Blockstream’s 2021 In Review: How Bitcoin’s Biggest Infrastructure Company Grew Last Year

2021 was a tremendous twelvemonth for Blockstream and the Bitcoin ecosystem successful general. Thanks to our talented and dedicated squad of Bitcoiners, we proceed to beryllium astatine the vanguard of galore of the industry's astir influential and cutting-edge projects.

In the tone of the caller year, we wanted to bespeak connected immoderate of our astir ambitious undertakings successful 2021 their impact, and wherever they presently stand.

Growing With Bitcoin

This year, bitcoin achieved caller highs, became ineligible tender connected a nation-state level and reached different limb up successful its quest for worldwide adoption. We astatine Blockstream had a akin breakout year, with the palmy adjacent of $210 cardinal arsenic portion of our bid B financing connected a valuation of $3.2 billion, officially reaching unicorn status.

The acquisitions of Adamant Capital and Spondoolies helped further our ngo of gathering fiscal infrastructure connected Bitcoin by spawning respective caller initiatives, including our caller ASICs part that volition motorboat the industry's archetypal enterprise-grade miner and the instauration of Blockstream Finance that is serving arsenic an on-ramp for Bitcoin-focused fiscal products similar the Blockstream Mining Note.

We proceed to integrate Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions similar the Lightning Network and the Liquid sidechain, farther into the Blockstream merchandise and work suite (i.e., Elements, Green, AQUA, Jade, Satellite, c-lightning), each free and open to developers.

The suite of Blockstream products

Solving Energy Inefficiencies With Proof Of Work

During the archetypal fractional of 2021, our Blockstream Mining part scaled astatine an awesome pace, signing high-profile clients to colocation services and announcing a slew of partnerships focused connected alternate vigor solutions. The astir notable were collaborations with Macquarie to aviator a carbon-neutral Bitcoin mining installation and with Square (now Block) to make a $5 cardinal open-source, solar-powered Bitcoin excavation successful the U.S.

Ultimately, the Macquarie and Block mining facilities volition show however we tin incentivize the instauration of much zero-emission powerfulness infrastructure done Bitcoin's innovative impervious of enactment and assistance thrust the modulation to cleaner energy. Contrary to the mainstream communicative surrounding Bitcoin and vigor use, we judge it tin supply a market-oriented solution to galore of the vigor sector's problems today. For example, hundreds of thousands of megawatts of energy spell unused and wasted successful West Texas alone. Bitcoin fixes this.

We judge successful being portion of the solution, truthful we launched a caller service, Blockstream Energy, which leverages our modular mining units (MMUs) with Blockstream Satellite to present scalable vigor request to powerfulness producers. The work is capable to pat stranded and different wasted vigor to maximize vigor accumulation ratio and, successful turn, amended the economics of renewable projects astir the world.

Blockstream Mining modular

Championing Lightning Network Scaling And Decentralization

Layering functionality and complexity connected apical of a minimal basal furniture allows Bitcoin to stay a decentralized signifier of hard money. In 2021, BTC capableness and the fig of outgo channels connected the Lightning Network person much than tripled year-over-year, laying the groundwork for the wide-scale usage of P2P payments connected Bitcoin's 2nd layer. We expect the accelerated adoption of Lightning and different Layer 2 protocols to compound successful the adjacent future, particularly arsenic federation states similar El Salvador trust connected them to onboard their citizens to the caller Bitcoin economy.

We judge our Greenlight work and different Lightning infrastructure projects volition play an integral portion successful gathering the scaling and onboarding demands of hyperbitcoinization. Greenlight, successful particular, allows mundane citizens and tiny businesses to easy entree the Lightning Network without having to tally a node themselves and bash truthful without handing implicit custody to their backstage keys and funds.

Low cost, on-demand node absorption volition besides assistance streamline the improvement and innovation of Lightning-enabled apps by removing method barriers. Apps specified arsenic Sphinx and Lastbit are already moving Greenlight, and we expect a further rollout to the wide nationalist successful 2022.  

c-lightning remained an innovator and person successful the space, from opening the first dual-funded channel to decentralizing the liquidity offering scenery to simplifying outgo routing for Lightning app developers. One of the hallmarks of c-lighting is its affluent acceptable of features and plugins, galore of them BOLT12 specifications, which allows users and developers to experimentation firsthand with caller Lightning tools not disposable oregon wide utilized successful the ecosystem. And with the caller instauration of PeerSwap, an atomic swap plugin for nodes that allows on-chain transmission rebalancing for a faster, cheaper, much reliable network, the Lightning Network is poised for different limb up successful the coming year.

Building The Financial Layer Of The Bitcoin Economy On The Liquid Network

Last year, the Liquid Network saw awesome ecosystem maturation done a wide scope of trading venues, wallet providers and integrations that leveraged the sidechain, including Hodl Hodl, SideSwap, TDEX, WooCommerce, Specter Wallet and galore others.

2021 was besides the twelvemonth Liquid became the level of prime for companies and, yes, adjacent federation states seeking unafraid plus issuance connected Bitcoin.

In September, El Salvador made bitcoin ineligible tender and rolled retired a nationally-sponsored Lightning Network wallet to onboard its citizenry. A fewer months later, connected signifier astatine Feel The Bit, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, alongside Blockstream CSO Samson Mow, projected a $1 cardinal bitcoin-backed enslaved (EBB1) tokenized connected the Liquid Network to grow the country's vigor and Bitcoin mining infrastructure.

Like its Bitcoin law, El Salvador's planned integer securities instrumentality volition pave the mode for further bitcoin-backed fiscal instruments and make caller markets and exchanges for investors to commercialized information tokens on.  

Our Blockstream Mining Note, launched successful July, is simply a Luxembourg-regulated information that offers investors vulnerability to Bitcoin hash complaint astatine our mining facilities. Through 7 tranches, it has raised a full of €33.5 cardinal (about $38 million) and mined astir 2.5 BTC per BMN successful 170 days.

As a tradeable information token issued connected Liquid and managed utilizing our plus level Blockstream AMP, investors tin easy set their vulnerability by trading the BMN connected secondary markets oregon adjacent to peer. From a Bitcoiner perspective, the BMN creates a win-win for investors and the broader ecosystem by expanding capitalist information successful Bitcoin's impervious of work.

Going forward, we are optimistic astir the mainstream adoption of information tokens, their further regulatory clarity and their consequent reformation of superior markets. The BMN, the EXO token, and different Liquid information tokens are slated for merchandise connected caller STO platforms Bitfinex Securities and MERJ Exchange, and the EBB1 is expected arsenic aboriginal arsenic Q1 2022.

Note: As the El Salvador Bitcoin Bond (EBB1) connection matures and gets good tuned, Blockstream volition stay a method consultant, with Bitfinex arsenic bookmaker taking connected the superior duties of organisation and issuance.

Thank You

We are present astir 13 years guardant from Bitcoin's genesis artifact and much than 4 years from the activation of SegWit. Looking backmost implicit the years is simply a humbling reminder of however acold Bitcoin has travel and the unthinkable gait astatine which we are moving person to hyperbitcoinization.

We privation to sincerely convey the assemblage and each Bitcoiner for their unwavering content successful a amended future.

With your support, we look guardant to continuing our institution ngo of gathering retired innovative Bitcoin infrastructure, with Layer 2 solutions Lightning and Liquid arsenic cornerstones of the caller Bitcoin economy.

Donʼt trust, verify.

This is simply a impermanent station by Fernando Nikolic. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.