Trace Mayer expertly speaks on all the development going on in the Bitcoin space. “There are hundreds and hundreds of open source developers working on the Bitcoin core software,” he said. “The Bitcoin core software is the backbone of the Bitcoin network. It’s the most widely deployed implementation for all the network consensus. I really liked the work that Bitcoin core developers have been doing.” At the time of writing, 760 issues and 359 pull requests on the GitHub repository, found at GitHub.com/Bitcoin/Bitcoin, showcase ongoing Bitcoin development. Mayer then rattles off a list of Bitcoin innovation:

The Lightning network (Introduces channel factories and private messages on Bitcoin’s second layer)
Blockstream’s Atomic swaps on Liquid, a sidechain-based settlement network for traders and exchanges.
Blockstream’s Elements, an open source, sidechain-capable blockchain platform, providing access to powerful features such as Confidential Transactions and Issued Assets.
RSK (for the development of smart contracts on Bitcoin’s second layer)

On the mining front:
The Fiber Network for connecting all the miners
Matt Corallo’s Stratum Version 2 Protocol, (“going to make it a lot better for individual miners to control how the blocks get created instead of the mining pool screening it,” says Mayer).
Mining derivatives (“like hashing contracts, will likely trade on a CFTC regulated swap execution facility,” says Mayer).


On the privacy front; particularly confidential transactions:
CoinJoin
Mimblewimble
Dandelion
Bulletproof (shorter proofs for more efficient confidential transactions)
SNICKER (coin mixing)
Value Shuffle (coin mixing)


Smart Contracts
Mast (Merklized Abstract Syntax Tree, for smaller transaction sizes, more privacy, and larger smart contracts)
Taproot (for expanding Bitcoin smart contract flexibility)
Graph root 
Tap script (Improvement’s to Bitcoin’s script structure)
“We’ve got performance and usability increases, Schnorr signature cross input aggregation, Multisig, neutrino, erlay, and transaction accumulators,” he said. “Then there’s things like BTCPay for merchants to accept Bitcoin with open source software. It’s free. There’s just so much innovation happening on Bitcoin. People are largely ignorant of that, if they’re not closely following the space with the technological competence to kind of be looking and watching all the stuff that’s happening. Bitcoin is in forward motion like never before.”

Could state actors could stop Bitcoin? “It’s in the universe of the game theory,” says Mayer. “But, right now, [cryptocurrencies] are so inconsequential, they don’t really matter at all. It’s just not even worth [the government’s] time to think about it. Bitcoin, specifically, is built in a very force multiplier type of way, where it’s just so difficult to try and hack it. And there’s been a huge bounty there, $150 billion now, and that bounty has been there the whole time––the last eleven years.” Still, no significant hack.

“Bitcoin gets stronger and stronger and any potential weaknesses keep getting further reinforced and strengthened,” he said. “By the time it might matter for a state actor to try and hack it, it’ll be way too big. And all of those potential weaknesses will have already been closed off and highly defended against.”

What if the Chinese Communist Party decides to shut down the many Chinese-based Bitcoin mines, which help to secure the Bitcoin network? “The geographic distribution diversity is increasing,” ripostes Mayer. “Even Bitmain has announced a major new Bitcoin mine in Texas. And Version 2 Stratum Protocol is going to make it even more distributed with the individual or retail miners being able to control what happens in terms of the transactions that go into blocks. Instead of the pool operator controlling that, the individual miners will be controlling that.”


More info/other articles: https://cryptographicasset.com/the-state-of-bitcoin-according-to-btc-investor-trace-mayer/