The Bitcoin System Constitution — also known as the Bitcoin Constitution — defines what it means for a system to be aligned with Bitcoin's principles. Not a product. Not a token. A standard — publicly accessible, independently verifiable, and built to outlast the people who wrote it.
Read the ConstitutionBitcoin eliminated the need for a trusted third party. But the systems built around it — exchanges, bridges, Layer 2 networks — often reintroduce the same dependencies Bitcoin was designed to remove.
Hidden leverage. Trapped funds. Custodians who cannot prove their reserves. Governance structures that never end. Credit instruments sold as if they were money. There is no shared standard for what "Bitcoin-aligned" actually means. Without one, every project defines it for themselves.
It defines rules — not code. It establishes three layers, each with a clear purpose. Value moves up for utility. Value must always be able to move down for safety. Any system that claims to be Bitcoin-aligned can be measured against these rules. Any person can read them and judge for themselves.
Final settlement. Savings. The monetary base. Nothing built on top may claim to override it. This is the foundation everything else rests on.
Fast payments for daily use. Simple by design. Your funds must always be withdrawable back to Layer 1 — no permission needed, no committee involved.
Experimentation. Tokenized systems. Optional risk, clearly labeled. If you choose to use it, you know what you're getting into.
You can always move your Bitcoin to a harder, safer layer. No committee required. No identity check. No approval process.
Any system claiming to hold Bitcoin must prove it. Reserves and liabilities, independently verifiable, on a published schedule.
Reserves must be held under distributed control. No single key, no single company, no single jurisdiction can seize or lose them.
If it involves lending or counterparty risk, it must be labeled as credit. It can never be disguised as Bitcoin.
Constitutional amendments close at year 5. Governance decisions close at year 25. Full ossification at year 30. No extensions.
No single company or jurisdiction may become the exclusive doorway. Centralization must decrease over time, not harden.
If a system violates the constitution and later fixes it, the breach remains on record. Trust is rebuilt through action, not deletion.
Read the full documents, review guidance, and understand how compliance works.
The primary document. 31 articles covering sovereignty, exit rights, reserve truth, custody, governance, and more.
Binding standards that operationalize constitutional duties — breach procedures, UX rules, custody requirements, security architecture.
Article-by-article explanation of the intent, reasoning, and context behind every rule in the constitution.
Responses to real challenges — censorship gray areas, privacy vs. proof tensions, regulatory clashes, custody loopholes.
A practical tool for evaluating any Bitcoin-based system against the constitutional requirements, article by article.
Future records of systems that have requested compliance recognition. Public, verifiable, and permanently recorded.
A quick overview of the entire constitution — the problem, the solution, core requirements, and thirteen truths. Available as PDF download.