Counterparty Supports SegWit, Adds BlockTrail CTO to Team

Counterparty is one of the most important platforms built on top of Bitcoin to take things one step further. Even though most of the focus still lies on the financial aspects, Counterparty distinguishes itself as a platform to issue and distribute assets, as well as providing additional layers of security. In this day and age of digitizing everything, such a platform could prove to be an invaluable tool for companies around the world. The recent development update paints an interesting roadmap for the future of this project.

Also read: Alternative Finance Takes the Fight To Traditional Banks

Counterparty’s 2016 Roadmap

Many changes and updates are coming to the Counterparty platform, and users will be able to reap the benefits shortly. The first change coming is the introduction of subassets, which will allow asset owners to create a “child asset”. For example, if somebody issues the “PremierLeague” asset, they could make subassets such as “PremierLeague.ManU” and “PremierLeague.Chelsea”, and so on.

Similar to how assets can be traded on the Counterparty platform, subassets will enjoy the same type of functionality. But at the same time, there is an unparalleled range of flexibility to distinguish a subasset from the flock. In a time where people are looking to digitize just about anything, properly named assets will go a long way.

Several blockchain-based projects – which are already using assets – will immediately see the benefit of introducing subassets to their users. However, it is important to note this proposal is still in an early draft form on GitHub,  where it is waiting for final approval. Once this has been achieved, working on the implementation can begin, and the feature will be thoroughly trialed on the testnet before being released to the public.

To stay on the topic of assets on Counterparty for a moment, an enhancement to the counterparty-lib will be coming as well. Doing so will provide users with a full history for every individual asset ever issued on the platform, and accessing this log can be done through a new API call. In the end, third-party developers will have an easier time getting acquainted with Counterparty and accessing specific information.

Security-wise, Counterparty will be implementing a different version of multisig. In its current form, executing a multisig transaction by using specific Counterparty addresses is already possible, but the functionality will be improved. For example, the “standard” Bitcoin multisig addresses = which begin with a “3” instead of a “1” – will be supported out of the box. This new version of multisig – called P2SH multisig – is developed in-house, and is undergoing a thorough vetting process.

Counterparty Adds Blocktrail CTO to Team

Growing a business can be done in many different ways, and expanding the team is an important step in the right direction. Counterparty has added a new member to their staff in the form of Blocktrail CTO Ruben De Vries. De Vries’ multiple years of experience in the Bitcoin software development industry should be an excellent addition to the company. In fact, he is the one responsible for developing the P2SH multisig patch that is currently being tested.

Truth be told, Ruben De Vries has been a part of the Counterparty development team for quite some time now. Not only did he overhaul the Counterwallet for its latest release, but De Vries has also been actively working on making counterparty-lib more stable and increasing its performance. Regardless of the transaction volume going on at any given time, counterparty-lib seems to be handling everything quite well. Users can expect further enhancements to be made to the code when necessary.

When asked about the block size debate, the Counterparty Founders stated: 

“WE’RE CHOOSING TO BE LARGELY APOLITICAL REGARDING THE ONGOING BLOCKSIZE DEBATE, BUT WE DO FEEL THAT SEGREGATED WITNESS IS A SOUND DEVELOPMENT THAT CAN OFFER BENEFIT TO COUNTERPARTY USERS, SUCH AS LOWER TRANSACTION COSTS.”

As a result, Counterparty is openly showing their support for Bitcoin Core and the Segregated Witness solution. Segwit support is coming to Counterwallet in the very near future, which will allow for cheaper transactions and bringing Counterparty in line with the development roadmap of Bitcoin Core itself.

What are your thoughts on the updates and changes coming to Counterparty? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Counterparty Blog

Images courtesy of Counterparty, Shutterstock, bitcoinwednesday.com

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