StarkWare unveils $1 million research fund to enhance Bitcoin scaling through ZK technology.

StarkWare has unveiled an ambitious plan to revolutionize the use of Bitcoin by leveraging zero-knowledge (ZK) technology and a $1 million research fund. The initiative aims to scale both Bitcoin and Ethereum simultaneously by harnessing Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge (STARK) cryptography. By doing so, StarkWare hopes to realize Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision of enabling everyday micropayments and creating a scalable solution for global Bitcoin transactions. Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare and co-inventor of cheat-proof ZK cryptography, emphasized that while Bitcoin is powerful, it has yet to reach its full potential. He also expressed support for the OP_CAT Bitcoin soft fork proposal, which could pave the way for STARK scaling on the BTC blockchain. In addition to this announcement, StarkWare recently introduced ZKThreads, a new scaling framework designed to prevent fund lockups and enhance the scalability of decentralized applications, thus avoiding incidents like the FTX-Alameda collapse. With these developments, StarkWare is poised to make a significant impact on the future of Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.