Bitcoin Smart Contract Protocol Rootstock Acquired by Spin-off Project RIF Labs

Bitcoin-based smart contract protocol Rootstock is integrating with spin-off project RIF OS to expand its scope of operations, the parties confirmed in two separate blog posts Nov. 18.

As part of the deal, RIF Labs, the structure behind off-chain infrastructure layer RIF OS, will acquire RSK's counterpart RSK Labs.

RIF started out as a side project from the same executives who held senior positions at RSK. Together, they plan to enable the RSK protocol to go beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum network support and include various P2P functions.

"RIF Labs has signed an agreement to acquire RSK Labs. With this acquisition, RIF Labs will take on the development and community support of both the RSK Smart Contract Network and RIF OS Protocols."

Describing the latest developments, the company called the RIF OS integration a "Huge milestone" and said it would help "Accelerate the adoption of open source blockchain technology worldwide."

Rootstock, the brainchild of Bitcoin Core developer Sergio Lerner, saw several years' development before its initial mainnet release in January 2018.

"Essentially Rootstock aims to be what Ethereum is, a decentralized, Turing-complete smart contract platform. However, Rootstock aims to utilize the Bitcoin ecosystem rather than creating a new one from scratch," blockchain engineer Albert Szmigielski explained in a 2016 blog post.