Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
In a rapidly evolving digital world. The following sections detail key innovations within these categories, illustrating the dynamic and forward-looking nature of Bitcoin’s layered ecosystem.Bitcoin L2s: The Big FourThe main Bitcoin Layers to exist have been led by the “Big Four” — Stacks, Lightning, RSK & Liquid. These four entities have collectively conducted the majority of L2 transactions, shaping the landscape of Bitcoin’s scalable solutions. Each of these L2 solutions has distinct features and functionalities, contributing uniquely to the Bitcoin ecosystem’s growth and scalability.1. Stacks: The Bitcoin L2 project began in 2017 by Princeton computer scientists Ryan Shea and Muneeb Ali to enable smart contracts for Bitcoin. The initial version of the Stacks Network launched in January 2021, allowing smart contracts and decentralized applications to use Bitcoin as a secure L1. The Stacks Bitcoin L2 activates the Bitcoin economy thanks to its Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism that runs parallel to and reuses the computational power of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus.The network is further secured by “Stacking,” in which Stacks token holders commit the network’s native STX token ($252.87M in the current Stacking cycle) to validate transactions, secure the Stacks network, and earn rewards in BTC.Smart contracts on Stacks are coded in Clarity, a native language that is human-readable and can respond to Bitcoin transactions and atomic swaps of assets with BTC.The STX token, which is used as gas on the L2, was the first-ever SEC-qualified token offering in 2019 and later decentralized filing updates with the SEC as a non-security before the 2021 mainnet launch.STX is a top 50 project and is the only Bitcoin L2 with a native token that is also listed in CoinMarketCap’s top 100 at the time of writing. It was ranked #38 for developer activity across the industry in the 2022 Electric Capital Developer report with an increasing number of monthly active developers since 2015, with 175 active developers in Oct. 2023.Monthly Active Developers on Stacks. Source: Electric CapitalUpcoming Catalysts:Nakamoto network upgrade (Q2 2024) will enable Stacks with fast & cheap BTC transfers on an L2 with 100% of Bitcoin security (reorg resistance). Additionally, transaction speeds on the network will improve from the current 10–30+ minutes settlement times that mirror Bitcoin to be reduced to ~5-second blocks, a 1,000x improvement in between two Bitcoin blocks. As of December 2023, two major milestones in the upgrades development had been achieved, v0.1 known as “Mockamoto” and Neon (v0.2) the ‘‘controlled’ testnet featuring a single miner, single Stacker, and Stacker signing.sBTC, a decentralized 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset that can be deployed and move BTC between Bitcoin and the Stacks (L2) and used as gas in transactions without requiring additional assets. sBTC transfers are 100% secured by Bitcoin hash power.
Add Comment