Merlin Chain, Bitcoin layer-2 solution, launches testnet
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
NewYork, United States, Jan. 31, 2024, Chainwire
Merlin Chain, a Bitcoin layer-2 solution, has launched its testnet, with the mainnet scheduled to go live within a month.
This development comes at a time when the Bitcoin network has been facing increasing congestion and high transaction fees, making it challenging for new users to adopt the cryptocurrency.
Merlin Chain is expected to address these issues by providing a more efficient and scalable way to transact on the Bitcoin network.
Merlin Chain, an EVM-compatible layer 2 solution, has launched its testnet and is expected to launch its mainnet soon. The development is led by Bitmap Tech, the team behind the successful BRC-420 protocols and Bitmap.game. Merlin Chain is designed to address the scalability and transaction fee issues faced by the Bitcoin network.
The team’s past successes with BRC-420, which enables the combination/recursion of any file format to form a more complex inscription on Bitcoin, have generated high anticipation for Merlin Chain. The protocol’s core asset, the Blue Box, has experienced significant growth, rising from an inscription cost of $0.15 to an all-time high floor price of $26,000. Other assets like Mineral and This Song About NFTs have also seen notable trading volume on the OKX market.
Merlin Chain has a strong developer community with over 1,000 members and a vibrant asset ecosystem with over 600 collections. Even during the recent market downturn, the price of Merlin Chain assets has remained stable or even increased.
Bitmap.Game
Bitmap.Game is a fully on-chain, fully decentralized, fair-launch metaverse project.
It is based on the Digital Matter Theory that underlies Bitcoin, and is open-sourced so that it can be run or verified by any client, reflecting the concept of “client agnosticism” in fully onchain games.
During this time, Bitmap’s market capitalization has risen from $3 million to a ATH of $290 million.
With more than 30,000 holders, Bitmap has surpassed the Sandbox as the metaverse asset with the highest number of holders across all blockchains.
Unlocking Bitcoin’s potential
Merlin Chain’s vision for Bitcoin layer-2 goes beyond simply improving transaction speeds and fees. The team aims to unlock the full potential of Bitcoin by leveraging its native assets, users, and protocols to create new and innovative applications.
Merlin Chain seeks to develop Bitcoin layer-2 solutions that are deeply integrated with Bitcoin’s native assets, users, and protocols.
For instance, the team envisions creating games based on Bitmap, enabling Bitmap users to seamlessly access various metaverses at a low cost.
Additionally, Merlin Chain aims to develop defi protocols that empower both NFTs and FTs, fostering a harmonious coexistence between the two asset classes.
Moreover, the team plans to explore innovative methods for minting layer-1 assets on layer-2 more cost-effectively and flexibly. These Bitcoin-centric innovations are crucial for propelling the Bitcoin ecosystem forward, rather than simply replicating Ethereum’s approach.
So far, Merlin Chain has built a powerful dapp ecosystem, the liquidity concerns have been effectively addressed, and is planning for further expansion.
Leveraging ZK-Rollup for efficient and secure scaling
The diverse ecosystem and assets also imply higher throughput requirements and some safety risks. To solve this problem, Merlin Chain has adopted ZK-Rollup which enables the compression of a large number of transaction proofs into a simple check-sum to improve transaction efficiency and scalability.
The sequencer nodes on Merlin Chain are responsible for collecting and batching transactions, generating compressed transaction data, ZK state roots, and proofs via zkEVM. The compressed transaction data and ZK Proofs are then uploaded via the decentralized Oracle network to the taproot on Bitcoin layer-1, which is available to the entire network to ensure transparency and security.
The decentralized Oracle network nodes will be required to stake BTC to prevent improper activities. Users can initiate challenges to the ZK-Rollup based on compressed data, ZK state roots, and ZK Proof. Successful challenges result in a rollback to the last verified state, and the forfeiture of the Oracle node’s locked $BTC, ensuring the system’s security and trustworthiness.
Through the integration of these technologies, Merlin Chain has shown its superior technical capabilities and is on track to build an efficient, secure, and native Bitcoin layer-2 solution.
