Research on Bitcoin Scalability Technology Directions Based on Complex Adaptive System Theory Since its inception, Bitcoin's scalability has been a key challenge limiting its large-scale application. This paper, based on a profound understanding of Bitcoin as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS), explores four major potential technological expansion directions for the Bitcoin network from its core components. We believe that Bitcoin is a CAS composed of the following three interacting formal subsystems: Individual Sovereignty Subsystem: Centered on a 1:1 digital state and individual self-mapping, embodied in Bitcoin as the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model. Each UTXO represents the independent asset ownership and control of a specific user. P/NP Perception Reality Subsystem: Achieved through asymmetric computational puzzles (P problems) and easily verifiable solutions (NP problems), the Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism is its core. PoW enables machines to perceive and record the objective reality of transactions in a decentralized manner, maintaining ledger consistency. Consensus Mediation Subsystem of Trust Code: Blockchain, as a publicly transparent distributed ledger, provides a notarization and execution environment without the need for trusted third parties through preset code rules and consensus mechanisms, ensuring the transparency and immutability of transactions and data. Based on the above understanding of the essence of Bitcoin CAS, we can systematically outline the following four main technological expansion directions: 1. Expansion of Individual Sovereignty Applications Based on UTXO Bitcoin's UTXO model shows unique advantages in asset management, such as clear ownership and high privacy. Existing BRC-20 and Omni Layer protocols are initial attempts to issue and manage assets on Bitcoin based on the UTXO mechanism. However, the potential of UTXO goes far beyond this. Scientific Logic: The core of UTXO lies in its clear state ownership and atomic state transfer. This characteristic is highly compatible with the needs of application scenarios such as Decentralized Identity (DID). Mapping various attributes and credentials of DID to a UTXO-like structure can achieve complete autonomous control and management of users over their digital identities. Each update of identity information or transfer of credentials can be regarded as a state transfer of UTXO, ensuring the immutability and traceability of identity data. Technical Path: This requires extending the existing UTXO structure to allow richer metadata to be stored in a single "UTXO" and designing new transaction types to support the update and management of DID-related states. At the same time, combining Layer 2 technology can improve the efficiency and scalability of such applications. 2. Lateral Expansion Based on P/NP Perception Reality Bitcoin's PoW mechanism successfully achieves decentralized consensus and objective recording of transaction history. However, the potential of PoW can go beyond its application in the cryptocurrency field and be extended laterally for broader "reality perception," serving the real economy. Scientific Logic: The essence of PoW is to anchor the workload or resources of the real world by consuming verifiable computational resources. Drawing on this idea, various "Proof of Physical Resource/Work" mechanisms can be designed. By cryptographically verifying the existence, state, or workload of specific resources in the physical world (such as storage, bandwidth, energy), it can provide credible proof for decentralized cloud computing, the Internet of Things, energy management, and other fields. In addition, verifiable computation based on PoW can ensure the correctness of distributed computing tasks and the reliability of results. Technical Path: This requires interdisciplinary cooperation, combining knowledge from cryptography, physics, engineering, and other fields to design proof mechanisms that can reliably map the attributes and behaviors of the physical world to the digital world. 3. Continuous Evolution and Application Deepening of Blockchain Technology As the cornerstone of Bitcoin, blockchain technology has been widely recognized for its advantages in transparency and credibility and has been successfully applied in fields such as decentralized finance (DeFi). Although the underlying technology is becoming increasingly mature, its development is far from over. Scientific Logic: Blockchain ensures the immutability of transaction data and the undeniability of history through cryptographic hash chains and consensus mechanisms, thus constructing a transparent and credible network for value transfer and information recording. The success of DeFi utilizes the transparency of blockchain to reduce information asymmetry and intermediary risks in the traditional financial system. Technical Path: Future development will focus on improving blockchain scalability (such as Layer 2 technology, sharding), interoperability (cross-chain protocols), privacy protection (zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption), and modular design to meet the needs of more complex application scenarios. 4. Construction of Innovative Decentralized Systems Based on the Bitcoin CAS Model We believe that Bitcoin's most valuable legacy is not a single technological breakthrough but its clever integration of individual sovereignty, decentralized consensus, and transparent rules into a robust and adaptive system architecture. Learning and drawing on Bitcoin's CAS design ideas and applying them to construct new decentralized systems is the most promising development direction for the future. Scientific Logic: Bitcoin's success lies in the synergy between its subsystems, jointly maintaining the network's stability and security. By drawing on this systematic design approach, we can design new decentralized systems with similar core characteristics for different application scenarios. For example, decentralized social networks can draw on the ownership model of UTXO and PoW-like content governance mechanisms; new DAOs can use UTXO-like structures for more refined governance and incentive design; decentralized supply chain management systems can draw on UTXO's traceability capabilities and "proof of physical work" for authenticity verification. Technical Path: This requires a deep understanding of the core design principles of Bitcoin CAS and abstracting and generalizing them for application in different fields. This involves innovative thinking and design of specific implementation methods for individual sovereignty, decentralized consensus, and transparent rules. Conclusion The expansion of Bitcoin cannot be limited to patching and optimizing its existing technology but requires understanding its core components' intrinsic logic and interactions from its essence as a complex adaptive system. By deeply studying and drawing on Bitcoin's innovative solutions in individual sovereignty, reality perception, and trust consensus, and applying its systematic design ideas to broader fields, we can open up more potential and disruptive decentralized application prospects, truly integrating blockchain and cryptocurrency technology into the broader digital economy and social life. We call on academia and industry to pay attention to in-depth research on the Bitcoin CAS model and actively explore innovative solutions based on this framework.