Bitcoin Communication Network Protocol
A post-IP data network stack rooted in Bitcoin and Lightning. BCNP replaces TCP/IP with decentralized address assignment and direct Ethernet communication between devices.
BCNP revives the spirit of legacy protocols like ISO CLNP originally used alongside TCP/IP and still employed in aviation and academic settings. It utilizes NSAP style addresses - up to 20 bytes long - for flexible, global identifiers.
With variable-length addressing and no hard limits, BCNP is ideal for emerging domains like IoT, AI, and sensitive industries; where scale, speed, and determinism matter most.
IPv4 to IPv6 transition stumbled due to legacy inertia and deployment complexity. BCNP offers a clean-slate alternative: decentralized, address-collision resistant, and privacy-first.
Address issuance is performed via Bitcoin or Lightning: a blockchain‑enabled mechanism ensures security, sovereignty, and neutrality, free from centralized control.
BCNP aims to evolve into a global, open communication layer that eventually replaces IP-based networking for systems that demand decentralization, autonomy, and security. While inspired by Bitcoin and Lightning, BCNP is designed to serve any ecosystem that values freedom from legacy infrastructure.
We believe in a hybrid future: BCNP will remain open and extensible, but early adoption may be driven by organizations needing highly secure, isolated, and deterministic environments. From IoT and edge AI, to zero-trust zones, R&D networks, or ultra-sensitive corporate domains; BCNP offers an IP-free alternative that scales.
Whether you're building for global freedom or private sovereignty, BCNP provides the tools to move beyond the bottlenecks of TCP/IP.
The BCNP site gateway creates the site prefix from the Bitcoin/LN address, and assigns it to all devices using a hello protocol. Devices combine that prefix with their MAC address to form an NSAP‑style BCNP address. Communication between devices occurs over Ethernet (same site) or encapsulated tunnels (between sites), end‑to‑end at frame level, without IP.
Secure issuance via Bitcoin/LN makes BCNP well-suited to ultra-sensitive environments, like high‑frequency trading networks; where integrity, latency, and traceability are paramount.
🔶 Current Stage: MVP - building toward public Beta
Dispersed BCNP enterprise sites can exchange Ethernet frames over BCNP tunnels that span the globe. Real data transfer that achieves global connectivity for non-IP sites.
The BCNP concept and design are officially documented and citable on Zenodo: DOI:10.5281/zenodo.14562023
For collaboration, feedback, or participation in testing and BCNP deployment, please reach out via email: contact@bcnp.network