Building on Bitcoin with Rootstock I Ezequiel Rodriguez

Sun, Nov 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

Ezequiel Rodríguez, Head of DeFi at Rootstock Labs, presents Rootstock (RSK) as the first and longest-running Bitcoin sidechain, secured through merged mining and fully EVM-compatible, bridging Bitcoin’s security and store-of-value with Ethereum’s programmability. Rootstock uses a 2-way peg between BTC and RBTC (1:1), enabling users to pay gas in Bitcoin and deploy Ethereum smart contracts—including ERC-20, 721, and 1155 tokens—on a faster and cheaper chain (24-second block time, ~$0.20 fees). Upcoming upgrades like microblocks will reduce confirmation time to 5 seconds. Rodríguez highlights Rootstock’s $400M TVL, 100% uptime since 2018, and over 225,000 monthly transactions secured by 80% of Bitcoin’s hash rate, showcasing the network’s maturity and resilience. He introduces Rootstock’s Hackathon Tracks—Everyday DeFi (yield, lending, liquidity), Freestyle (AI, cross-chain, governance), and RIF Economy (staking, payments, Telegram mini-apps)—along with its Activator Program, rewarding developers and educators up to $1,000 for contributions. Tools like Replit starter kits, the Rootstock CLI, MCP integrations, and the new NPM package simplify development directly from IDEs. The Attestation Service supports both on-chain and off-chain verifications for identity, reputation, and proof-of-funds use cases. Builders can access the developer portal (dev.rootstock.io) and participate in the “RIF Me Up” campaign for community rewards. Rootstock’s ecosystem demonstrates a maturing vision: unlocking DeFi and smart contracts secured by Bitcoin’s proof-of-work. 00:02 – Introduction and session overview 00:35 – What is Rootstock: the first Bitcoin sidechain 01:07 – Combining Bitcoin security with Ethereum programmability 01:34 – Merged mining, 2-way peg, and open-source structure 02:24 – RBTC as native token, EVM and token standard compatibility 02:52 – Transaction speed, costs, and upcoming microblocks 03:44 – Network stats: TVL, uptime, wallets, hash rate, and volume 04:35 – Activator Program and community engagement 05:22 – Roles: Builders and Backers, collective contribution 05:50 – DApp Protocol example (bridging and swapping) 06:17 – Hackathon tracks: DeFi, Freestyle, and RIF Economy 07:08 – Rootstock Attestation Service: on/off-chain identity 08:15 – Developer tools: Replit starter kits, CLI, Scaffold 09:19 – Developer portal and resources 10:03 – MCP integration, CLI, and NPM package for IDEs 10:33 – Community campaigns: “RIF Me Up” rewards 10:58 – Closing remarks and contact details _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇮🇳 *ETHGlobal New Delhi* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New Delhi, a 3-day hackathon held September 19-21 at the India International Convention & Expo Centre, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New Delhi 2025 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7zCFW3hBqatZ18rQaYeEJL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Rootstock* X: https://x.com/rootstock_io ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city