Smart contract platform Rootstock receives $1 million in seed funding, led by Bitmain

On March 22, blockchain startup RSK Labs announced that it had received $1 million in seed funding to support the development of Rootstock, a smart contract platform attached to the Bitcoin blockchain in the form of a sidechain.

It is reported that Bitcoin mining company Bitmain Technology led the round of financing, and other participants include Bitcoin & blockchain investment company Coinsilium and Digital Currency Group (DCG).

In an interview, RSK Labs CEO Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar said the project’s goal is to build a blockchain network that can attract support from both bitcoin miners and developers of smart contract applications, similar to the ethereum platform.

He told CoinDesk:

“The idea is to facilitate anything that’s been built by the community. Not only because of the network effects of Bitcoin, but also because miners will earn additional revenue by merge-mining Rootstock, and providing a place for Ethereum developers to build applications.”

When it comes to comparing Rootstock to Ethereum, Saldivar said that over time the Rootstock network will differentiate itself and grow with the real applications he described, especially those related to financial services.

Ethereum has gained a lot of attention in recent weeks, with its latest update enabling new innovations in smart contracts.

Rootstock, by contrast, plans to launch a private beta version in late April (it launched a beta version in September last year). According to Saldivar, the company aims to launch a production blockchain by the end of this year that will take advantage of bitcoin’s network effects.

It is reported that the financing will be used to support the completion of RSK Labs' technical solutions.

Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu said in a press release that he believes Rootstock will play an important role in the future development of smart contracts.

“Rootstock is the most exciting opportunity I know of for startups in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The wave of startups building smart contract solutions on top of RSK will do a lot of amazing things,” he said.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/smart-contract-1-million-bitcoin-rootstock/
By Stan Higgins
Translator: Overnight porridge
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/rootstock-1-million)