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 # libbolt
-Rust implementation of BOLT
 
-# dependencies
+A pure-Rust library implementation of BOLT: Blind Off-chain Lightweight Transactions.
 
+BOLT is a system for conducting privacy-preserving off-chain payments between pairs of individual parties. BOLT is designed to provide a Layer 2 payment protocol for privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies such as Zcash, by allowing individuals to establish and use payment channels for instantaneous payments that do not require an on-chain transaction.
+
+# WARNING
+
+The libbolt library relies on experimental libraries and dependencies at the moment. It should not be deployed in production software yet and has not undergone a security review.
+
+# Dependencies
+
+* secp256k1
 * libsodium
+* bn
+* bulletproofs
+
+# Compile and Install
+
+To compile the library, run `make` 
+
+# Tests
+
+To run libbolt tests, run `cargo test` or `make test`
+
+# Benchmarks
+
+To run libbolt benchmarks, run `cargo bench` or `make bench`
+
+# Usage
+
+To use the libbolt library, add the `libbolt` crate to your dependency file in `Cargo.toml` as follows:
+
+```toml
+[dependencies]
+libbolt = "0.1.0"
+```
+
+Then add an extern declaration at the root of your crate as follows:
+```rust
+extern crate libbolt;
+```
+
+# API
+
+The libbolt library provides APIs for three types of privacy-preserving payment channels:
+
+* unidirectional payment channels (not done)
+* bidirectional payment channels (done)
+* third-party payments (not done) 
+
+# Crypto Design
+
+To build the design docs, run `make doc`.