NYDIG Announces Lightning Accelerator Project During BitBlockBoom Conference

CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group and executive director of New York Digital Investments Group (NYDIG) Ross Stevens, unexpectedly appeared at BitBlockBoom in Austin, Texas, on August 26th, 2022, to make a surprise announcement.

Stevens revealed the launch of a Lightning accelerator initiative by NYDIG while speaking from the Bitcoin Commons. The project will go by the name of ”In Wolf’s Clothing” or simply “Wolf,” as a reference to the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” idiom.

Recently within the Bitcoin sector, NYDIG has made a number of investments and loans. Most notably, 26,200 miners were returned to the company in order to pay off debts. In a recent partnership with the New York Yankees, NYDIG made headlines by enabling employees to convert their pay into Bitcoin.

Stevens explained that the main reason for creating the accelerator project was due to the tremendous growth the Lightning Network has experienced this past year.

The reality is that this year, the progress in Bitcoin and Lightning is staggering. Month after month after month, the nodes on Lightning are growing.

The accelerator targets pre-seed, seed, and series A companies as well as individual founders, small teams, and developers working on Lightning, Taro, and covenants. Participants who relocate from all over the world will be provided with housing and transportation in New York City.

Cohorts of the program will each last for eight weeks. Per cohort, there will be 8-12 teams along with mentors who have scheduled office hours. The cohorts will only include non-remote individuals who will work in person. Each team will receive a sizable amount of seed money, already-recruited investors, and full-time expertise to help when needed.

During his speech, Stevens shared that “The technology underlying shitcoins is brittle,” and emphasized that his companies “will always stay Bitcoin.”

Stevens closed his speech with “We’re coming for you fiat. Let’s work tirelessly to make finance decentralized. Let’s work tirelessly to make money decentralized.”

Stevens’ full speech may be found in the Twitter thread below: