Bitcoin’s next gen tokens are here. Inside the Silicon Valley hacker house where 17 coders helped build the new memecoin market

KEY POINTS

The bitcoin halving coincided with a few other major launches on the blockchain, including cutting-edge programming innovations that are expected to draw more developers to the network.

For years, rival chains like ethereum and solana have competed with bitcoin on functionality because both have smart contracts natively built into the base chain.

Recent features added post-halving make DeFi on bitcoin at scale a reality, and coders are keying in on the opportunities as bitcoin’s market value surpasses $1.3 trillion.

$1.3 trillions

In the East Foothills of San Jose, California, 17 coders working for the popular ordinals marketplace maker, Magic Eden, piled into a 4-bedroom, 3,875 square-foot house rented on Airbnb. Their goal was to spend a week hacking to prepare for the so-called bitcoin halving — an event that is baked into the chain’s code and helps to stave off inflation through programmatic monetary policy.

A lot of the talk surrounding the halving, which happens roughly every four years, has been pegged to the fact that new issuance of the world’s largest virtual coin would be cut in half. But the block that locked in the halving also coincided with a couple other major launches on the blockchain, including cutting-edge programming innovations that are expected to draw both a lot more coders and a lot more venture capital dollars into the bitcoin ecosystem.

Also unlike past halving events, the world’s largest cryptocurrency touched a new all-time high above $73,000 in March as record flows entered the bitcoin ecosystem via the newly-launched spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S.

“Bitcoin has never been healthier – what was missing previously was a vibrant developer ecosystem on top,” said Magic Eden’s co-founder and chief operating officer, Zedd Yin. #written2earn