As BTCU Bitcoin Ultimatum’s Mainnet goes live, we speak with CEO Eric Ma to find out more about the project and what’s next in this truly next-gen blockchain.

Building a new blockchain is a huge undertaking. It requires a capable team of experts, leadership, real-value proposition and a strategic roadmap which needs to be detailed, realistic and followed-up upon. BTCU Ultimatum certainly checks all those boxes. They successfully implemented the Bitcoin Fork and launched the BTCU Mainnet on February 5, 2021 and airdropped BTCU tokens the week after. They have their sights on the next milestone: integrating Atomic Swaps to the platform. Everything, under the leadership of CEO Eric Ma. We sit with the veteran blockchain expert and former core member at CoinMarketCap to speak about the current state of BTCU Mainnet and what the future holds for this promising next-gen blockchain.

BTCU aims to build a next-generation blockchain from a Bitcoin fork. What does next-gen mean when it comes to blockchain?

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two biggest blockchain networks in the world but each has its own characteristics. Ethereum is more of a platform building other decentralized programs upon, allowing for smart contracts. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has become more of a store-of-value, although it was first conceived as a new peer-to-peer payment system. With BTCU, using the already proven and well regarded Bitcoin blockchain, we are combining both networks and leveraging what works best in each of them.

We are building a next-gen Bitcoin based blockchain on Ethereum that would allow us to tokenize assets which can apply to different projects and assets outside the scope of cryptocurrencies. Our solution also aims to improve upon the unsustainable, energy consuming proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm with a new Ultimatum proof-of-stake (UPoS) consensus algorithm, making it more democratic, scalable, efficient and sustainable. 

What does BTCU try to achieve by combining Bitcoin and Ethereum, and how does BTCU stand out from other projects?

The concept of BTCU is in many aspects similar to that of the second largest cryptocurrency network — Ethereum. Like Ethereum, the Bitcoin Ultimatum blockchain has the ability to house smart contracts in the blockchain protocol. This is one of the important functions for implementing transactions and decentralized applications (DApps). In general, BTCU seeks to combine all the best features that allowed Bitcoin and Ethereum to take top ranked spots in cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

We have developed BTCU to offer a decentralized ecosystem with smart contracts through its Ultimate Proof-of-Stake algorithm. A combination of Leased Proof-of-Stake (LPoS) and Proof-of-Authority (PoA), BTCU is more democratic, more scalable and more energy efficient than Bitcoin. We built the BTCU Mainnet to be scalable and used in a wide range of applications: from asset tokenization to rights management, supply chain and document flow for cross-border payments, governance, real estate to fintech, healthcare and more. Our vision is to create a blockchain that is efficient, easy-to-use and has real value for widespread adoption. Bitcoin Ultimatum’s technological advantages will change the way we see blockchain.

Blockchain is synonymous with decentralization and community. How important is feedback from the community to BTCU?

The community is the heart of any blockchain project. We are not just launching a new product to the market, we are building a platform with our community. In fact, their feedback was critical for launching the BTCU Mainnet. On January 21, 2021, we released a final testnet. This exercise enabled developers to test, create, or modify functionalities and monitor the BTCU blockchain network performance. It also helped provide an objective and independent view of the network to enable parties and businesses to appreciate and understand the network’s capabilities.

We opened communication channels through GitHub and the feedback was really important for us. It helped us predict the operation of the network as well as provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the BTCU blockchain security, privacy, capabilities, usability, integration and interoperability.

It was such a success that we could launch the final mainnet 2 weeks later on February 5, 2021. From here I want to thank the community again for being active and for contributing their input.

Will we see any other community-driven projects from BTCU?

Absolutely, we strongly believe that a blockchain project can only progress with the full support of its community. We are thereby happy to work and collaborate with other projects, especially on a variety of security and tech issues.

To further improve our project, we invite everyone to take part in our bug bounty program. The program is designed for anyone who wants to contribute to development of BTCU and to ensure the security and robustness of its network.

For their time and work, we have put in place a reward system. Members of the community who work on urgent tasks or solve found bugs will receive BTC / ETH / USDT / USDC / BTCU for their efforts.

We are always available at bugs@btcu.io for more information.

We have also started an Ambassador Club. With the announcements of newly joined ambassadors like Javed Khattack and Serafima Semkina, our team would like to continue to bring onboard other community leaders who share our mission.

The BTCU Mainnet is out, but this is just the first step in a long road map. What does the future hold for BTCU?

I am very excited for the milestones we have achieved to this point. Our dev team has worked extremely hard and deserve all the credit for the success of BTCU thus far. Indeed, launching the BTCU Mainnet is just the beginning and we have a long roadmap of new and exciting additions to the platform.  

We are working on the addition of the smart contract system which would allow for atomic swaps. We are also closing strategic partnerships with key platforms like citiesabc and open business council to test out our mobile wallets, pilot programs and the tokenization of the marketplace. In addition, we are also partnered with the World Smart Cities Forum to make our blockchain available to use in Smart Cities around the world.

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