Blockstream

Last updated
Blockstream
Company type Corporation
Industry Cryptocurrency software
Founded2014
Founders
  • Adam Back
  • Gregory Maxwell
  • Pieter Wuille
  • Matt Corallo
  • Mark Friedenbach
  • Jorge Timón
  • Austin Hill
  • Jonathan Wilkins
  • Francesca Hall
  • Alex Fowler
Headquarters
Victoria, British Columbia
,
Canada
Key people
  • Adam Back (CEO)
Number of employees
50–100[ citation needed ] (2014)
Website blockstream.com

Blockstream is a blockchain technology company led by co-founder Adam Back, headquartered in Victoria, Canada, with offices and staff worldwide. [1] The company develops a range of products and services for the storage and transfer of cryptocurrency. [2]

Contents

The company had raised $210M as of 2021 [3] from investors, including venture capital firms Horizons Ventures and AXA Strategic Ventures. [4]

Products

The Liquid Network

On October 12, 2015, Blockstream announced the release of its Liquid sidechain prototype which could allow for the transfer of assets between the Liquid sidechain and the bitcoin main blockchain. [5] [6] [7] On October 11, 2018, a production-ready implementation of the Liquid sidechain was officially launched, called the Liquid Network, [8] which is designed to facilitate interoperability between the Bitcoin main chain and the Liquid sidechain to extend Bitcoin’s capabilities. [9] [10]

Liquid is built using Elements Core, a sidechain protocol also designed by Blockstream and built on the Bitcoin Core codebase, [ citation needed ] which introduces several features including Confidential Transactions, Segregated Witnesses (or SegWit), native asset issuance, and new opcodes. [11] Elements Core version 0.18.1.6 was released in March 2020. [12]

Blockstream claims that Liquid reduces the delays and friction involved in a normal transfer of bitcoin. Blockstream asserts participating exchanges–including Bitfinex, BitMEX and OKCoin [8] –can reduce counterparty risk for traders and enable near-instant financial transactions between their platform and other exchanges or a trader’s wallet(s). [13] New blocks are added to the Liquid sidechain every minute, as opposed to Bitcoin's 10-minute block interval. [14]

Blockstream Satellite

In 2017 Blockstream announced the availability of one-way satellite broadcasting of the full Bitcoin blockchain [15] to enable the propagation of valid bitcoin transactions to people without Internet access or during a disruption event like an Internet blackout. [16] In 2018 Blockstream extended the Bitcoin satellite network [17] to four satellites across six coverage zones, adding Asia and Pacific region coverage. It also released API specifications to allow users to send data over its network. The network as of 2019 is only a one-way network and the user still needs a connection to the Bitcoin network to send transactions, which can include SMS gateways or higher cost internet.

Industry partnerships

Blockstream employs Bitcoin Core developers. [18]

Blockstream developer Rusty Russell was one of the first developers to try implementing the Lightning Network during the summer of 2015. [19]

In early 2018 Blockstream announced a partnership with Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) to launch a cryptocurrency market data feed. [20]

Blockstream partnered with Digital Garage, an Internet technology company based in Tokyo, in January 2019 to create Crypto Garage, a bitcoin and blockchain technology company which targets the Japanese institutional market. [21] [ better source needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Back</span> British cryptographer and cypherpunk (born 1970)

Adam Back is a British cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is the CEO of Blockstream, which he co-founded in 2014. He invented Hashcash, which is used in the Bitcoin mining process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitcoin</span> Decentralized digital currency

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Nodes in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Consensus between nodes is achieved using a computationally intensive process based on proof of work, called mining, that guarantees the security of the bitcoin blockchain. Mining consumes increasing quantities of electricity and has been criticized for its environmental effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptocurrency</span> Digital currency not reliant on a central authority

A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.

Litecoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was among the earliest altcoins, starting in October 2011. In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modified Bitcoin codebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and faster mining difficulty retargeting. Due to its underlying similarities to Bitcoin, Litecoin has historically been referred to as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold." In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via soft fork through the MWEB upgrade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Shrem</span> American entrepreneur

Charles Shrem IV is an American entrepreneur and bitcoin advocate. He co-founded the now-defunct startup company BitInstant, and is a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation. In 2014 he was sentenced to two years in prison for aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business related to the Silk Road marketplace. He was released from prison in 2016. In 2017, he joined Jaxx and served as its chief operating officer, and founded cryptocurrency advisory CryptoIQ.

Blockchain.com is a cryptocurrency financial services company. The company began as the first Bitcoin blockchain explorer in 2011 and later created a cryptocurrency wallet that accounted for 28% of bitcoin transactions between 2012 and 2020. It also operates a cryptocurrency exchange and provides institutional markets lending business and data, charts, and analytics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethereum</span> Open-source blockchain computing platform

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-source software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nxt</span> Cryptocurrency

NXT is an open source cryptocurrency and payment network launched in 2013 by anonymous software developer BCNext. It uses proof-of-stake to reach consensus for transactions—as such, there is a static money supply. Unlike Bitcoin, there is no mining. NXT was specifically conceived as a flexible platform around build applications and financial services, and serves as basis for ARDR (Ardor), a blockchain-as-a-service multichain platform developed by Jelurida, and IoTeX (cryptocurrency) the current steward of NXT as of 2021. NXT has been covered extensively in the "Call for Evidence" report by ESMA.

A blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. Since each block contains information about the previous block, they effectively form a chain, with each additional block linking to the ones before it. Consequently, blockchain transactions are irreversible in that, once they are recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.

