The launch has generated considerable excitement within the Bitcoin community, with many users expressing optimism about its potential to address longstanding issues.

Miners and developers have widely praised the upgrade, sparking interest in increasing adoption and utility of the network.

The upgrade has attracted institutional interest, exemplified by a retailer-focused mining pool that dramatically increased its hashrate from 800 TH/s to 16.97 EH/s after integrating Thunderbolt, ranking it among the top 10 mining pools globally.

To access Thunderbolt, users must acquire a Boosting Code, which is distributed through select partners and linked to special Bitcoin rewards.

Bitcoin Thunderbolt officially launched on April 15, 2025, marking a significant upgrade to the Bitcoin network initiated by Satoshi-era miners and early contributors like the Nubit team.

Overall, the Thunderbolt upgrade represents a major technical evolution for Bitcoin, significantly enhancing its scalability and usability.

As a soft fork to the Bitcoin base layer, Thunderbolt introduces two key features: UTXO Bundling for improved on-chain throughput and OP_CAT for native programmability.

Nubit is coordinating the distribution of Boosting Codes, with the initial round already claimed and future access expected to be highly competitive.

This upgrade introduces a new technical standard for Bitcoin, enabling instant transactions and smoother operations on Bitcoin Core, enhancing its readiness for real-world applications.

Developers can now create decentralized applications (dApps), smart contracts, and financial instruments directly on Bitcoin, without relying on off-chain solutions.

This initiative builds on the Lightning Network launched in 2015, addressing payment scalability issues.

A key feature of the upgrade is BitMM, a decentralized exchange mechanism that facilitates trustless, on-chain trading and reduces risks associated with centralized exchanges.