, Litecoin’s Web3 era is finally upon us.

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Phase 1: First Lite (Rollup Deployment⁠) ⁠

Arbitrum Orbit Rollup with Succinct’s zkVM Stack and Litecoin Bridge from Day One

The first phase establishes a fully operational Arbitrum Orbit rollup—powered by Nitro’s optimistic architecture and enhanced with Succinct’s zkVM stack to generate validity proofs for all chain execution. This will make LitVM a hybrid rollup, inheriting the benefits of both zkRollups and optimistic rollups.

The rollup initially settles to Ethereum, providing immediate security guarantees, familiar tooling, and a frictionless deployment environment. LitVM will utilize Espresso’s shared sequencer mechanism, thereby providing significant network decentralization by distributing block proposals and ordering across a broad, permissionless set of nodes.

At the same time, a trustless Litecoin bridge — powered by BitcoinOS’ Grail decentralized security framework — is deployed from day one. This bridge allows users to lock LTC on the Litecoin base layer and receive fully-backed trustless LTC (zkLTC) on LitVM immediately. zkLTC will be used as the gas token on LitVM, in addition to being the main base asset used by the majority of protocols.

This foundation provides:

• Smart-contract functionality for LTC holders
• High throughput via Arbitrum Nitro’s battle-tested execution engine
• Validity-proof guarantees via Succinct’s zkVM
• Decentralized sequencing via Espresso
• Seamless and secure onboarding for Litecoin holders
• Zero changes to Litecoin consensus

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Phase 2: ⁠Silver Anchor (Litecoin Proof Anchoring⁠)

Anchor LitVM State and Proofs Directly onto Litecoin

Upon phase 2, each finalized chain batch—together with its corresponding zkVM-generated validity proof—is anchored onto the Litecoin blockchain itself.

A compact cryptographic fingerprint containing the state root, the batch sequence number, and the hash of the full validity proof is inscribed to Litecoin using standard extended transactions. No protocol changes or soft fork on Litecoin are required. These commitments are secured by Litecoin’s 14+ years of accumulated proof-of-work, creating a fully independent, tamper-resistant, and publicly verifiable audit trail of the entire LitVM execution history.

This phase dramatically strengthens the long-term verifiability and sovereignty of LitVM: even if Ethereum experiences deep reorgs, censorship, or prolonged unavailability, the correctness and ordering of every LitVM state transition remain provably intact on Litecoin. Litecoin node operators and holders can independently verify the rollup’s integrity without running any Ethereum software.

This foundation provides:   

• Independent proof and state availability on Litecoin’s PoW chain
• Permanent, censorship-resistant audit trail of all LitVM activity
• Reduced long-term dependence on Ethereum data availability
• Strengthened sovereignty and alignment with the Litecoin ecosystem
• Continued high throughput and zero changes to Litecoin consensus

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‍Phase 3: Litecoin Canonization⁠

⁠Transition Litecoin into the Canonical Settlement Layer

After the anchoring mechanism has operated reliably for an extended period and the Litecoin chain contains a complete, proven history of LitVM state transitions and validity proofs, the rollup performs a coordinated client upgrade that redefines its consensus rules. Litecoin officially becomes the authoritative settlement and finality layer.

Under the upgraded rules, LitVM nodes now track and validate Litecoin headers alongside (and eventually instead of) Ethereum headers. The canonical LitVM state is now defined by the state roots anchored on Litecoin. Settlement to Ethereum becomes optional and is gradually phased out. Finality and resistance to reorgs now derive directly from Litecoin’s proof-of-work hash power rather than Ethereum’s network security.

This completes the migration of the “center of trust” from Ethereum to Litecoin while preserving uninterrupted operation, EVM compatibility, and zkVM security. LitVM is now a fully native Litecoin rollup, powered by zkLTC - economically backed by native LTC locked on the Litecoin mainchain via the BitcoinOS Grail bridge.

This foundation provides:

• Litecoin as the primary canonical settlement and finality layer
• Finality governed by Litecoin’s PoW consensus
• Full economic and cryptographic security inherited from Litecoin
• True native Litecoin rollup status with smart-contract functionality
• Zero hard forks or consensus changes to Litecoin itself

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Litecoin’s Virtual Machine is Born

This roadmap culminates in LitVM, Litecoin's groundbreaking virtual machine—a fully EVM-compatible smart contract layer powered by Arbitrum Nitro and Succinct’s zkVM stack, delivering hybrid rollup efficiency with Ethereum's developer familiarity and Litecoin's unyielding proof-of-work security.

LitVM’s primary base asset and gas token, zkLTC, is locked trustlessly on the Litecoin mainchain via BitcoinOS’ Grail framework, enabling seamless onboarding of the Litecoin community into a programmable ecosystem. Every transaction is fortified by zkVM-generated validity proofs, anchored progressively to Litecoin for immutable finality, while integrating Espresso for decentralized sequencing and cross-chain composability.

This evolution unlocks a new era for Litecoin: DeFi protocols and advanced institutional strategies unlocking yield opportunities for LTC, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) like real estate or gold, AI-integrated consumer apps—all at miniscule fees and rapid block times, without a single modification to Litecoin's battle-tested protocol or foundational design.

The result is uninterrupted scalability and sovereignty: LitVM elevates Litecoin from "digital silver" to a sound money Web3 powerhouse, fostering decentralized innovation, community governance, and institutional adoption while preserving its core ethos of speed, privacy and reliability. In a fragmented blockchain landscape, LitVM positions Litecoin as the efficient bridge between UTXO resilience and EVM innovation—inviting builders, holders, and institutions to redefine programmable money for the masses.