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Dawn is the segregated rail. It connects your Bitcoin to a Yield Provider: an established traditional finance institution that puts BTC to work off-chain and pays you a fixed return. Each deposit is its own position on Bitcoin. Your BTC sits in two scripts, the provider claims one of them and sends principal plus yield back, and after the deadline you sweep everything in one transaction. Nothing is bridged or wrapped. Dawn is built on btc-locker, the TypeScript library that constructs the scripts and transactions.
Dawn is on public testnet. See Status and security.

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The four transactions

Every position follows the same sequence. Two scripts are created with the same deadline: a Timelock (Return) script and an Escrow script.
1

Deposit

You broadcast one Bitcoin transaction that funds both scripts:
  • The Timelock script receives part of your principal. Only you can spend it, and only after the deadline.
  • The Escrow script receives the rest. The provider can claim it, and you can reclaim it after the deadline.
The transaction also carries an OP_RETURN output with a 60-byte SNDL payload that identifies the deposit and the provider.
2

Claim

The provider sweeps the Escrow output to its own address using the OP_ELSE branch of the script, which needs only the provider’s signature.
3

Distribute

The provider sends your principal plus the agreed yield to your Timelock address. This is an ordinary Bitcoin payment from the provider’s wallet.The amount and the schedule are set by the agreement you sign with the provider before depositing.
4

Withdraw

After the deadline, you broadcast one transaction that spends everything at the Timelock address and any unclaimed Escrow output.

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The scripts

The spending transaction’s nLockTime must be at or after locktime. Only the holder of user_pubkey can spend. The provider holds no key for this script.
The OP_IF branch is your reclaim path: available after the deadline, with your signature. The OP_ELSE branch is the provider’s claim path: available at any time, with the provider’s signature.
Both are P2WSH outputs and share the same deadline, which is what lets one withdrawal transaction sweep both.

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How Dawn connects Bitcoin to traditional finance

Dawn is the link between Bitcoin and a traditional finance institution. Bitcoin scripts hold the position and enforce the timing and the keys. The provider earns the yield off-chain, under a signed agreement with you that sets the return and when it is paid.

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What Bitcoin enforces

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What the provider does

Yield is paid to a script only you can spend, or straight to you.

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On-chain metadata

Each protocol transaction embeds a 60-byte payload in an OP_RETURN output. Sundial’s indexer uses it to bind a Bitcoin transaction to a position. Example transactions on Bitcoin testnet:

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Assurance

Dawn core has been audited by Hacken, with no critical or high findings and every finding fixed. It is also covered by an ongoing HackenProof bug bounty. See Status and security.

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Next steps

Stake with Dawn

The dashboard walkthrough for depositors.

btc-locker SDK

Build the four transactions from your own application.