RSK Review

An independent review of RSK

Integrating Smart Contracts into the Bitcoin Network

Summary

RSK is seeking to integrate the smart contract element onto the bitcoin network. It  is  a  fully  open  source  project  utilising  merge  mining  and  a  2-way  peg mechanism with bitcoin. It aims to add value by lowering block intervals from 10 mins (bitcoin) to 10 seconds, faster confirmation times, providing scalability and sustainability to the bitcoin ecosystem.

RSK (also known as Rootstock) is incorporated in Argentina with an aim to introduce smart contracts to the legacy bitcoin blockchain. The primary goal is to reduce stakeholders’ conflict by integrating a governance model with a 2-way peg to BTC prices. Here are several issues that RSK seeks to resolve within the Bitcoin ecosystem:

•A  fair  governance  system  that  represents  all  stakeholders  of  the  Bitcoin community

•Sustainability of Bitcoin mining network through merge mining utility

•Lowering Bitcoin transaction fees, and reducing price volatility

•Faster confirmation times

Commercial & Technical Strategy

The platform seeks to drive scalability in the bitcoin network by integrating smart contracts, lowering transaction fees, maintaining current hash rate to ensure tighter security and increasing processing time, at the same time upholding the rigidity  of  bitcoin’s  security.  RSK  is  indeed  creating  a  protocol  to  solve  a prevailing issue within the bitcoin network. By introducing RSK Virtual Machine, smart  contracts  can  be  executed.  They  provide  an  alternative  to  existing solutions  such  as  competition  free  infrastructure  projects  (Hyperledger  and Ripple), and other scaling solutions (Lightning Network). RSK had mined its genesis block in early 2018 and will continue to open the mainnet up on a stage- by-stage basis.

Token Sale

RSK raised $1m in seed funding and $3.5m for pre-series A funding in mid- 2017. The latest round comes from a long list of investors with more information provided in the next segment. The project might have plans to conduct an ICO in the near future for their payment platform, and any updates will be posted on their official channels.

Investors

Several prominent investors have backed the project, including:

Bitmain - Bitmain is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of mining rigs with profits  of  $4b  last  year.  They  have  stepped  into  venture  capital  and  have invested in projects such as Circle, Path Network, BitKan, RSK labs, ChainLab.

Digital Currency Group (DCG) - DCG aims to build and support bitcoin and blockchain  related  companies.  Past  projects  include  Civic,  Blockstack, Decentraland, Filecoin, Hedera Hashgraph.

Competitor Analysis

RSK has entered a space to build a platform that competes against the major cryptocurrencies.  However,  several  features  embedded  within  the  platform steers  them  away  from  being  a  direct  competitor  towards  a  more complementary nature. We have identified two projects that portray similarities in comparison to RSK.

There’s more…