Bitcoin development has been gaining momentum with Weikeng Chen and his partners at venture firm L2 Iterative shifting their focus towards the Bitcoin ecosystem. Chen, a Chinese native, was intrigued by the increasing interest in Bitcoin development by large players in the mining space. This led him to lead an open-source initiative with sponsorship from Starkware, resulting in the first implementation of a zero-knowledge verifier using Bitcoin script. This achievement has significant implications for Bitcoin’s programmability and scalability.
Chen, a PHD graduate in cryptography, embarked on this journey to contribute his technical skills to the industry. His interest in zero-knowledge technology led him to focus on Bitcoin’s ability to perform the computations required for verifying zero-knowledge proofs. His collaboration with researchers like Robin Linus resulted in the development of a SNARK verifier, a cryptographic tool that enables the verification of zero-knowledge proofs on the Bitcoin network.
Starkware, a leader in the zero-knowledge industry, took notice of Chen’s progress and saw an opportunity to collaborate on implementing a STARK verifier using the OP_CAT primitive. This joint effort led to the successful deployment of the project on Bitcoin’s Signet testnet network, marking a milestone achievement in Bitcoin development. The project aims to pave the way for new scaling protocols like rollups on Bitcoin, leveraging Starkware’s ZK rollup technology.
While the success of the project is significant, Chen remains focused on refining the implementation and making it production-ready. He acknowledges the challenges ahead but is optimistic about the potential for OP_CAT soft fork proposals and the versatility of the script improvement proposal. Chen hopes to inspire other developers to explore his code and contribute to the development of new scaling solutions on Bitcoin.
Reflecting on his experience, Chen emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive environment for new developers entering the Bitcoin ecosystem. He believes that providing tools and primitives can help empower developers to impact the future of Bitcoin development. With his achievements and ongoing efforts, Chen is contributing to a new era of Bitcoin development that holds promise for scalability and innovation in the industry.
