Bitlayer, a Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure startup backed by Franklin Templeton, has launched its good contract bridge on mainnet, aiming to make Bitcoin extra interoperable throughout a number of blockchain networks.
The bridge, known as BitVM, is described by the corporate as a “trust-minimized bridging resolution for Bitcoin holders.” It permits customers to deposit Bitcoin (BTC) into a sensible contract, the place it’s held in escrow and transformed into Peg-BTC (YBTC), a tokenized model of Bitcoin that may work together with good contract platforms.
In line with Bitlayer, Peg-BTC is designed to facilitate programmability and crosschain compatibility. The corporate has already secured partnerships to combine the bridge with networks together with Sui, Base, and Arbitrum.
A Bitlayer spokesperson informed Cointelegraph that the brand new bridge is meant to “complement Bitcoin’s DeFi ecosystem by making native BTC liquidity accessible on networks that assist good contracts and extra advanced functions, with out requiring adjustments to Bitcoin’s base layer.”
Safety has been a priority for crosschain bridges, which are sometimes focused by hackers as a result of exploitable vulnerabilities. In 2022, a hacker stole $321 million from a Wormhole bridge, although over $225 million was later recouped.
In line with Bitlayer, its bridge was constructed on earlier fashions’ belief assumptions to beef up safety. Whereas many bridges depend on a multisig belief mannequin, BitVM makes use of a single signer.
Associated: A newbie’s information to the Bitcoin Taproot improve
Bitcoin DeFi protocols rise after Taproot, Inscriptions
Whereas different blockchains resembling Ethereum and Solana are extra identified for decentralized finance, the world’s oldest public blockchain has been attracting extra DeFi protocols currently. For a lot of Bitcoin buyers, the tantalizing risk of incomes yield on their cash has whetted an urge for food for these providers.
Bitlayer’s rivals within the Bitcoin DeFi house embrace BabylonChain, a proof-of-stake protocol that enables for buyers to stake Bitcoin, Stacks, which rewards Bitcoin miners and BounceBit, which is a restaking protocol whereby customers can delegate wrapped BTC to node operators.
As of Tuesday, the Bitlayer protocol has $384 million in worth locked onchain, producing $1.7 million in charges in June. The Babylon Protocol has a a lot better TVL, with $5.2 billion locked on the community.
There are presently about 30 DeFi initiatives constructing inside the Bitcoin ecosystem, a development accelerated by two main developments: the Taproot improve and the introduction of Inscriptions.
Taproot, applied in November 2021, enhanced Bitcoin’s scripting capabilities, paving the way in which for extra scalable and privacy-focused functions.
Inscriptions, popularized with the launch of the Ordinals protocol in early 2023, allowed customers to embed arbitrary information, together with photos and code, instantly onto the BTC community, unlocking new use circumstances for Bitcoin.
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