Introducing Elements Academy, a new video tutorial series to help you learn Liquid and the open-source Elements platform it's built on. You'll learn how to:

🌊 Set up and run a Liquid node
💡 Peg-in, blind or unblind transactions, and issue assets on your node
🦄 Use the elements-cli for custom features
⛓ Create your own Bitcoin sidechain

You can access Elements Academy today via:

Build On L2: https://community.liquid.net/c/elements-academy/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkQfnwYLyI0&list=PLbgdHszjwqsZ7gtielvu3H7iSMViE7xKl&index=1

After a successful $5M raise in the first Blockstream ASIC (BASIC) Note series and the swift acquisition of new Antminer S19k Pro ASIC miners, we are excited to announce the launch of a second series, which will be made available on STOKR in the upcoming weeks.

The latest series offers investors another attractive entry point into the undervalued Bitcoin ASIC miner market, with the BTC to ASIC price ratio remaining similar to that of Series 1.

https://blog.blockstream.com/basic-note-series-1-closes-successfully-series-2-debuts-on-stokr/

We’ve just released Blockstream Talk #35 where host Jesse Knutson welcomes Lightning Protocol Engineer Lisa Neigut, aka Niftynei. As a longtime Core Lightning contributor and the Co-Founder of base58, a software engineering school built on a Bitcoin standard, Lisa shares a wealth of knowledge on open-source development and how to get involved.

📺 Watch: https://youtu.be/ht_2yP6MYG0
🎧 Listen: http://tinyurl.com/blockstreamtalk35

The latest release of Elements, the open-source sidechain software that Liquid is built on, is now live! This release brings the Elements codebase up to speed with Bitcoin Core 23.2, while adding new support for Apple silicon and fixing multiple important bugs.

https://blog.blockstream.com/elements-23-2-1-reaching-parity-with-bitcoin-core-23-2/

On Bitcoin’s 15th birthday, we celebrate a tremendous year in Bitcoin development. We formalized the Blockstream Research team, revamped the Blockstream Green UX, and built out Blockstream Jade to service a planetary scale.


We launched the Greenlight Lightning-as-a-Service, fully open-sourced the Liquid Network functionary code, and helped integrate splicing to the #LightningNetwork spec through the Core Lightning development process.


We’re grateful to all of you who HODL’d alongside us throughout the journey. Thank you for engaging with our content, sharing your feedback, contributing to the open-source projects we maintain, and always challenging us to make Bitcoin infrastructure better and more accessible.


We’re excited to keep pushing towards hyperbitcoinization in 2024, and we hope you’ll join us for the ride! 📈

We’ve just dropped Blockstream Talk episode #36 featuring Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, the new team behind the Aqua Bitcoin wallet! Samson and host Jesse Knutson smash Liquid FUD, talk about how to nudge nation states towards Bitcoin adoption, and explore the layer-2 tools needed to get them there.

🎧 Listen: http://tinyurl.com/blockstreamtalk36
📺 Watch: https://youtu.be/c_4yOGMJv44

We recently partnered with Alby on a 2.1M sats bounty to build an interoperable Liquid web wallet with their browser extension. The developer community quickly responded with an "Anser." Read more about Anser from the author directly here:

https://community.liquid.net/c/developers/introducing-anser-a-liquid-companion-for-alby

You can add Liquid to Alby in two simple steps.

First, generate a master key within Alby to sign Liquid transactions. Second, connect Alby to the Anser web app via the link here [https://anser.frk.wf]. You can now send and receive Liquid assets like LBTC and LUSDT with ease.

If you're a developer looking to incorporate Liquid into your web app, Anser may be one of the easiest ways: it's fully open-source and available as a standalone library. [https://github.com/riccardobl/anser-liquid]

We also want to invite any developers who are interested in building on Liquid and Lightning to the Build On L2 community [https://www.buildonl2.com/]. You can get help with your project, interact with other builders, and join the many livestreams we host. Feel free to join both the Liquid and Lightning forums available.

See you there. 🌊⚡️

In this special update, we look back on the second half of 2023, highlighting some of the updates to our portfolio of Bitcoin infrastructure products and progress made on the precipice of Bitcoin research and development.

https://blog.blockstream.com/blockstream-quarterly-h2-24/

Several new projects in recent months have been leveraging the layer-2 interoperability of Lightning and Liquid. Some of these projects include Boltz, Alby, and the Green and AQUA wallets. During a recent discussion on our Blockstream Talk podcast, Christian Decker, Head Greenlight engineer, elaborated on the benefits of a Lightning over Liquid (LoL) network. He explained how it would be seamlessly compatible with Lightning over Bitcoin, allowing for improved scaling and opening up new use cases for Bitcoin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzQwAMwvLNA&t

We've just shipped Blockstream Talk #37 featuring one of the most important contributors to the open-source Liquid and Elements projects, and the Co-Founder of Vulpem Ventures, Marco Argentieri.


Jesse Knutson and Marco delve into Bitcoin layer-2 scaling solutions, from Liquid to Lightning and Ark, and discuss the incredible tools Marco has developed on Liquid, such as Marina Wallet, Fuji Money, and Tdex. They also cover covenants, sharing UTXOs, and bitcoin atomic swaps with Vulpem's latest offering, Banco. Dive into this conversation now to stay at the forefront of Bitcoin development.

