[TEST C31-4925] Rootstock Prepares to Release SDKs for Bitcoin Layer 2s Using BitVMX

One of the oldest Bitcoin ecosystem projects is moving to the next stage of enabling developers to build layer-2 networks using its computational layer.

Rootstock is one of many projects currently advancing the goal of bringing greater utility and interoperability, which it is doing using "BitVMX", its modified version of the BitVM programming language.

Rootstock's project is almost at the point of releasing software development kits (SDKs), allowing developers to start producing their ow Bitcoin layer 2s using BitVMX.

SDKs are sets of tools enabling third-parties to build applications using a particular platform or framework.

Founder Sergio Lerner told CoinDesk in an interview that these will be released in a matter of weeks.

"We are very close to having all the pieces ready for people to start building their own solutions on top of BitVMX," he said.

Rootstock's BitVMX project harnesses the BitVM paradigm introduced by Robin Linus in 2023 as a design for how Ethereum-style smart contracts could be built on Bitcoin. This could then greatly improve Bitcoin's scalability through enabling the building of faster, layer-2 networks with programmability similar to what's possible on Ethereum and other blockchains.

BitVMX Platform

Alongside BitVMX contributors Fairside, Rootstock Labs last year made a breakthrough in using BitVMX to verify a zero-knowledge SNARK (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge), an integral aspect of cryptography in many blockchain systems.

The distribution of tools for other developers to explore these capabilities further, driving competition and thus increasing 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 to and develop your own ideas on top of," he said.

"BitVMX is becoming a platform, which means there will be a lot more competition: rollups and sidechains competing against each other and the ones that can find use cases for people to power their tools will win."

Sergio Lerner, a a Buenos Aires-based programmer, is best known for his research on Bitcoin in its early years and his later contribution to the development on Ethereum.

He has concerns that Bitcoin will not fulfil the purpose for which it was created if it remains just a store of value and is not developed as "money for the people," he told CoinDesk.

"If all BTC just end up in ETFs, they will all be controlled by financial institutions and there will be no more Bitcoin as we know it,," he said.

"So we all need to making bitcoin payments and holding our own BTC in self custody. That's why we thought creating layers for Bitcoin is the right approach and I think the key for this is BitVM protocol, especially BitVMX."

BitVMX Force