This week's Midweek with Max covered updates on the OpReth transition, MinerFi, ZK provability, and a live veHEMI contract upgrade, plus an ordinals deep-dive from Marco and the usual wide-ranging Q&A with the community.
The OpGeth-to-OpReth switchover is moving along well, with local net testing underway and testnet access for node operators expected in the coming weeks. It sets the stage for a broader push on ZK provability. The first version of OpReth will give operators the option to run Oxygen, Hemi's new Rust-built Bitcoin indexer designed from the ground up for ZK compatibility, alongside the existing TBC indexer. Once that upgrade ships, ZK provability at the network level becomes active and unlocks ZK-based crosschain interoperability.
MinerFi continues to advance as well. The system, which allows users to onboard Bitcoin into DeFi through a static deposit address, is currently in end-to-end testing, with a private onchain testnet run also planned for this week. What started as a straightforward implementation has evolved into a fully ZK-proven threshold signature system with onchain auditability and fault attribution.
On the contract side, a veHEMI upgrade went live this week. It introduces support for new position types, simplifies rewards accounting, and improves the rewards split mechanism. A corresponding upgrade to the rewards distributor contract will activate with the next veHEMI distribution cycle.
Marco shared a look at early ordinal indexing work, with a PR submitted earlier in the day. Rune support is also being explored, though it requires more time given its complexity. The current work is taking place in OpGeth as a discovery phase, with the intent to transpile into Rust as the stack matures. Marco's broader vision is to bring Bitcoin's internals, including ordinals, runes, and eventually more directly into the HVM, using Bitcoin as the data layer and Hemi as the transfer layer. The ZK tunnel upgrade currently underway enables the other direction as well: taking EVM assets and tokenizing them onto Bitcoin as bearer instruments, be they ordinal NFTs or BRC-20s, that can be brought back to Hemi and redeemed for the underlying assets.
For those interested in early access to upcoming releases, including an NFT marketplace from community member Alpha and early OpReth builds, make sure you have the Beta Tester role in the Hemi Discord. Also keep an eye out for announcements on the next Built on Hemi stream featuring BitFi, with details to follow soon. Engineering Office Hours are tomorrow at 4 PM EDT in Discord.
Join Hemi's Discord to connect with the community and submit questions ahead of next week's Midweek with Max, now streaming live on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube every Tuesday at 8 AM PDT / 11 AM EDT / 15:00 UTC.