Side Labs, the company behind Side Protocol, today announces the appointment of Dave Hrycyszyn as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO), to spearhead the development of the Bitcoin extension layer.
Dave Hrycyszyn brings extensive expertise in distributed systems, blockchain scalability, computer security, and agile development to the table. He boasts a distinguished track record in founding, building, and successfully exiting several companies, most notably Chainspace. He is a co-author of the blockchain sharding protocol Chainspace and the leaderless, PBFT-variant consensus protocol Blockmania. Dave's work has garnered significant attention. Chainspace was acquired by Facebook’s Libra to help solve blockchain scalability for its 2 billion users. The project still reverberates today, with project participants going on to found Sui and Celestia.
Prior to joining Side Labs, Dave served as the CTO at the Nym privacy project. Beyond his roles at Chainspace and Nym, Dave has also served as a co-founder and advisor to the Vega Protocol.
In his new role, Dave will oversee the company's technology strategy and lead the architecture and development efforts, with the aim of propelling Side’s vision of enhancing Bitcoin's programmability for widespread adoption.
Shane Qiu, co-founder of Side Labs and former Binance Labs researcher, expressed his confidence in Dave's appointment. "Dave and I have worked together for years, and I have no doubt that he is one of the foremost CTOs in the crypto space," Shane remarked. "His technical expertise perfectly complements my product-oriented approach, and together, we're positioned to make a significant impact in the Bitcoin ecosystem."
Last year, the firm secured successful pre-seed funding from prominent investors including KR1, HashKey Capital, Continue Capital, Symbolic Capital, and others. Recent reports indicate that Side Labs has shifted its focus to developing an extension layer for Bitcoin. Unlike other scaling solutions aiming to create new L2s on Bitcoin, Side distinguishes itself as the first and only settlement layer dedicated and optimized for an interconnected ecosystem of Bitcoin-based rollups.
With Dave Hrycyszyn joining the team, Side Labs is well-equipped to tackle the complex technical challenges associated with scaling Bitcoin, paving the way for a dynamic ecosystem surrounding the world's premier cryptocurrency.
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About Side Protocol
Side Protocol serves as an extension layer of Bitcoin. At its core lies a settlement layer optimized to unlock programmability and scalability for the Bitcoin-centric rollup ecosystem.