Topic: [2018-01-05] RSK Mines Its Genesis Block – Bitcoin Now Has Smart Contract Platfo (Read 179 times)

RSK Labs has finally mined its genesis block and formally launched its long-awaited Bitcoin-based smart contract platform and sidechain on the mainnet. While still in beta with limited distribution, the new RSK sidechain is expected to offer significant scaling benefits to the Bitcoin network. News.Bitcoin.com caught up with CEO Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar to find out more details.

RSK Mined Its Genesis Block

After nearly 3 years of preparation, RSK Labs has finally mined its genesis block at 1:41 am CST on January 4, 2018.

“We’re very excited to share the RSK mainnet network with the global community,” commented RSK Labs CEO Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar. “It’s a great milestone for the company after years of hard work, but this is not only ours, it’s a community success.”

The first Bitcoin-powered smart contract platform is now live on the mainnet. The source code for RSK’s first mainnet version, codenamed Bamboo, was released for peer review in early December, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.

Along with the mining of the genesis block, the company re-promoted on Thursday its “Bug Bounty Program to reward security experts and work with the global developer community feedback, and a full getting started guide for business partners and dapp developers.”

In an exclusive interview with news.Bitcoin.com, Zaldivar shared:

"We expect a big milestone to happen four months after the beta release when the security bounty programs are concluded."


How the Platform Works

The RSK network node and wallet client is available for download on Github. The developers also offer a blockchain explorer and stats panel to observe the RSK network in real-time.

Other wallets for RSK, including versions by Jaxx and Myetherwallet, are being worked on. Sergio Lerner, RSK Labs’ Chief Scientist, told news.Bitcoin.com in a previous interview, “we think that RSK will be integrated into most bitcoin wallets in the future.”

Zaldivar explained that there are currently no contract limits on the amount of bitcoin transacted over the Bamboo sidechain. “The only limit imposed is to the value held in the network as a whole,” he noted, but added that “In the future, when the network value is unrestricted we might impose per contract limits and progressively raise those limits as the technology matures.” The CEO elaborated:

"Initially only 21 smartbitcoins will circulate in the RSK mainnet beta (Bamboo) and they will be allocated to the first 100 companies participating on the RSK incentive program. Although the peg between Bitcoin and RSK will be fully functional, only white-listed addresses will be able to send bitcoins and get smartbitcoins in return. All funds from transactions originated on non-white listed addresses will be returned."

“We will incrementally add value at stake as the platform gets hardened until it is fully decentralized,” he emphasized.

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