A comprehensive roadmap of proposed improvements to Rootstock, the longest-running Bitcoin sidechain was revealed at on-stage Consensus 2024 by RootstockLabs’ CEO, Daniel Fogg, alongside a major company initiative – the fifth edition of the Rootstock Grants Program.
As part of the Bitcoin Half Day hosted by Consensus, the largest cryptocurrency conference in the world, Daniel Fogg, CEO of RootstockLabs took to the stage to reveal an ambitious community roadmap for Rootstock, explore why a wave of new developer tools and apps are choosing to bring Bitcoin DeFi to their users through Rootstock and explain why RootstockLabs is committing $3m to supporting the growth of the Rootstock ecosystem and the development of RIF Technologies with grants and strategic partnerships.
A wave of new integrations
Building on the momentum of all-time highs in Bitcoin price and interest in Bitcoin L2s, 10 new protocols have integrated Rootstock in the last two weeks alone, this includes Tacen, Umbrella Network, DEGA, OpenOcean, Gelato, Stream, Unifi, SimpleFi and Sailing Protocol.
A 12-month Rootstock roadmap
Also unveiled at Consensus is the proposed roadmap of improvements for Rootstock over the next 12 months. Developed by core contributors from across the Rootstock ecosystem, the roadmap includes a range of Rootstock Improvement Proposals (RSKIPs) focused on increasing transaction speed, and improving usability and security.
Highlights include:
- Reducing transaction confirmation times from 30 to just 5 seconds
- Adding Lightning support to Rootstock’s peg-in and peg-out experience
- Reducing peg-out transaction fees by up to 70%
- Upgrading the PowPeg to a SegWit-compatible 2-Way Peg, increasing the number of entities overseeing Bitcoin transaction signing to over 60.
- A native assets bridge that allows Bitcoin assets (Runes / Taproot Assets) to freely flow between the Bitcoin mainchain and Rootstock
- Simplified, faster, and cheaper non-custodial BTC mainchain and LN-BTC swaps with Rootstock via Boltz
- Preparing the development of a truly trust-minimized Bitcoin/Rootstock bridge that will harness BitVMX and will not require changes to the Bitcoin consensus protocol
Rootstock Grants Program: Wave V Launch
Alongside the announcement of the roadmap, Rootstock Labs’ CEO, Daniel Fogg, introduced an important company initiative at Consensus 2024: the launch of Wave 5 of the company’s Grants Program. This new wave is aimed at providing web3 entrepreneurs building on Bitcoin with the necessary resources to launch their ambitious projects.
As part of its commitment to support the next wave of developers, Rootstock Labs plans to dedicate $3 million to foster the Rootstock ecosystem and the development of RIF Technologies. This includes funding for the Grants Program and key strategic integrations aimed at bringing high-caliber protocols, exchanges, and developer tools to Rootstock.
In the past year, $2.5 million was made available to support new and existing crypto projects transitioning to Rootstock, establishing it as a premier destination for DeFi on Bitcoin. More than 40 dApps have already found a home on Rootstock’s blockchain. In addition to grants, RootstockLabs continues to provide mentorship and marketing support to help entrepreneurs gain visibility and success on Rootstock.
RootstockLabs Hosts EasyA Hackathon at Consensus 2024
Finally, RootstockLabs’ involvement at Consensus 2024 included hosting the EasyA Hackathon. The event brought together 500 of the world’s top developers and founders to collaborate and build together in person. Participants had the chance to win a share of $160,000 in prize money, as well as access to millions of dollars in grants and VC funding.
