Bitcoin layer-2 infrastructure agency Lightning Labs has launched the mainnet alpha of Taproot Assets, a protocol aimed toward enabling stablecoins and real-world belongings to be issued on the Bitcoin and Lightning Network.
The present model, Taproot Assets v0.3, will present a “feature-complete developer experience” to problem, handle and discover stablecoins and different belongings on the Bitcoin blockchain, according to Ryan Gentry, head of enterprise improvement at Lightning Labs.
“We believe this new era for Bitcoin will see a myriad of global currencies issued as Taproot Assets, and the world’s foreign exchange transactions settled instantly over the Lightning Network.”
“With this release, developers can issue financial assets on-chain in a scalable manner,” Lightning Labs said on Oct. 18 in a separate put up. “Today marks a new era of multi-asset bitcoin.”
Announcing the primary mainnet launch of Taproot Assets , a protocol for belongings on #bitcoin and Lightning.
With this launch, builders can problem monetary belongings on-chain in a scalable method.
Today marks a brand new period of multi-asset bitcoin. https://t.co/2cNvZSvv8v
— Lightning Labs⚡️ (@lightning) October 18, 2023
This model of Taproot Assets will work by routing via present Bitcoin (BTC) liquidity on the Lightning Network.
Gentry says the combination will prolong Bitcoin’s community results and transfer it one step nearer towards “bitcoinizing the dollar.” He added:
“This is how we make bitcoin the global routing network for the internet of money. This is how we bitcoinize the dollar and the world’s financial assets.”
Gentry described developer demand for stablecoin purposes on Bitcoin as “overwhelming,” notably on condition that some stablecoin issuers maintain extra United States Treasurys than the likes of Germany and South Korea.
The future we deserve#bitcoin https://t.co/XW433TVEIL
— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 18, 2023
“[It] signifies the importance of these assets globally, and gives a sense of scale for the global user demand,” Gentry added.
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Nearly 2,000 Taproot Assets have been minted on testnets over the past a number of months within the lead-up to the mainnet alpha launch, in accordance to Gentry.
Alpha launches sometimes imply the event isn’t in its ultimate state. Lightning Labs stated the alpha tag signifies that they anticipate the neighborhood to take a look at it for potential bugs.
Bitcoin Drivechains (via Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-300), Botanix Labs’ Spiderchain and the BitVM are among the many different developments within the Bitcoin ecosystem wanting to increase Bitcoin’s capabilities.
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