Share this article
Sergio Demian Lerner: Making Bitcoin More Programmable
The founder of Rootstock is working to create a framework for running programs on Bitcoin and enabling the development of more sidechains and Layer 2s.
Updated Dec 10, 2024, 8:22 p.m. Published Dec 10, 2024, 2:34 p.m.
While the Bitcoin ecosystem has been enjoying a fresh wave of development and engagement over the last two years, some projects have been working to expand the utility of the original blockchain for far longer. One of these is sidechain Rootstock, which launched in 2018.
Founder Sergio Demian Lerner is a Buenos Aires-based programmer known for his early research on Satoshi Nakamoto's mining activities and later for contributing to the development of Ethereum. Rootstock is now in the midst of its "BitVMX" project, designed to improve Bitcoin's programmability by harnessing Robin Linus' BitVM design that was unveiled in late 2023.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
"BitVMX framework provides the foundations to run any CPU on Bitcoin," the project's accompanying whitepaper says. BitVMX's aim is to put the theory behind Linus' BitVM paradigm into practice by creating a framework for running programs on Bitcoin and enabling the further development of sidechains and layer 2s.
Rootstock plans to complete the project by late Q1 2025, according to a roadmap on its website. "The BitVMX Bridge will revolutionize the bridging technology on Rootstock, by introducing a trust-minimized Bitcoin/Rootstock bridge. This will rely on the 1-of-n honest assumption, and will not require changes to the Bitcoin consensus protocol," Rootstock explained in its roadmap.
This profile is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year's nominees, click here.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
Plus pour vous
Coinbase Expands Reach of Stablecoin-Based AI Agent Payments Tool
The updated protocol, x402 V2, allows developers to combine payments, enable secure wallet access, and add new features via a clean, modular design.
Ce qu'il:
- Coinbase has released the latest version of its stablecoin-based payments protocol for AI agents, making it easier to extend and plug in the autonomous payments system.
- The new version adds wallet-based identity, automatic API discovery, dynamic payment recipients, and support for more chains and fiat.
Top Stories
