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StarkWare Introduces Zk Rollups to Bitcoin
Discussions within the team lasted for a long time
According to The Block’s report, blockchain technology developer StarkWare announced today that it will introduce zero-knowledge proofs (Zk) scaling solutions into the Bitcoin ecosystem, allowing Starknet to settle on both Ethereum and Bitcoin simultaneously. Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO and co-founder of StarkWare, stated in a statement:
The team emphasizes that this plan will not create additional blockchain networks, but will use the same Starknet network with the same governance and token economics, and support Bitcoin scaling without forking. Each dApp can choose which ecosystem to build on.
In addition, StarkWare also announced that it will provide a $1 million application fund for Bitcoin researchers interested in participating in the project, with applications opening in a few weeks.
The team shared with The Block that the plan for Bitcoin scaling had been discussed internally at StarkWare for a long time. Ben-Sasson had already given a speech on this issue at a Bitcoin conference in 2013.
StarkWare stated that Bitcoin was not ready for STARK before, while Ethereum was already prepared, which is why StarkWare focused solely on Ethereum scaling. However, after the Bitcoin Taproot upgrade in November 2021, many “restrictive features” were removed, allowing for further experimentation and innovation. Ben-Sasson stated in the statement:
Furthermore, Ben-Sasson reiterated that OP_CAT, a highly discussed opcode proposal in Bitcoin recently, is the best approach for Bitcoin scaling solutions.
