First, an important point: the dominant force in this bull market will be the BTC ecosystem.
The focus of the previous two bull markets was on the ETH ecosystem, but this time, more opportunities will be concentrated in the BTC network ecosystem. Without further ado, here is a summary of valuable information and new project opportunities. Don't be too hasty; many high-quality new projects still need to be explored through more channels, not necessarily limited to the projects mentioned here.
Lightning Network Ecosystem
The Lightning Network is a new off-chain Bitcoin transaction system that allows users to transact with each other without the need for a central authority like a bank.
As a Bitcoin L2 solution, it can be used to scale microtransactions and daily transactions, and through the use of smart contracts and payment channels, two parties can conduct Bitcoin transactions almost instantly at almost zero cost.
The Lightning Network, proposed by Joseph Poon and Tadge Dryja in 2015, is considered the most important innovation since the creation of Bitcoin.
It leverages the security features of Bitcoin to provide high-speed real-time transaction processing offline. Users can make direct payments through peer-to-peer or indirect payments through network routing.
The Lightning Network did not invent new encryption forms or use novel Bitcoin scripts, yet it cleverly achieved offline payment functionality. Below are some applications in the Lightning Network ecosystem.
Lightning Labs
(1) Basic Information
Lightning Labs has developed software that powers the Lightning Network. The open-source, secure, and scalable Lightning system from Lightning Labs enables users to send and receive funds more efficiently than ever before. Lightning Labs also provides a range of verifiable, non-custodial financial services based on the Lightning Network. Lightning Labs connects the open-source software world with the next generation of Bitcoin financial software.
(2) Funding History
April 5, 2022 - Lightning Labs completes a $70 million Series B funding round;
February 5, 2020 - Lightning Labs completes a $10 million Series A funding round;
March 16, 2018 - Lightning Labs completes a $2.5 million seed funding round;
October 18 - The first mainnet version of Taproot Assets is announced, which is an asset protocol on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
It is recommended to pay attention to projects related to them and projects related to the founders. Official Twitter: @lightning Official website: https://lightning.engineering/ TaprootAssets (Taro) This is an asset protocol launched by Lightning Labs on October 18, which allows the creation of assets on the Lightning Network and enables fast, high-volume transactions at minimal cost. For example, issuing fungible assets (stablecoins) and NFTs. Below are the ecological projects of TARO: Nostr Nostr is a distributed social media protocol designed to create an uncensored global social network. The protocol does not rely on trusted central servers; instead, all users run a client. Using this client, users can write posts, sign them with their private keys, and send them to other servers for publication, which are then forwarded by other servers. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey donated approximately 14.17 BTC (about $245,000) to support the further development of the decentralized social network Nostr. Primal A social app based on the Nostr protocol, its social app suite combines a Twitter-like interface with the open-source Nostr protocol, prioritizing features such as censorship resistance, account ownership, and decentralization. On July 12, 2023, Primal completed a $1 million funding round. Nostr Assets Protocol The Nostr Assets Protocol is an open-source protocol that introduces Taproot assets and Satoshis (Bitcoin units) into the Nostr ecosystem. Once introduced, users can send and receive them at the Nostr protocol layer using Nostr's public and private keys. The settlement and security of assets still rely on the Lightning Network, and the Nostr Assets Protocol itself does not issue assets but introduces them into Nostr through the protocol. Below is the price chart for trick. Nostr's upcoming token mint feature, keep an eye out for the first created token. Portal Finance Portal is a DeFi built on Bitcoin, enabling unstoppable, anonymous, zero-knowledge transactions through cross-chain DEX. It eliminates the risk of wrapping tokens (e.g., wBTC, wETH) or betting with intermediaries. Portal transactions move provable cross-chain contract execution to layer 2 and layer 3, allowing for the speed and liquidity of centralized alternatives with the trust-minimized guarantee of Bitcoin. On September 21, 2021, Portal Finance completed an $8.5 million funding round, led by Coinbase Ventures. The Portal Swap SDK is ready to launch, allowing developers to build Portal DEX functionality and integrate it into chains and dApps! ORDINALS (The Hottest BTC Ecosystem) In May of this year, we introduced Ordinals, a comprehensive concept. The founder of Ordinals is Casey Rodarmo, and it involves a numbering scheme for satoshis, allowing the tracking and transfer of individual sats. These numbers are called Ordinals. Satoshis are numbered in the order they are mined and transferred from transaction inputs to outputs, following a first-in, first-out approach. Both the numbering and transfer schemes depend on order, with the numbering scheme relying on the order of mining and the transfer scheme relying on the order of transaction inputs and outputs. Two months after the release of the Ordinals