less-technical frequently asked questions on BitVm
It is a virtual computer for use in bitcoin contracts. As a virtual computer, BitVM can run programs. It can run anything a developer can write for it. What makes it unique is, it is compatible with bitcoin, meaning BitVM programs can be used to "lock up" bitcoins. In other words, you can put some money in a bitcoin address, and know that they only way someone can take it is if they correctly run a program of your choice -- any program.
No. BitVM programs are executed off-chain, unlike ethereum programs, which are executed on-chain. In BitVM, you only use the blockchain during a dispute, to prove that someone ran a program incorrectly off-chain, whereupon you can take their money. If your counterparty runs the program correctly, nothing about the program goes on the blockchain.
although there's no need for any changes to be made to the bitcoin blockchain consensus rules, there's still a lot of work to do before BitVm can be used for any practical purposes, but you can check the toy implementation using testnet bitcoin for some simple programs here
since BitVm introduces a way to do any computations, many of the use cases are not yet discovered, or certain but some very exciting and tangible use cases would be enabling sidechains, where you can send bitcoin back and forth with a better trust-model than what currently is available, improving the current infrastructure (e.g. Lightning Network), verifying ZKPs and emulating bitcoin improvement proposals.
there's no roadmap per say, but you can find the todolist here, if you want to get a grasp of what the future holds.
here are some reads:
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if you have another question or you want to follow the development and discussions on BitVm you can join the BitVM Builders telegram group