📺 Watch: https://youtu.be/RObIWrDmH7U
🎧 Listen: https://blockstream-talk-23225031.simplecast.com/episodes/developing-bitcoin-commerce-with-layer-2s-and-vulpem-ventures-featuring-marco-argentieri-blockstream-talk-37

A proposed solution to #Bitcoin scalability and lack of expressivity is the addition of new covenant opcodes. Each new covenant proposal has its own advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs, but all include a certain level of Miner Extractable Value (MEV) risk. Given these inherent traits in the nature of programmable money, what level of risk is acceptable?

We explore this question by examining MEV and the limitations of Bitcoin Script. We also look at some of the covenant proposals, such as CAT + CSFS and CTV, as well as the new Simplicity blockchain language, an alternative to Bitcoin Script that is more expressive with static analysis and formal verification.

The latest from Blockstream Research:

https://blog.blockstream.com/miner-extractable-value-mev-and-programmable-money-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

Most institutional blockchain projects have avoided using Bitcoin as a technical foundation due to its restricted-by-design nature. Yet, it's precisely Bitcoin's conservative approach to development strategy and design, epitomized by architectural choices like the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, that gives it the robustness that financial institutions need.

Contrasted with the account model and overemphasis on smart contracting utilized by altcoin chains like Ethereum and Solana, Bitcoin's careful design may position it as the ideal starting point for operationally sound financial infrastructure that will ultimately disrupt the status quo.

Read more from our Chief Product Officer, Jeff Boortz:

https://blog.blockstream.com/why-bitcoins-utxo-model-is-best-for-blockchain-based-finance/

After three months and 418 commits submitted by 36 contributors, the latest release of Core Lightning, v24.02, codenamed "Uint Needs Signature," is now out!

While mainly a maintenance release, there are numerous changes that node operators will love, as well as some under-the-hood improvements that will make it simpler and more affordable for users to run CLN, including:

⚡️Testnet fix
⚡️New recovery plugin for greater reliability
⚡️Optimization of block process (now >50% faster)
⚡️The gossip_store file can now be shared among multiple nodes
⚡️Bonus: Dual funding has officially been added to the Lightning spec!

Read more on the official Blockstream blog:

https://blog.blockstream.com/core-lightning-v24-02-uint-needs-signature/

Yesterday, we joined forces with leading digital assets platform Bitfinex Securities for the launch of ‘Bitcoin Capital,’ a new virtual roundtable series designed to explore the dynamic intersection of blockchain technology and traditional finance.

The first hour-long session featured legendary cryptographer and Bitcoin pioneer Dr. Adam Back, CEO and co-founder of Blockstream, and Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex Securities. Together, they explored a range of topics, touching on everything from the projected impact of the recent Bitcoin ETF approvals to the role of tokenization in transforming the issuance of traditional financial instruments like securities, bonds, and even mortgages.

Get the recap below:

https://blog.blockstream.com/blockstream-and-bitfinex-securities-launch-new-bitcoin-capital-virtual-roundtable-series/

Last year, we improved upon Green's security and privacy fundamentals by wholly redesigning the mobile wallet for a more refined self-custody experience. In the latest 2.0.0 release of Green Desktop, users will get this same refreshed experience, including a more user-friendly interface for hardware wallet users, the ability to have one recovery phrase for both your Bitcoin and Liquid accounts, an all-new dashboard with Bitcoin price and fees, and much more!

https://blog.blockstream.com/blockstream-green-2-0-a-new-accessible-experience-for-bitcoin-desktop-wallets/

We've just released episode #38 of Blockstream Talk, featuring insights from Blockstream Liquid Engineer Byron Hambly. We delve deep into Bitcoin's scalability, the development of layer-2 solutions and explore crucial topics like the blockchain trilemma and covenants on Bitcoin. We also discuss the significance of interoperability between the Lightning and Liquid networks for the global south.

🎧 Listen: http://tinyurl.com/blockstreamtalk38
📺 Watch: https://youtu.be/Jn-XKKcQ-NA

Building Bitcoin infrastructure is at the core of what we do at Blockstream. Feedback from the community is essential so we can continue providing developers with the best resources and tools to succeed.

Please share your insights and help us refine our resources for Core Lightning, Greenlight, Elements, and other open-source Bitcoin projects. The survey is short and anonymous!

https://form.typeform.com/to/LR4l7nxY

Are you curious about Shamir's Secret Sharing and how it compares to multisignature regarding Bitcoin wallet security and backups? Learn directly from the Director of Blockstream Research, Andrew Poelstra, in these two video shorts:

Shamir's Secret Sharing overview:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Wx0B-prSU]

How it differs from multisignature:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1vus8_yOsw]

Check out episode #39 of Blockstream Talk! Host Jesse Knutson chats with Andrew Howard and Raúl Velasquez from JAN3 about Aqua wallet's innovative approach to Tether and Bitcoin. Discover JAN3 Financial's role in driving institutional adoption and its influence on global policies. Plus, get the scoop on Aqua's upcoming BTCmap integration and collaboration with Botev Plovdiv.

🎧 Listen: https://tinyurl.com/blockstreamtalk39
📺 Watch: https://youtu.be/i1kxB7JnX84

In our latest tutorial, we discuss the why and how of Bitcoin multisignature and demo setting up a 2-of-3 solution using the Blockstream Jade hardware wallet in two different wallet apps: Specter and Sparrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ5Xckqb4CI