Latest news and developments from Btrust

Btrust 2024 In Review

A recap of Btrust's 2024 milestones in decentralizing Bitcoin development in Africa and the Global South and impactful grants and education support for Africa, LATAM, and India.

Analyzing Mining Pool Behavior to Address Bitcoin Core’s Double Coinbase Reservation Issue

Written by Sadiq Ismail In theory, Bitcoin Core’s block-building algorithm reserves 4,000 WU for miners’ coinbase transactions. This means it should generate a block template with a weight of 3,996,000 WU. However, in practice, this is not the case due to an accidental double-reservation bug (see

Final Call: Applications for Btrust Builders’ 2025 ₿OSS Cohort Close Next Week

Btrust Builders, in collaboration with Chaincode Labs, is issuing a final call for applications to the 2025 Builders January Cohort. This part-time, three-month, fully remote program is designed to identify and push passionate software developers in Africa to contribute to Bitcoin open-source software (₿OSS). Applications are now open, and developers

Announcing the Q4 2024 Btrust Grant Recipients

We are excited to announce the Q4 2024 recipients of Btrust grants. This quarter, Abdullahi Yunus has been awarded the Starter Grant, while Enigbe Ochekliye and Tobechi Chukwuleta will transition to the Btrust Open-Source Cohort.

Announcing the new Btrust Engineering Lead

We are happy to announce that Kelvin Isievwore has been selected as our new Engineering Lead

Schnorr Signatures: A Solution to ECDSA's Malleability in Bitcoin Transactions

Written by Sadiq Ismail In our journey to understand Bitcoin's cryptography, we've already seen how the ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) plays a key role in securing transactions. But, as Abubakar Sadiq Ismail pointed out in his previous piece, ECDSA comes with a notable vulnerability;

ECDSA Digital Signatures

Written by Sadiq Ismail Digital signatures are crucial for ensuring the authenticity and integrity of digital documents, offering a level of security that physical signatures simply can't match. Among the various digital signature algorithms available, the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) stands out for its efficiency and

Announcing the Btrust Developer Day at the Africa Bitcoin Conference

GLOBAL, September 20, 2024 — Btrust, a non-profit organization focused on decentralizing the development of Bitcoin software, is partnering with the Africa Bitcoin Conference 2024 to present the ‘Btrust Developer Day’. The Btrust Developer Day will take place on December 8, 2024, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. The

Announcing the Q3, 2024 Btrust Grant Recipients to Drive Open-Source Bitcoin Development

GLOBAL, Aug 16, 2024 — We are proud to announce the recipients of its Q3 Starter Grants and new members of the Btrust Open-Source Cohort. These grants highlight our dedication to expanding the pool of skilled contributors to Bitcoin's open-source ecosystem from the Global South. The Btrust Starter Grant

Bitcoin Block Construction Using Rust: A Step-by-Step Guide

Written by Collins Okafor A Bitcoin block is a fundamental component of the Bitcoin blockchain, acting as a container for a group of transactions. Each block is linked to the previous one, forming a secure chain of data. At the heart of each block is a block header, which includes

Blinded Diffie–Hellman–Merkle for Ecash Mints

Written by Charles Chege Ecash, conceptualized by David Chaum in the 1980s, was one of the first attempts to create anonymous digital currency. Chaum's idea used cryptographic proofs to mint and manage electronic tokens, ensuring the privacy of transactions through blinded digital signatures. These early ideas laid the

Initial Peer Discovery in Bitcoin

Written by Aurelia Naiyoma In the Bitcoin Network, peer discovery is an essential process that ensures nodes can effectively connect and exchange information. This plays a critical role in securing the network by ensuring blocks are propagated and transactions can be validated, forming the core basis of how the network