On April 15, Bitcoin Thunderbolt officially launched. It’s a native upgrade, jointly initiated by Satoshi-era miners, Bitcoin whales, and early contributors including the Nubit team. Thunderbolt is a soft fork to the Bitcoin base layer, and marks the most significant technical shift in the last 10 years. At its core are two key upgrades: UTXO Bundling, which dramatically boosts onchain throughput by compressing transaction data; and the OP_CAT feature, a long-awaited opcode that brings native programmability to Bitcoin.
The launch has already drawn massive attention from the Bitcoin community. Many long-time users and miners say it fixes problems that have been holding Bitcoin back. “I’ve been following this technology upgrade since last year,” commented a veteran Bitcoin miner with nearly 10 years of experience. “I honestly didn’t expect it to happen this fast. A real soft fork, live and running, it feels like a new era for Bitcoin has just begun.”
To access Thunderbolt, users need a Boosting Code, a special invite distributed through eligible partners and communities. Boosting Codes are tied to rare Bitcoin rewards and early-bird access. Nubit, as one of the core contributors, is actively coordinating early access through its community channels, where users can also apply for Boosting Codes. The first round is already claimed, and future waves are expected to be even more competitive.
As more people join, Thunderbolt is quickly becoming the official Bitcoin standard, contributed by the collective effort of miners, Bitcoin core developers, and early adopters who believe in Bitcoin’s future. Transactions are instant, and the network runs smoothly on top of Bitcoin Core. Bitcoin feels faster, easier, and more ready for real-world use cases.
The upgrade is also drawing strong interest from institutions. One early success story comes from a small, retailer-focused mining pool that was counted by Nubit as a test partner for Bitcoin Thunderbolt. After integrating, its hashrate jumped from 800 TH/s to 16.97 EH/s, placing it among the top 10 pools globally. As adoption grows, Bitcoin Thunderbolt is setting a new technical standard for how Bitcoin is used, built on, and scaled.
As more people join, Thunderbolt is quickly becoming the official Bitcoin standard, contributed by the collective effort of miners, Bitcoin core developers, and early adopters who believe in Bitcoin’s future. Transactions are instant, and the network runs smoothly on top of Bitcoin Core. It’s a groundbreaking shift from the slow, clunky experience many users were used to. Now, Bitcoin feels faster, easier, and more ready for real-world use cases.
