BitMEX awards a $40,000 grant to Bitcoin network scaling solution developer Calvin Kim

The BitMEX operator, 100x Group, awarded a $40,000 grant to Bitcoin developer Calvin Kim. He contributed to the development of the alpha release of the Utreexo protocol, which will reduce the size of [simple_tooltip content=’unspent transaction outputs’]UTXO[/simple_tooltip] without compromising network security.

[1/3] 100x Group is delighted to announce that it has awarded a US$40,000 one-year grant to Utreexo researcher & developer Calvin Kim. Calvin was instrumental in the development of the first demonstration release of Utreexohttps://t.co/xzEM5LnjX3 pic.twitter.com/M12bliOdJE

— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) August 24, 2020

Currently, each node must maintain the current UTXO set to verify new transactions and spend coins.

“Although these records are much smaller than the full Bitcoin transaction history — 4 GB versus 300 GB — their size could become the main bottleneck for scalability in the future,” BitMEX said in a statement.

The solution, called Utreexo, was introduced in June 2019 by one of the Lightning Network’s co-founders, Tadge Dryja. It is a hash-based dynamic UTXO accumulator that allows data to be compressed. Its main aim is to simplify the management of full nodes in the Bitcoin network.

“There is no security loss. Instead, the burden of tracking funds is shifted to the owner of those funds. It maintains proof that the funds exist, and provides it when they spend coins,” say BitMEX representatives.

By awarding Calvin Kim, 100x Group has completed its 2020 grant program with a total of $615,000. The company said it would open a new round in the summer of the following year.

In June, BitMEX awarded a $100,000 grant to Chaincode Labs and Bitcoin Core developer Gleb Naumenko.

Follow ForkLog news on Twitter!