Native integration – Merlin Chain’s Bitcoin-centric approach
Compared to other Bitcoin layer-2s that are making attempts at the moment, one of the key features of Merlin Chain is that it is “Bitcoin Native”.
As a strong believer in Bitcoin for many years, Merlin Chain is extremely committed to the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, and seeks to bring more users and assets to Bitcoin through their work, rather than serving other ecosystems in the name of Bitcoin. As such, Merlin Chain places a high value on the native bitcoin nature of its ecosystem’s projects and users.
Merlin Chain supports bitcoin-native wallets. Empowered by the Particle Network’s account abstraction, users can use their bitcoin wallets to seamlessly switch between layer-1 and layer-2 . Users can also experience BTC swaps with other tokens, such as stablecoins, at any time without having to switch to an EVM wallet.
In addition, Merlin Chain will support most of the major protocols on Bitcoin, including, but not limited to, BRC-20, Bitmap, BRC-420, Atomicals, SRC20, and Pipe. All inscriptions on the mainnet will be automatically whitelisted by Merlin Chain, allowing users to safely and affordably trade on it.
In line with its pursuit of “Bitcoin Native”, Merlin Chain plans to adopt BRC-20 as its governance token.
This makes a lot more sense than other Bitcoin layer-2s that are currently using Ethereum standard tokens as governance tokens.
The token will be released through a fair launch, with the exception of a small portion that will be distributed to VCs and the team, which will be given a 48-month release period that will not start within two years, demonstrating the team’s and investors’ confidence in Merlin Chain.
Bridging the gap
Another tricky issue for the builders in the Bitcoin ecosystem is the lack of new users and new money coming in.
While the Ordinals things have continued to be on fire, the number of active address has not seen significant growth. It is just the same group of people involved in different projects.
A very fundamental reason for this is the complexity of Bitcoin.
As well as the need to download a Bitcoin wallet, inscribing is also not very easy to understand, and users will need to spend at least two blocks of their time inscribing, as well as three blocks of their time for confirmation, which is complicated and time-consuming.
Merlin Chain will solve this problem.
Currently, Merlin Chain has been connected to 40 Ethereum chains, so for those users who are not familiar with Bitcoin, they can use their familiar wallets, such as MetaMask, and their familiar assets, such as stablecoins, ETH, BNB, etc. to interact on Merlin Chain.
Users don’t need to know the principles behind Bitcoin, or even what BRC-20 and Atomicals are, before they can experience Bitcoin in its native manner in their familiar way.
For this purpose, Merlin Chain is going to integrate the first multi-chain inscription dapp, which will allow users to inscribe assets on other layers, including Bitcoin layer-1, on Merlin Chain.
It will only take one block to wait for.
At the same time, a launchpad will also be available on Merlin Chain, with a mechanism that allows every inscription launched on it to be valued at 100,000 FDV, allowing more users to easily purchase assets such as the BRC-20/ BRC-420/ Atomicals/ Runes at a very low price.
Additionally, as part of its commitment to decentralization, Merlin Chain is going to release most of its governance tokens to the community.
Users can stay tuned for the upcoming mainnet launch – the future of Bitcoin is about to unfold with Merlin Chain at the helm.
About Merlin Chain
Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin layer-2 that integrates ZK-Rollup network, decentralized oracle network, and on-chain BTC fraud proof modules.
It is committed to empowering Bitcoin’s native assets, protocols, and products on Layer1 through its layer-2 network, to Make Bitcoin Fun Again.
Merlin Chain is a subsidiary product line of Bitmap Tech, a premier OG team boasting an overall market cap exceeding $500 million.
The BRC-420 “Blue Box” collection under Bitmap Tech has become one of the hottest assets on Ordinals.
Users can start following Merlin Chain’s Twitter for more updates.
Contact
Jeff
Merlin Chain
[email protected]
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. crypto.news does not endorse any product mentioned on this page. Users must do their own research before taking any actions related to the company.
