$BTC Rootstock (RSK) is a Bitcoin Layer 2 smart contract platform. It’s designed to bring Ethereum-style smart contracts to Bitcoin, but with the security of Bitcoin’s network. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Rootstock (RSK) is a sidechain that runs parallel to Bitcoin.

It uses a 2-way peg, meaning Bitcoin can be locked and mirrored 1:1 on RSK as RBTC (Rootstock Bitcoin).

It is merge-mined with Bitcoin, meaning Bitcoin miners secure both Bitcoin and RSK networks at the same time.

It’s EVM-compatible (Ethereum Virtual Machine), so developers can run Ethereum smart contracts directly on RSK with little or no changes.

RIF (RSK Infrastructure Framework) builds extra layers on top of RSK, like:

Decentralized storage (RIF Storage)

Payments (RIF Lumino)

Identity management (RIF Identity)

Name services (RIF Name Service)

So when you hear Rootstock and RIF together, it’s like:

Rootstock = Bitcoin Layer 2 for smart contracts.

RIF = Decentralized services that live on top of Rootstock.

Would you like me to dive deeper into how Rootstock's peg works, or maybe how it compares to other Bitcoin L2s like Lightning or Stacks?

Which direction are you interested in?