Interlay Launches MVP of BOB, A New Bitcoin Layer 2 Bridge For Cross-Chain Token Transfers to the Bitcoin Community

On August 29, the workforce behind decentralized Bitcoin infrastructure supplier Interlay unveiled the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) of its BOB (“Construct on Bitcoin”) resolution, a brand new Bitcoin layer 2 community.

As a hub for innovation and decentralized software improvement, BOB integrates Rust sensible contracts suitable with Bitcoin libraries like Lightning and Ordinal whereas supporting the Ethereum Digital Machine (EVM).

Builders envision BOB as a major platform to nurture experimentation and create new decentralized functions on Bitcoin’s strong framework.

“Our purpose is to allow builders to create actually decentralized functions and innovate on high of Bitcoin’s present stack, together with Lightning, Ordinals, and Nostr,” Co-founder Alexei Zamyatin stated in an announcement. 

“Thereby, BOB bets on enabling builders from Ethereum and different ecosystems to rapidly carry their DeFi, NFT, and different web3 merchandise to Bitcoin’s 300 million customers.”

Interlay is the common layer for Bitcoin finance worldwide, encompassing BTC buying and selling, lending, staking, and integration with numerous DeFi choices. It is constructed on a trustless bridge basis, layered with an AMM and cash market, all introduced by an intuitive one-click interface.

This interface offers seamless on/off ramps and multi-chain compatibility. With a historical past of $9.5 million in enterprise funding, Interlay has additionally pioneered tokenized Bitcoin and contributed to a Polkadot cross-chain bridge.

BOB’s First MVP Showcases BRC-21: A Novel Trustless Bitcoin Bridge for Interoperable Tokens

The primary MVP of BOB encompasses a demonstration app that implements the novel Bitcoin customary BRC-21, enabling safe token bridging from different chains like ETH, DAI, and USDC to Bitcoin.

Launched by the Interlay workforce in response to the Ordinals protocol’s sudden rise, BRC-21 employs the BRC-20 token format. This revolutionary customary leverages Bitcoin to trustlessly bridge tokens from numerous chains onto the Bitcoin community. 

Utilizing cryptographic transaction verification alongside mint and burn logic, any Ethereum-based ERC-20 token will be seamlessly bridged to Bitcoin as a BRC-21 token.

The discharge of BOB’s MVP incorporates Interlay’s trustless Bitcoin bridge and an built-in Bitcoin Gentle consumer, enabling safe cross-bridge performance between ERC-20 and BRC-21 tokens.

“ZK rollups are presently one of the best guess for such structure, nevertheless, we’re constructing BOB’s to assist no matter cryptographic primitives discover their manner into Bitcoin,” stated  Dominik Harz, venture Co-Founder and CTO

This integration facilitates trustless swaps and different BTC primitives, like hashrate markets. 

The upcoming full-release schedule will additional improve interoperability by introducing Ethereum compatibility, a refined Bitcoin peg mechanism constructing upon Interlay’s trustless BTC bridge, and Bitcoin rollup mechanics.

“We’re working to have the mainnet dwell with launch companions, tooling, and infrastructure earlier than the Bitcoin halving. A public testnet for builders to start out testing is scheduled for earlier than Christmas this yr,” stated Zamyatin.

Initiatives like Ordinals have drawn criticism from Bitcoin maximalists, who contend that the well-established protocol’s decades-long safe operation should not be topic to experimental use on the blockchain, doubtlessly undermining the community’s stability and public belief within the premier cryptocurrency. 

“Rollups supply one of the best likelihood to make sure lasting worth development for Bitcoin, enhancing the protocol’s financial sustainability submit upcoming halving occasions,” acknowledged Dominik. 

The co-founder of Interlay additionally expressed a powerful perception within the necessity of broadening Bitcoin’s utility past mere “hodling.”