taproot

Taproot is a term with two common meanings. In botany, a taproot is a large, central root from which lateral roots branch. It develops from the embryonic root and serves as the main anchor and storage organ in many dicot plants. Taproots enable deep soil penetration and nutrient storage, contributing to drought tolerance. They are characteristic of plants such as carrot, turnip, beet, and dandelion. By contrast, many monocots (for example grasses) rely on a fibrous root system rather than a pronounced taproot.

In computing and finance, Taproot is a Bitcoin protocol upgrade that enhances privacy, efficiency, and scripting capability. Activated in November 2021, it introduces Schnorr signatures, which enable signature aggregation and smaller transaction data, improving scalability and the security of multi-signature schemes. It also deploys Merkelized Abstract Syntax Trees (MAST) and the Tapscript scripting language, allowing complex spending conditions to be concealed until they are actually used. As a result, most transactions that spend from complex scripts appear on-chain as simple key-path spends, improving privacy and fungibility while maintaining backward compatibility with existing wallets and scripts.