• Blockstream, a leading Bitcoin infrastructure company, has announced a formalized Blockstream Research team.
• The research team is working on projects such as Simplicity, Miniscript, Elements Script and Cross Input Signature Aggregation (CISA/XISA).
• Team members include Andrew Poelstra, Andrew Chow, Dr. Russell O’Connor and Christian Lewe.
Blockstream Formalizes Research Team
Blockstream has announced the formation of its formalized Blockstream Research team to focus on advancing the platforms at the core of Bitcoin’s ecosystem. The team is tackling complex problems and pushing the boundaries of what can be done with Bitcoin technology.
Projects in Progress
The research team is already working on multiple projects such as Simplicity, a more robust programming language designed as an alternative to Bitcoin Script; Miniscript, a safer language for writing structured Bitcoin Scripts; Elements Script, extensions to Bitcoin Script that includes new covenant opcodes; Cross Input Signature Aggregation (CISA/XISA), which enables multiple inputs in one transaction to share a single signature; MuSig2 for making multisig transactions more efficient and private; Scriptless Scripts for enabling smart contracts execution off-chain; and Fedimint for creating federated e-cash protocol.
Team Members
The research team consists of 10 highly experienced researchers including Andrew Poelstra (Director of Research), Andrew Chow, Dr. Russell O’Connor and Christian Lewe.
Impact of Projects
These projects have the potential to improve security, privacy and scalability utilizing the power of Schnorr signatures while also reducing the size of transactions and improving efficiency on the network.
Excitement Around Formalizing Research
This formalization brings excitement around continuing to put out ground-breaking ideas such as MuSig, FROST, Simplicity and codex32 under this new umbrella from Blockstream.