Blockstream Founded
Blockstream is founded by Adam Back, Gregory Maxwell, and other developers to advance Bitcoin protocol development and sidechains.
On October 23, 2014, Blockstream was officially founded by a team of prominent Bitcoin developers including Adam Back, Gregory Maxwell, and Austin Hill. The company launched with the mission of advancing Bitcoin protocol development, particularly through the use of sidechains—parallel blockchains designed to enable experimentation without compromising Bitcoin’s main network.
Blockstream was one of the first well-funded startups to emerge directly from the ranks of core developers, signaling a new phase of professionalization in Bitcoin’s technical ecosystem. With its focus on protocol-level innovations, Blockstream positioned itself as a steward of Bitcoin’s long-term scalability and security.
The company quickly attracted venture capital backing and became a central player in debates over governance and scaling that would intensify in the years ahead. While supporters hailed Blockstream as a necessary force for serious innovation, critics feared that concentrating influence among a small group of developers and investors could undermine Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos.The founding of Blockstream remains one of the most important milestones in Bitcoin’s institutionalization as a technology project.