Blockstream reveals secret about Bitcoin miner

In a press briefing, Blockstream shared its latest developments with BTC-ECHO. With its proprietary mining hardware, the Bitcoin company aims to revolutionize the industry.

One of Blockstream's "best kept secrets": a new Bitcoin miner named "Cyberhornet." BTC miners will have to be patient until the device goes live. The hardware is not expected to revolutionize the market until the third quarter of 2024. But that's far from all that Blockstream announced we got through the press release with BTC-ECHO further insights into other developments

In addition to efforts in the mining sector, the infrastructure company is focusing on Layer 2 functionality in Bitcoin. According to the briefing, its own Core Lightning product remains one of the most popular options for running a node.

Lightning-compatibele cloudoplossing

In this context, Blockstream has introduced Greenlight. The new LN-compatible cloud hosting solution for businesses, merchants and Bitcoin applications is designed to significantly reduce the technical effort required to access the Lightning Network (LN). Time for criticism? After all, Bitcoiners don't like to hear about hosting. But far from it: Greenlight operates via cloud hosting, but maintains the integrity of private keys at all times, as Blockstream explains in the press release.

The icing on the cake: Greenlight is compatible with Blockstream Green, the proprietary non-automatic wallet of the company. With this, the Bitcoin company is taking another step toward mass adoption. When asked, Blockstream co-founder and Bitcoin pioneer Dr. Adam Back told us that:

''The average person is not an IT specialist. So it may be that access to your Bitcoins can be restored in the future. For many, this is a controversial issue. If you use a custodian, they should be able to identify you to give you your coins. That raises the question of whether that information can be cryptographically transmitted to the custodian without them lending your passport or birth certificate (to third parties). Maybe there will be something like that in the future.''

Such a feature recently led to much criticism against Ledger. The manufacturer of the wallet wanted to prepare for the future with the recovery feature. After all, the further adoption progresses, the more the highly complex subject of Bitcoin comes into contact with a large mass of people who have never dealt with this technology before. Blockstream CPO Jeff Boortz also sees it this way and explains:

''I think a lot of users are learning a brand new technology that is so strange and different from the way money has been handled until now. We see that with Lightning and even Bitcoin. We need to address the limitations that make users afraid to get started and make Self Custody as safe and easy as possible for a wide range of users.''

Blockstream: Layer 2 scaling in full swing

Nor is an all-time high yet to be missed for Bitcoin. But for the Layer 2 network Liquid, developed by Blockstream, it is. The transaction volume of the Bitcoin sidechain, which is designed for financial applications, has soared since last fall and recently reached an all-time high.

The company plans to reveal more details about the ongoing development of Bitcoin technologies including the mysterious miner by the end of 2023.