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Blockstream

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Blockstream
Company typeCorporation
IndustryCryptocurrency 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)
Websiteblockstream.com

Blockstream is a blockchain technology company led by co-founder Dr. 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 Bitcoin and other digital assets.[2]

The company has raised $76M to date from investors, including venture capital firms Horizons Ventures, Mosaic Ventures, and AXA Strategic Ventures.[3][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 sidechain and the main blockchain.[5][6][7] On October 11, 2018, a production-ready implementation of the sidechain was officially launched, called the Liquid Network.[8] Blockstream produces software that facilitates interoperability between the Bitcoin main chain and the sidechain to extend Bitcoin’s capabilities.[9][10] 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).[11]

Blockstream Satellite

In 2017 Blockstream announced the availability of one-way satellite broadcasting of the full Bitcoin blockchain.[12] In 2018 Blockstream extended the Bitcoin satellite network[13] to four satellites across six coverage zones, adding Asia and Pacific region coverage, and 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[14] or higher cost internet which would be expensive for receiving full Bitcoin block data, but is cost effective to send a single transaction.

Cryptocurrency Data Feed

In early 2018 Blockstream announced a partnership with Intercontinental Exchange Inc., or ICE, to launch a cryptocurrency market data feed[15]. Financial firms using this feed receive comprehensive historical price and market depth data for hundreds of crypto and fiat currency pairs from more than 15 cryptocurrency exchanges around the world[16].

Research and Open Source Initiatives

In addition to its corporate initiatives, Blockstream is also involved in a number of open source programs.

Bitcoin

Blockstream employs one prominent Bitcoin Core developer.[17]

Main article: Bitcoin

Lightning Network

Blockstream developer Rusty Russell was the first Bitcoin developer to try implementing the Lightning Network during the summer of 2015.[18] Blockstream released version 0.8.1 of c-lightning, its own implementation of the Lightning Network, in February 2020.[19]

Main article: Lightning Network

Cryptographic privacy and security research

Blockstream has published work on Confidential Assets,[20] Confidential transactions,[21] secure multi- and aggregate signatures,[22] and the blockchain programming language Simplicity.[23]

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. ^ "Our Investment in Blockstream". Mosaic Ventures. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
  4. ^ "Bitcoin startup blockstream raises 55 million in funding round". Wall Street Journal. 4 February 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  5. ^ Casey, Michael J. "BitBeat: Blockstream Unveils Much-Awaited First Sidechain Prototype". WSJ (Blog).
  6. ^ Vigna, Paul. "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. ^ a b "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. ^ Ji-hyoung, Son (30 April 2018). "[Herald Interview] Blockstream CSO urges crypto caution". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 30 March 2020. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ Russo, Camila (15 August 2017). "Bitcoin Is Literally Soaring Into Space After Rocket-Like Surge". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Who Needs Verizon? Blockstream Broadcasts Entire Bitcoin Blockchain From Space". Forbes. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  14. ^ Rusnak, Pavol. "Simple PushTX server to push Bitcoin transactions via SMS (using Nexmo)". github (Blog). Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  15. ^ "NYSE's Owner to Launch Bitcoin Firm, Futures Contracts". Wall Street Journal. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  16. ^ "NYSE's Owner to Launch Bitcoin Firm, Futures Contracts". Wall Street Journal. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  17. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/business/dealbook/bitcoin-cash-split.html
  18. ^ Upson, Sandra (19 January 2018). "The Lightning Network Could Make Bitcoin Faster—and Cheaper". Wired. Retrieved 30 March 2020. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  19. ^ Russell, Rusty. "v0.8.1: Channel to the Moon". github. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  20. ^ Andrew Poelstra, Adam Back, Mark Friedenbach, Gregory Maxwell, and Pieter Wuille. "Confidential Assets" (PDF). Blockstream.com. Retrieved 21 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "Confidential Transactions". elementsproject.org. Retrieved 2 Dec 2019.
  22. ^ Maxwell, Gregory; Poelstra, Andrew; Seurin, Yannick; Wuille, Pieter (2 February 2019). "Simple Schnorr multi-signatures with applications to Bitcoin". Designs, Codes and Cryptography. 87 (9). Springer US: 2139–2164. doi:10.1007/s10623-019-00608-x. ISSN 0925-1022.
  23. ^ O'Connor, Russell (2017). "Simplicity: A New Language for Blockchains". Proceedings of the 2017 Workshop on Programming Languages and Analysis for Security. ACM: 107–120. doi:10.1145/3139337.3139340. ISBN 978-1-4503-5099-0.
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