Introducing Bitlayer Mainnet-V1: Unlocking the Potential of Bitcoin

Bitlayer 15 Apr 2024

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Bitcoin is seeing a massive, frenzied adoption that’s unparalleled in any other time in its history.

But a surge of new users, while electrifying, drives home the importance of designing Bitcoin’s scalability.

At Bitlayer, we feel truly fortunate to be a part of this extraordinary ecosystem. We’ve been building relentlessly over the last few months to help satiate the demand for an easy-to-integrate Bitcoin scaling solution.

Now, after an extensive testnet stage and a series of rigorous security audits, we are launching our Mainnet-V1. It represents the culmination of a series of optimizations, delivering an exceptional developer experience.

Bitlayer Mainnet-V1 is now officially open to developers.

Go Give It A Whirl

The fastest route to an open, fully decentralized Bitcoin economy is to relentlessly integrate. Upon Bitlayer’s mainnet launch, developers will be able to leverage the protocol to create new applications within the Bitcoin framework.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, and a heavy weight on our shoulders as we introduce BitVM to the Bitcoin ecosystem. We welcome you to begin your journey on Bitlayer. With updated documentation and our developer tools, it’s never been easier to use Bitlayer:

$50M Token Reward for Builders

We encourage the development of native applications built on Bitlayer, as well as the migration and deployment of EVM-compatible projects to the protocol. We’ve launched our ecosystem incentive program Ready Player One with this in mind, with $50 million worth of tokens allocated to accelerate ecosystem development and incentivize projects to deploy on the Bitlayer mainnet.

Exciting things are happening! With over 80 projects signifying their intention to deploy on Bitlayer to date, and over 130 projects and teams on the way, we’re committed to a fair launch in which projects of all shapes and sizes will be put on the same footing, with nobody given priority access.

It’s an exciting period ahead. Look out for a series of announcements with Bitlayer ecosystem partners, some alpha, and a whole lot of other exciting news in the next few weeks.

Starting with BitVM Research

Bitlayer was established by Bitcoin enthusiasts, OGs, and open-source contributors dedicated to advancing BitVM. BitVM is a breakthrough proposal ushering in novel advancements on Bitcoin, allowing for sophisticated contracts and off-chain computations.

Observing a large improvement in Bitcoin scalability, our core builders Kevin He, Charlie Hu and Dr. Lynndell decided to work on BitVM and Bitcoin’s Layer 2. Kevin He shared his nascent Bitcoin Layer 2 insights on X andGithub, initiating a community focused on BitVM development. Dr. Lynndell’s work includes innovations such as the BitVM And Its Optimization Considerations, and DLC and Its Optimization Considerations, marking the development of Bitlayer’s journey.

On April 5th, Bitlayer released the technical white paper, proposing a Turing-complete computing layer solution based on the BitVM paradigm and zero-knowledge(ZK) proofs, while fully inheriting Bitcoin’s security.

The Bitlayer technical whitepaper details a new design, the Layered Virtual Machine (LVM), which decouples the front-end smart contract execution layer from the back-end ZK generator. Additionally, Bitlayer combines Bitcoin’s Taproot technology with FRI(Fast Reed-Solomon IOP of Proximity), aiming to achieve the most efficient ZK-STARK verifier currently available on Bitcoin. Furthermore, Bitlayer will implement a trustless dual-channel cross-chain bridge based on BitVM and OP-DLC (Optimistic-Discreet Log Contract) technology.

To dive into the technical details of Bitlayer, the full version of the whitepaper is available for download here.

The Next 2 Milestones?

This is all pretty new for Bitcoin builders.

Bitlayer’s vision will be realized through the rollout of a mainnet in multiple stages, with each phase designed to enhance user experience and bolster security through cryptographic proof of Bitcoin consensus and on-chain activities.

The Mainnet-V1 is the realization of a lot of hard work, but lends way to further improvements and upgrades:

Bitlayer Mainnet V2– 2024 Q3

What’s left to get there:

Polish a handful of features, such as the bridging issue
Incorporate user feedback from the mainnet v1 launch
Attract 500+ ecosystem projects and teams

Bitlayer Mainnet V3– 2025 Q2

What’s left to get there:

Solve the challenge game design with BitVM
Incorporate user feedback from the mainnet v2 launch
Attract 3,000+ ecosystem projects deployed on Bitlayer

We express our gratitude for your invaluable commitment. Together, let’s move towards a brighter future in the world of Bitcoin.

About Us

Bitlayer is the first Bitcoin-equivalent Layer 2 based on the BitVM paradigm. Bitlayer is committed to becoming the computation layer for Bitcoin, aiming to introduce ultra-scalability to Bitcoin while inheriting its security, providing users with a high-throughput, low-cost transaction experience.