protocol, Twitter user @domodata proposed a Bitcoin token standard—BRC-20 standard—on the Ordinals protocol. This is the origin of BRC20, and the legendary ORDI is the first token introduced by domo as an experiment. The initial minting cost is 1-3U. Currently, there are mainly two applications under ORDINALS: NFT and inscriptions, namely BRC20. Although the inscription track includes not only BRC20, but also many others such as BRC100, ORC20, SRC20, etc., after six months of market validation, we can see that apart from BRC20, the inscription track built on Ordinals has hardly developed any others. As for BRC20, it seems that ORDI has already achieved its goals, and the next target for SATS is BAN. In terms of market value, both of them could potentially enter the top fifty. However, there is a high risk in the zoo, as the batch of meme tokens from May has hardly taken off, and the current trend is for new coins with community support. After discussing the BRC20 of the inscription track, let's take a look at the small picture NFT, which is also an important part of Ordinals. Whether it's NFTs on the Ethereum chain or the BTC chain, it's more challenging than simply buying and selling tokens, making it more difficult for ordinary players to participate, as many people find it hard to understand the value of a picture. However, we recommend participating in early-stage activities, as it's just a matter of using new tools to operate, and it's not too difficult. We always believe that ORDINALS small picture NFTs are currently undervalued and will eventually rival BAYC and PUNKs NFTs. RGB Track The protocol proposed by developers Giacomo Zucco and Dr. Maxim Orlovsky in 2019, RGB is a Bitcoin and Lightning Network smart contract system focused on introducing the complexity and flexibility of Ethereum and other protocols into the Bitcoin and Lightning Network protocols (Lightning Network Protocol, LNP) and the Bitcoin protocol (LNP), and the Bitcoin ecosystem. The main applications currently include: Bitmask and Diba Bitmask is a Bitcoin and Lightning Network wallet, and DIBA is a Bitcoin NFT market that allows users to trade any assets issued by Bitcoin smart contracts on layer 2 networks (such as the Lightning Network). The two are in a cooperative relationship.(3) Project Information
They will launch the RGB asset market DIBA to the public this month.
These two projects are currently the first to enter the RGB market. We recommend everyone to pay attention to the project's developments and stay involved.
Bitlight Labs (Cosminmart)
Bitlight Labs develops infrastructure based on the RGB protocol and deploys multiple applications on the Lightning Network. Among them are Bitswap and the Bitlight wallet. This project can complete its own closed loop, bringing in users through wallet infrastructure to trade on its own swap, which is doing well. We have also privately contacted their team regarding investment matters and feel that they are a team that gets things done. However, progress may be a bit slow.
Infinitas
Website: https://www.iftas.tech/
Infinitas integrates the RGB protocol and the Lightning Network into a Bitcoin application ecosystem, aiming to achieve higher privacy protection, superior throughput, and excellent low-latency transaction processing. It is said that Infinitas will have its native economic incentive scheme, and in the early stages, it will use mining to produce output in the market to promote the long-term development of the ecosystem.
BITVEM
It stands for "Bitcoin Virtual Machine." Proposed by robin_linus on October 9th, BitStream is a decentralized file hosting service incentivized by Bitcoin, with no reliance on trust and cryptography. The client and server use the optimistic protocol to execute file coin atomic swaps. There are currently no applications, but it is highly popular and is a protocol that has garnered attention after ORDINALS.
Rootstock
Rootstock is an EVM-compatible smart contract platform based on Bitcoin. It aims to expand Bitcoin's capabilities to enable smart contracts without compromising its core layer, and to achieve permissionless construction of Bitcoin DeFi protocols. The Rootstock infrastructure framework (RIF) is applicable to RIF solutions for payments, identity, markets, and more.
DLC.Link
DLC.Link is building infrastructure to achieve native Bitcoin smart contract settlements, with the initial focus on currency hedging and lending. DLC.Link is constructing bridges and networks to unlock a secure and decentralized way for smart contracts to operate using native Bitcoin, without the need to send it to another party or blockchain (i.e., without "wrapping" BTC). On 2023-10-02, DLC.Link completed a $2 million pre-seed round of financing.
TeleportDAO
TeleportDAO is a trustless general interoperability protocol that provides infrastructure for developers to build cross-chain applications. With TeleportDAO, users can move any data between blockchains, such as contract call messages, or assets like tokens and NFTs.2023-03-17 TeleportDAO completed a $2.5 million seed round of financing, with a valuation of $20 million.
In this article, we mainly want to explore new ecological project opportunities. The projects mentioned above are worth paying attention to and observing. In fact, the Bitcoin ecosystem is not limited to these projects; there are many conceptual things as well. However, we currently lean towards more practical projects. If you have any recommendations for early Bitcoin ecosystem projects, please feel free to suggest them to us. 免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
