Newly Launched Bitcoin Optech Initiative Aims to Address BTC Scalability Issue

A team of Bitcoin (BTC) engineers has announced the launch of the Bitcoin Operations Technology Group (Bitcoin Optech) addressing the problem of Bitcoin’s scalability, according to their statement published July 20.

Bitcoin Optech is a non-profit organization backed by leading industry players like PayPal Board Member Wences Casares, executive of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Ltd John Pfeffer, and cryptocurrency research and development group Chaincode Labs.

At this stage, Bitcoin Optech focuses on “operational technical work, such as segwit usage, transaction batching, fee estimation and coin selection,” helping companies integrate the rapidly developing technology.

Working closely with engineers from companies using the Bitcoin network and open-source developers, Bitcoin Optech seeks to give the scalability problem full consideration by holding workshops for Bitcoin engineers, hosting an online forum for technical scaling issues, and producing a weekly newsletter.

One proposed solution to Bitcoin’s scalability issue — driven by the continuous growth of the network’s transaction numbers — is the Lightning Network (LN), a second layer payment option that allows transactions to occur off the blockchain.

A recent study suggesting that the Lightning Network is not as effective at routing payments as  was first believed was refuted by the LN co-founders and BTC developers, who noted that the Lightning Network is still in beta testing.

In mid-July, crypto payment gateway CoinGate launched a pilot program for 100 merchants to test transactions on a Bitcoin Lightning Network variant of their service.