2024/25
The Rootstock network is developed and maintained by a decentralized ecosystem of independent core developers and entities.
Q2
The revelation phase
Rootstock becomes the most accessible Bitcoin Layer 2, providing builders more secure and efficient pathways to enter and exit the network.
BitVMX White Paper
BitVMX’s whitepaper introduces a new framework to optimistically execute arbitrary programs on Bitcoin. BitVMX provides the foundation for developing decentralized bridges, driving the evolution of Bitcoin and Rootstock towards greater decentralization and functionality.
May 2024Upgraded Rootstock Accesswith Flyover and Boltz
- Simplified, faster, and cheaper non-custodial BTC mainchain and LN-BTC swaps with Rootstock via Boltz.
- Fast and frictionless native BTC/RBTC transfers with the Flyover protocol integration into Rootstock’s peg-in and peg-out web dApp.
Q3
The advancement phase
Rootstock network becomes more robust, while bridging experience continues improving for more usability.
Rootstock LovellNetwork Upgrade
The upgrade introduces stable minimum gas prices denominated in fiat and lowers the minimum amounts required for both peg-in and peg-out transactions. RSKIP-419, one of the proposals, brings significant robustness improvements to the PowPeg for enhanced efficiency and usability.
October 2024Upgraded Rootstock Accesswith Lightning
Rootstock access becomes more sophisticated by adding Lightning to the peg-in and peg-out experience. This gives users the ability to select their preferred method for entering Rootstock, depending on their level of expertise and type of transaction.
MID Q3Bitcoin Native Assets Bridge
The new bridge introduces seamless cross-chain transfers of Bitcoin assets (Runes / Taproot Assets) into Rootstock, providing users easy access to a scalable platform that has a dynamic and diverse DeFi ecosystem.
LATE Q3Q4
The scaling phase
Rootstock achieving faster and more cost-effective transactions, encouraging the development of scalable products and dApps.
RSKj Snap Synchronization
RSKj, the Rootstock protocol reference implementation, introduces snap sync mode which enables full synchronization of Rootstock nodes in only a few hours, significantly enhancing the speed and efficiency of syncing operations.
EARLY Q4Upgraded Rootstock Accesswith RBTC SuperApp
The final version of the Rootstock peg-in and peg-out experience includes an all-in-one SuperApp with all available pathways, enabling fast, versatile, secure and trust-minimized BTC/RBTC transfers.
LATE Q4Parallel TransactionExecution
RSKIP-144 introduces the Parallel Transaction Execution protocol which allows transactions to be safely parallelized. This increases the block gas limit and improves the scalability of Rootstock by increasing the transaction throughput.
LATE Q4Q1 2025
The decentralization 2.0 phase
Rootstock’s decentralization journey continues, while contributing directly to Bitcoin innovation.
Intel SGX-based PowHSMs
Intel SGX-based PowHSMs enable HSM cloud setup, simplifying the addition of new pegnatories (entities overseeing Bitcoin transaction signing) to join the PowPeg and diversifying HSM manufacturers.
EARLY Q1Faster TransactionConfirmations
This improvement proposal enables faster blocks and higher transaction throughput, reducing transaction confirmation times from 30 to just 5 seconds.
MID Q1Segwit-compatible PowPeg
RSKIP-305 proposes to upgrade the PowPeg to a SegWit-compatible 2-Way Peg, increasing the number of entities overseeing Bitcoin transaction signing to over 60. This significantly enhances decentralization and reduces peg-out transaction fees by up to 70%.
MID Q1BitVMX Bridge
The BitVMX Bridge will revolutionize the bridging technology on Rootstock, by introducing a trust-minimized Bitcoin/Rootstock bridge. This will rely on the 1-of-n honest assumption, and will not require changes to the Bitcoin consensus protocol.
LATE Q1