The Bitcoin ecosystem has experienced significant growth and engagement over the past two years, but some projects have been working to expand the blockchain's capabilities for much longer. One such project is Rootstock, a sidechain that launched in 2018. Sergio Demian Lerner, a programmer based in Buenos Aires, is the founder of Rootstock and is known for his research on Satoshi Nakamoto's mining activities and his contributions to Ethereum's development.
Currently, Rootstock is working on the 'BitVMX' project, which aims to enhance Bitcoin's programmability using Robin Linus' BitVM design unveiled in late 2023. The BitVMX framework is designed to enable the execution of any CPU on Bitcoin, according to the project's whitepaper. By putting the BitVM paradigm into practice, BitVMX seeks to create a framework for running programs on Bitcoin, thereby facilitating the development of more sidechains and Layer 2 solutions.
As per Rootstock's roadmap, the project is expected to be completed by late Q1 2025. The BitVMX Bridge is set to revolutionize bridging technology on Rootstock by introducing a trust-minimized Bitcoin/Rootstock bridge, which will rely on the 1-of-n honest assumption and will not require any changes to the Bitcoin consensus protocol. This article is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 series, and the full list of nominees can be found here.