StarkWare, the Israeli firm renowned for its Ethereum layer-2 solutions StarkNet and StarkEx, has launched a groundbreaking initiative to boost Bitcoin‘s capabilities using zero-knowledge rollups. The company has committed a $1 million research and development fund to this endeavor, underscoring its dedication to the future of Bitcoin scalability.
At the core of StarkWare’s scaling solution is StarkNet, a decentralized and permissionless rollup system for Ethereum. Rollups improve efficiency by aggregating numerous transactions off-chain and verifying them on-chain at a reduced cost. This approach, successful on Ethereum, is now being adapted for Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin today is powerful, but it has the potential to be so much more,” stated Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO and co-founder of StarkWare. “By scaling Bitcoin, we can unlock blockchain’s full potential to transform the world.”
A key element of this plan involves a proposal to reinstate a Bitcoin blockchain command known as OP_CAT. This command enables developers to set conditions for future Bitcoin transactions, facilitating features such as automated payments and reversible transactions, similar to smart contracts on other blockchains.
Advocates of the OP_CAT proposal have introduced new code, demonstrating how this command could enhance Bitcoin’s functionality. The proposal has drawn interest with the inclusion of the meme number 420 as the suggested Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) number. StarkWare has already initiated testing zero-knowledge proofs on Bitcoin through the newly established ZeroSync Association in Switzerland. This technology allows users to validate the Bitcoin network without downloading its entire history, promoting a more efficient and scalable system.
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