One of the oldest Bitcoin ecosystem projects goes to the next phase to enable developers to build Layer-2 networks using its computational layer.
Rootstock is one of the many projects that are currently promoting the goal of bringing more usefulness and interoperability to Bitcoin that it does using “BitVMX”, a changed version of the BITVM programming language.
The Rootstock project is weeks away from releasing software development kits (SDKs), so that developers can start producing their own Bitcoin-Laag-2s using BitVMX, founder Sergio Lerner told Coindesk.
SDKs are sets of tools with which third parties can build applications using a certain platform or framework.
“We are very close to having all the pieces ready for people to build their own solutions on top of BitVMX,” Lerner said in an interview.
The BitVMX project from Rootstock uses the BITVM paradigm that Robin Linus introduced in 2023 as a design for how smart contracts in Ethereum style can be built on Bitcoin. This can then considerably improve the scalability of Bitcoin by building faster, low-2 networks with programmability comparable to what is possible on Ethereum and other block chains.
BitVMX platform
In addition to BITVMX employees Fairgate, RootstockLabs made a breakthrough in the use of BitVMX last year to verify a zero knowledge of Snark (concise non-interactive argument of knowledge), an integral aspect of cryptography in many blockchain systems.
The availability of tools for other developers to further explore these possibilities will further stimulate competition and therefore increase acceptance, according to Lerner.
“There is a difference between a product and a platform: a product is closed, but a platform is something that you can easily connect to and develop your own ideas on top,” he said.
“BitVMX becomes a platform, which means that there will be much more competition: rollups and side schains that compete against each other and those who can find use cases for people to provide their tools with power.”
Lerner, AA Buenos Aires programmer, is best known for his research into Bitcoin in the early years and his later contribution to the development on Ethereum.
He told Coindesk that he fears that Bitcoin will not fulfill the goal for which he says it has been created – a “money for the people” – if it remains just a store of value.
“If all BTC just end up in ETFs, they will all be checked by financial institutions and there will no longer be Bitcoin as we know it,” he said.
“So we all have to make Bitcoin payments and keep our own BTC in self -contest. That is why we thought that making layers for Bitcoin is the right approach and I think the key for this is BITVM protocols, especially BitVMX.”
Bitvmx Force
Rootstocklabs and Fairgate have formed an alliance to expand the Bitcoin utility using BitVMX, whereby blockchain infrastructure engineering firm firm input | Output (io).
“BitVMX Force” will focus on standardization and protocol improvements to facilitate future Bitcoin soft-fork and infrastructure improvements as they perform, according to an emailed announcement shared with Coindesk on Tuesday.
“Rootstock and IO both have their own initiatives: Rootstock is Building Union, a bridge between Bitcoin and Rootstock based on BitVMX and IO is working on a project to move assets from Bitcoin to Cardano,” said Fairgate CEO Jonatan Altszul in an interview.
“Fairgate pushes this technology too and we thought that together we will have more firepower, more power, more capacity to create a larger community.”