On Friday (June 5), a popular member of CryptoTwitter (@hodlonaut) asked the question “What’s the most exciting Bitcoin project right now?”.

This article highlights some of the best answers given to this question:

  • Bitcoin Core is the free and open-source software that is “considered to be Bitcoin’s reference implementation.” This software “serves as a Bitcoin node (the set of which form the Bitcoin network) and provides a Bitcoin wallet which fully verifies payments.”

The 20th stable revision of BitCoin Core (i.e. version 0.20.0) was released on June 3. 

This is “a platform for decentralized & non-custodial Bitcoin lending.” By depositing your BTC as collateral (with your Bitcoin locked via native Bitcoin scripts), you can “borrow stablecoins in a loan.” Atomic Loans is backed by Initialized Capital, Consensus, and Morgan Creek.

OpenNode is a platform that allows businesses to accept/manage Bitcoin payments via its easy-to-use payment requests/templates, supports instant and low-cost settlement with the help of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, and allows for manual/automatic conversion to local fiat currency.

On 18 December 2018, OpenNode told Coindesk that it had manage to raise $1.25 million in seed funding from Draper Associates, the seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 1985 by Tim Draper.

IOV Labs, the startup behind this project, says that RSK is “the first general purpose smart contract platform secured by the Bitcoin Network.” RSK’s mainnet network was released in January 2018.

RSK (which stands for “Rootstock”) is a federated sidechain project (somewhat similar to Blockstream’s Liquid). It is designed to combine “the best of Bitcoin and Ethereum under one roof” since its security is “protected by over 40% of the Bitcoin Network computing power” and its programming capabilties are “on par with Ethereum as both natively support Solidity Smart Contracts and the same APIs.”

Magic Internet Gathering (MintGox)

MintGox is an “online gathering showcasing the future of video games powered by #Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.” It was launched on March 16. This community, which currently has 217 members, communicate via a Discord group. 

MintGox’s “inaugural Bitcoin and Lightning virtual gaming tournament” took place on March 29.

Featured Image by “SnapLaunch” via Pixabay.com