Blockstream Moves Ahead with Sidechain Elements, the First Implementation of Sidechains

Blockstream has been working on projects to extend Bitcoin for quite some time. It is one of a few such companies that believe that the block chain, and Bitcoin more generally, can be extended beyond its current abilities, and that experiments can take place which later on could benefit Bitcoin itself. One of its long-awaited projects has now been released to the community, Sidechain Elements. This project essentially serves as a codebase for sidechain developers to build sidechains. The burning question is: what is a sidechain? A sidechain is pretty much an alt coin without the alt, an....

In June, Bitcoin Magazine reported that Blockstream launched Sidechain Elements, a sidechain development framework with open source code, including an experimental sidechain for developers dubbed Elements Alpha. Now, in the first technical post to appear on the Blockstream blog after the announcement of Sidechain Elements, Blockstream and Bitcoin Core developer Pieter Wuille proposes the intriguing concept of Tree Signatures, an efficient multisig method with enhanced privacy. Blockstream was formed by renowned cryptography experts, including some Bitcoin Core developers, to accelerate....

The authors of the much-discussed Bitcoin Sidechains paper "Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains," released in October, have formed the company Blockstream to develop new ways to accelerate innovation in digital currencies, open assets and smart contracts. In November, Blockstream closed a $21 million seed funding round with nearly 40 investors, including well-known pioneers of the Internet and financial services sectors. The Bitcoin Sidechains paper envisages an ecosystem of "sidechains" separate from the main Bitcoin blockchain but interoperable with it. A sidechain can....

Blockstream has announced it will release an open source codebase and testing environment for its signature sidechains project. Called Sidechains Elements, the launch is the first major release for the bitcoin startup since it published its white paper last fall. According to Blockstream, the code will allow community developers to experiment with sidechain functionality, with initial features allowing users to transact and issue digital assets. The release comes months after Blockstream raised $21m in seed capital from investors including Reid Hoffman, Google chairman Eric Schmidt's....

Blockstream has announced its first Bitcoin sidechain called Liquid, set to be launched in early 2016. The sidechain will serve payment processors and brokerages among a dozen other major traders and licensed exchanges with instantaneous and secure transactions. Months after releasing the source code of Sidechain Elements - a codebase for developers to experiment and build sidechains, Blockstream, a startup comprising of a group of core Bitcoin developers has announced the first commercial application of sidechain technology with Liquid. Blockstream, having raised $21 million in venture....