One of the oldest projects of the Bitcoin ecosystem is moving to the next phase of enabling developers to develop layer-2 networks using its computational layer.
Rootstock is one of the many projects that currently progresses to the purpose of bringing more utility and interoperability to Bitcoin, which it does using “Bitvmx”, a modified version of the Bitvm programming language.
The Rootstock project is a week away from the release of software development kits (SDK), allowing developers to start making their own Bitcoin layer-2 with Bitvmx, founder Sergio Lerner said in CoinDesk.
SDKs are sets of tools that enable third-parties to develop applications using a particular platform or outline.
“We are very close to having all the pieces ready for people to start developing their own solutions to the top of Bitvmx,” Lerner said in an interview.
Rootstock’s Bitvmx project captures BitVM’s paradigma introduced by Robin Linus in 2023 as a design for how Ethereum-style smart contracts can be built with Bitcoin. This can greatly improve bitcoin scalability by enabling the development of faster, layer-2 networks with programmability similar to what is possible with Ethereum and other blockchains.
Bitvmx platform
Next to the Bitvmx contributing Fairgate, last year’s rootstocklabs made a success in Using Bitvmx to verify a zero-knowledge snark .
Having tools for other developers to explore these capabilities will bring competition and thus increase adoption, according to Lerner.
“There is a difference between a product and a platform: a product is closed but a platform is something you can easily plug in and build your own ideas on top of,” he said.
“Bitvmx is becoming a platform, which means there will be more competitions: the rollups and sidechains competing against each other and those who can find the use of cases for people who power their tools will win.”
Lerner, AA Buenos Aires-based programmer, is better known for his Bitcoin research in its early years and his contribution to Ethereum development.
He told CoinDesk that he was afraid that Bitcoin would not fulfill the purpose for which he said it was created – being a “money for people” – if it only remained a store of value.
“If all BTCs just end up with ETFs, they are all controlled by financial institutions and no more bitcoin as we know,” he said.
“So we all need to make Bitcoin payments and hold our own BTC to self -care. That’s why we thought that creating layers for Bitcoin is the right approach and I think the key to these are BITVM protocols, especially BitVMX.”
Bitvmx Force
Rootstocklabs and Fairgate have formed an alliance to expand the Bitcoin utility using Bitvmx, which also involves blockchain infrastructure engineering firm Input | Output (io).
The “Bitvmx Force” will focus on standardization and protocol enhancements to help with the smooth bitcoin soft-works and improvement of infrastructure as it takes place, according to an email announcement shared with CoinDesk Tuesday.
“Rootstock and IO both have its own initiatives: Rootstock builds a union, which is a bridge between Bitcoin and Rootstock based on Bitvmx and IO working on a project to move possessions from Bitcoin to Cardano and back again,” the CEO of Fairgate Jonatan Altszul said in a interview.
“Fairgate also forces this technology and we think that together we will have more firepower, more powerful, more capacity to create a larger community.”
