Leading Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream this week held its first-ever online media briefing. Attended by prominent journalists from mainstream and industry media outlets, the hour-long event provided attendees with an exclusive opportunity to engage with Blockstream’s senior leadership team, as well as gain unique insight into some of the company’s most recent achievements in the fast-moving Bitcoin development space.
“Blockstream’s very-first media briefing presented an opportunity to connect with journalists and share our latest Bitcoin innovation breakthroughs,” said Blockstream CEO and co-founder, Dr. Adam Back. “The unveiling of our upcoming “Cyberhornet” Bitcoin miner and the introduction of Greenlight are just a small glimpse of what’s to come, as we continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in helping the Bitcoin ecosystem to advance and evolve throughout 2023 and beyond.”
Led by Blockstream CFO Erik Svenson and CPO Jeff Boortz, the media briefing included major updates regarding Blockstream’s pioneering work to expand Bitcoin’s usability and scalability through layer-2 solutions the Lightning and Liquid networks, its Bitcoin mining operations and self-custody solutions.
Additionally, Blockstream’s CEO and legendary Bitcoin pioneer Dr. Adam Back was on hand for the event’s final Q&A session. During the session he addressed various questions, sharing his unique insights on diverse topics ranging from self-custody best practices to his perspectives on the SEC’s latest regulatory crackdown on alleged unregistered securities and its implications for Bitcoin long-term.
The event was kicked off by Blockstream CFO Erik Svenson who began by providing a brief introduction to Blockstream and its decade-long history before providing an update on Blockstream’s mining efforts, in addition to unveiling previously-unreleased images of the company’s North American mining facilities.
Blockstream Reveals Long-Awaited ASIC
Members of the press were treated to an exclusive first glimpse of what - until now - has been one of the company’s most closely-guarded secrets, its new Bitcoin miner. Nicknamed the “Cyberhornet” and scheduled for launch in Q3 2024, the new miner represents Blockstream’s first foray into the world of Bitcoin mining hardware following its 2021 acquisition of Israeli miner maker Spondoolies.
Blockstream Unveils Greenlight, Reinforcing its Dedication to Non-Custodial Solutions with Blockstream Green Integration
On the layer-2 front, Jeff Boortz, who leads product development at Blockstream, explained how Core Lightning, Blockstream’s implementation of the Lightning Network, continues to be one of the most popular options for running a node.
During this section, Blockstream unveiled Greenlight, a new offering that hosts Lightning nodes in the cloud for businesses, merchants, and Lightning apps, significantly reducing the technical burden of accessing the Lightning network while maintaining the integrity of private keys.
It was also announced that Blockstream Green, the company’s popular software wallet application, will be seamlessly integrated with Greenlight, further cementing its dedication to non-custodial solutions.
Blockstream Reveals Growth and Broadening Adoption of the Liquid Network with Transaction Volumes Achieving All-Time High
Jeff Boortz concluded the briefing explaining how the Liquid Network, the Bitcoin sidechain designed for financial applications, is enjoying unprecedented growth and broadening adoption. It was revealed that since the fall of last year, transaction volumes on the network have surged, recently reaching an all-time high.
Blockstream anticipates even more exciting announcements as it welcomes members of the press to its next media briefing towards the end of 2023.
About Blockstream
Blockstream is the global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure. Blockstream’s sidechain technology (Liquid Network) enables trustless Bitcoin swap settlements and secure, dependable smart-contracts while empowering financial institutions to tokenize assets. Blockstream Mining provides colocation services to miners, across multiple enterprise-class mining facilities. Blockstream’s Core Lightning implementation of the open Lightning Network protocol is the go-to code for enterprise Lightning Network deployments on Bitcoin. Blockstream Jade is an easy-to-use, open-source hardware wallet that offers advanced security for Bitcoin and Liquid assets. Blockstream Green is the world’s most advanced consumer Bitcoin wallet. Blockstream was founded in 2014, with offices and team members distributed around the world.