2026
The Rootstock network is developed and maintained by a decentralized ecosystem of independent core developers and entities.
Q1 2026
Unlocking Bitcoin Capital
Expanding what's possible for Bitcoin holders with stronger infrastructure and new financial opportunities.
Institutional Bitcoininvestment products
Midas brings tokenized investment products such as mHyperBTC to Rootstock, while Mellow Protocol and Tyr Capital introduce permissioned institutional Bitcoin vaults with market-neutral BTC strategies, independent NAV and monthly liquidity. Together, these products expand the range of institutional Bitcoin investment opportunities available on Rootstock.
Q1 2026Animoca joins the ecosystem
Animoca Brands joins the Rootstock ecosystem to explore Bitcoin-native institutional use cases for Japanese corporations, expanding Rootstock’s reach into one of the world’s largest digital asset markets.
Q1 2026Broader institutional custody
Utila joins Fireblocks, Fordefi and Cobo in supporting rBTC and the Rootstock network. Institutions gain more enterprise-grade custody options for securely managing and deploying Bitcoin onchain.
Q1 2026Vetiver strengthensthe network
Activated on Mainnet on 4 May 2026, Vetiver 9.0.0 introduces foundational capabilities for Union Bridge, Account Abstraction and future performance improvements. The upgrade strengthens the network today while laying the groundwork for the next generation of Bitcoin financial infrastructure.
Q1 2026Q2 2026
Making Bitcoin More Usable
Removing friction so Bitcoin can move freely, access financial applications and power the onchain economy.
Atlas launches
Launched on 15 April 2026, Atlas becomes Rootstock’s unified gateway for moving Bitcoin and approximately ten major digital assets, including BTC, Lightning, ETH, USDT and USDC, onto Rootstock. Users can compare routes based on speed, cost and trust assumptions through a single interface.
Q2 2026Union enterspublic testing
Union, Rootstock’s BitVMX-powered Bitcoin bridge, launches on Testnet with support for happy-path flows. Dispute resolution, fraud proofs and security audits remain ahead on the path to Mainnet as Rootstock continues taking a security-first approach to Bitcoin interoperability.
Q2 2026Bitcoin capitalmarkets expand
Mercado Bitcoin brings more than $60 million in tokenized private credit to Rootstock, with a roadmap toward $100 million in issuance. The partnership expands institutional investment opportunities and demonstrates how Bitcoin can support regulated financial assets at scale.
Q2 2026Miners gain direct control
Bitcoin miners can directly control their own Rootstock merged mining, the mechanism that lets miners secure Rootstock with the same proof of work that secures Bitcoin. Enabled through the DMND mining pool and Stratum V2, the upgrade shifts control and rewards from mining pools to individual miners, strengthening decentralization across both Bitcoin and Rootstock.
Q2 2026Scaling stablecoininfrastructure
RIF On Chain V3 introduces multi-collateral support for USDRIF using both RIF and the Bitcoin-backed stablecoin DOC. The upgrade improves capital efficiency and resilience while strengthening the stablecoin infrastructure supporting Bitcoin-native financial applications.
Q2 2026Growing network adoption
Rootstock surpasses 21 million transactions, reflecting growing activity across payments, stablecoins, tokenized assets and other Bitcoin-native financial applications.
Q2 2026Q3 2026
Raising the Bar for Bitcoin Security
Building long-term trust through resilient infrastructure and future-ready security.
Bitcoin security at scale
More than 80% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate now secures Rootstock through merged mining, reinforcing one of the strongest security models in the Bitcoin ecosystem. This gives developers, institutions and users greater confidence to build and move capital on a network secured by the vast majority of Bitcoin miners.
Q3 2026Advancing Rootstock’ssecurity model
Rootstock continues to strengthen its defence-in-depth security model through independent audits, expanded bug bounty programs and continuous reviews of critical infrastructure including the PowPeg and bridge components. These ongoing efforts help identify and mitigate risks early, reinforcing the long term resilience of the network as it continues to grow.
Q3 2026Toward decentralizednetwork security
Rootstock advances the proposal for Fork-Aware Consensus (FACON), a new consensus mechanism that would bring hidden-fork protection directly into the protocol and enable every node to independently verify chain safety. Once adopted, FACON would reduce trust assumptions, eliminate reliance on centralized monitoring infrastructure and further strengthen Rootstock’s security model for institutional-grade financial infrastructure.
Q3 2026Preparing for apost-quantum future
Rootstock publishes its roadmap for adopting quantum-resistant cryptography, outlining a phased strategy for protecting Bitcoin assets against future advances in quantum computing. Planning ahead helps ensure the network remains resilient over the coming decades as cryptographic standards continue to evolve.
Q3 2026Q4 2026
Built for Institutional Scale
Delivering the infrastructure institutions need to deploy Bitcoin capital with confidence.
InstitutionalBTC and USD vaults
Institutional-grade vaults designed to support Bitcoin-secured lending and yield with onchain risk management, audited smart contracts and self-custodied collateral. These vaults provide treasury teams with secure, capital-efficient ways to put Bitcoin to work without sacrificing transparency or control.
Q4 2026Union moves closerto Mainnet
Union Testnet V2 expands bridge functionality with dispute handling, improved developer tooling and broader ecosystem integrations. The release validates key capabilities required for Mainnet deployment while preparing developers, partners and infrastructure providers for launch.
Q4 2026Atlas for institutions
Atlas expands with institutional-grade capabilities including custody integrations, advanced transaction workflows and onboarding designed for treasury teams and financial service providers. These capabilities simplify how institutions move capital onchain while meeting the operational requirements of professional asset management.
Q4 2026The next evolution ofRootstock
Rootstock Cardamom 10.0.0 network upgrade introduces one of the network’s biggest upgrades to date, bringing Account Abstraction, Parallel Transaction Execution and other core protocol improvements in a single release. The upgrade delivers faster transaction processing, smarter wallet experiences and the performance needed to support the next generation of Bitcoin-native financial applications at institutional scale.
Q4 20262027
Powering Bitcoin Capital Markets
Scaling the infrastructure for global Bitcoin-native finance.
Bitcoin payments at scale
A Bitcoin-native payment rollup introduces fast, low-cost transaction processing while settling securely on Rootstock. It unlocks new use cases including merchant payments, payroll, remittances and stablecoin transfers while leveraging Rootstock’s Bitcoin secured infrastructure.
2027The next generationof Bitcoin vaults
Rootstock Vaults evolves from individual vaults into the infrastructure layer for Bitcoin-secured financial services. Institutions, fintechs and Bitcoin businesses can configure and launch their own Earn and Borrow products using audited, custody-integrated and compliant vault templates.
2027Trust-minimizedBitcoin interoperability
Union launches on Mainnet, bringing BitVMX-powered Bitcoin interoperability to the broader ecosystem. Users, institutions and developers gain a more trust minimized way to move Bitcoin across programmable financial applications, unlocking new opportunities for cross-chain liquidity.
2027A more decentralizedPowPeg
The PowPeg bridge expands to approximately 60 independent members, increasing geographic diversity and decentralization across the network. A larger member set further strengthens the security of Rootstock’s bridge while reinforcing confidence for institutions securing and moving Bitcoin at scale.
2027