All in on Bitcoin scaling

LX Research Labs raises funding from UTXO Management

I’ve been bullish on the concept of “rollups” on Bitcoin for a few years now. A little while back, I remember telling people about the idea of a “Zcash rollup on top of Bitcoin” and how it could drastically improve how we transact with bitcoin on a daily basis. They thought I was crazy.

A lot has changed since then. Bitcoin’s now being leveraged for a variety of new use cases. Teams have figured out how to use Bitcoin as a data availability layer. Numerous teams are working on improved bridge designs to support new types of scaling protocols and sidechains.

It’s an interesting time to build in Bitcoin. Whether it’s the most exciting, or most terrifying, completely depends on who you ask.

But amidst all the chaos, I must admit, things like rollups may actually happen…

Starting LX Research Labs

To support this design space, I’m starting LX Research Labs: a research company solely focused on Bitcoin L2s, sidechains and other protocols. Part of our work will be developing Bitcoin Layers, an open-source platform that helps users better understand risks related to Bitcoin scaling protocols.

To accelerate the development of Bitcoin Layers, and other research efforts to support Bitcoin builders, I’m delighted to announce that we’ve raised a round of funding from UTXO Management. Tyler and David have been massive supporters of Bitcoin Layers since the earliest of days, and I couldn’t think of better partners to help drive our mission forward.

In addition to raising capital, I’m also stoked to say that John Light will be joining us as a research advisor. John’s research has been fundamental in shaping Bitcoiners' understanding of what’s possible with L2s, and his presence will be immense for the project. I’m also excited to announce the forming of our advisory board who will help shape our research strategy and frameworks. This board will consist of Alexei Zamyatin, Orkun Kilic, Cooper Kunz and Preston Evans. I’m excited to be joined by some of the brightest minds in the ecosystem.

Time to ship

I could talk about the long-term vision for the company, but there are more pressing matters at hand 😁 We need to ship faster, and produce more robust L2 analysis for the Bitcoin community. This round of funding and additions to our team give us the best chance at doing so.

There’s a long journey ahead, but I couldn’t think of a better time to give this a go.

A thank you to the various community members who have supported the project so far. Your enthusiasm and support is the best bit of all of this.

Time to ship!