Monero is a cryptocurrency which uses a blockchain with privacy-enhancing technologies to obfuscate transactions to achieve anonymity and fungibility. Observers cannot decipher addresses trading Monero, transaction amounts, address balances, or transaction histories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardano (blockchain platform)</span> Public blockchain platform

Cardano is a public blockchain platform. It is open-source and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof of stake. It can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with its internal cryptocurrency, ADA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lightning Network</span> Payment protocol for Bitcoin

The Lightning Network (LN) is a "layer 2" payment protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain and those of other cryptocurrencies. It is intended to enable fast transactions among participating nodes and has been proposed as a solution to the bitcoin scalability problem. It is a peer-to-peer system for making micropayments of cryptocurrency through a network of bidirectional payment channels, without delegating custody of funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitcoin scalability problem</span> Scaling problem in bitcoin processing

The Bitcoin scalability problem refers to the limited capability of the Bitcoin network to handle large amounts of transaction data on its platform in a short span of time. It is related to the fact that records in the Bitcoin blockchain are limited in size and frequency.

A cryptocurrency wallet is a device, physical medium, program or an online service which stores the public and/or private keys for cryptocurrency transactions. In addition to this basic function of storing the keys, a cryptocurrency wallet more often offers the functionality of encrypting and/or signing information. Signing can for example result in executing a smart contract, a cryptocurrency transaction, identification, or legally signing a 'document'.

bitFlyer is a private company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and founded in 2014. It operates one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges with 2.5 million users and develops other crypto-related technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tron (cryptocurrency)</span> Blockchain computing platform

TRON is a decentralized, blockchain-based operating system with smart contract functionality, proof-of-stake principles as its consensus algorithm and a cryptocurrency native to the system, known as Tronix (TRX). It was established in March 2014 by Justin Sun and since 2017 has been overseen and supervised by the TRON Foundation, a non-profit organization in Singapore, established in the same year. It is open-source software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uniswap</span> Decentralized cryptocurrency exchange

Uniswap is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that uses a set of smart contracts to create liquidity pools for the execution of trades. It is an open source project and falls into the category of a DeFi product because it uses smart contracts to facilitate trades instead of a centralized exchange. The protocol facilitates automated transactions between cryptocurrency tokens on the Ethereum blockchain through the use of smart contracts. As of October 2020, Uniswap was estimated to be the largest decentralized exchange and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange overall by daily trading volume.

Stacks, formerly Blockstack, is a blockchain platform for smart contracts, decentralized finance ("DeFi"), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized apps ("DApps"). Stacks blockchain is a layer for bitcoin similar to the Lightning Network.

References

  1. ↑ "Making Bitcoin work better". The Economist. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Lee, Timothy B. (4 January 2015). "2015 will be a make-or-break year for Bitcoin". Vox. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  3. ↑ Bambysheva, Nina. "Satoshi Nakamoto Source Adam Back Raising $210 Million For His Bitcoin Infrastructure Provider Blockstream". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
  4. ↑ "Bitcoin startup blockstream raises 55 million in funding round". Wall Street Journal. 4 February 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  5. ↑ Casey, Michael J. (9 June 2015). "BitBeat: Blockstream Unveils Much-Awaited First Sidechain Prototype". WSJ (Blog).
  6. ↑ Vigna, Paul (13 October 2015). "BitBeat: Blockstream Releases Liquid, First 'Sidechain'". WSJ (Blog). Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Chishti, Susanne; Barberis, Janos (February 29, 2016). "Application Stacks". The FINTECH Book: The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors ... Wiley Publishing. p. 219. ISBN   978-1-119-21887-6.
  8. 1 2 "New Crypto Consortium Seeks to Alleviate Liquidity Problems". Bloomberg. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  9. ↑ Swan, Melanie (January 1, 2015). Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy. O'Reilly Media. ISBN   978-1-4919-2049-7.
  10. ↑ "Data Security Is Becoming the Sparkle in Bitcoin". The New York Times. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  11. ↑ Evans, Jon (13 June 2015). "Sidechains And Lightning, The New New Bitcoin". TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  12. ↑ Roose, Steven (25 March 2020). "elements-0.18.1.6". github. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  13. ↑ Ji-hyoung, Son (30 April 2018). "[Herald Interview] Blockstream CSO urges crypto caution". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  14. ↑ Van Hijfte, Stijn (2020). Blockchain Platforms: A Look at the Underbelly of Distributed Platforms. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. p. 122. ISBN   9781681738925 . Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  15. ↑ Russo, Camila (15 August 2017). "Bitcoin Is Literally Soaring Into Space After Rocket-Like Surge". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  16. ↑ Lovelace Jr., Berkeley (8 December 2017). "Bitcoin 'can survive an apocalypse' using old-school technology, says CoinDesk researcher". CNBC. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  17. ↑ "Who Needs Verizon? Blockstream Broadcasts Entire Bitcoin Blockchain From Space". Forbes. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  18. ↑ Popper, Nathaniel (25 July 2017). "Some Bitcoin Backers Are Defecting to Create a Rival Currency". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ Upson, Sandra (19 January 2018). "The Lightning Network Could Make Bitcoin Faster—and Cheaper". Wired. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  20. ↑ "NYSE's Owner to Launch Bitcoin Firm, Futures Contracts". Wall Street Journal. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  21. ↑ Russell, Jon (22 January 2019). "Digital Garage teams up with Blockstream to develop blockchain financial services in Japan". TechCrunch. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
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