An overview of various venture capital institutions entering the BTC-related public chain ecosystem
With the arrival of the Bitcoin mining reward halving, this round of bull market was initiated by the BTC ETF narrative and has welcomed a wave of corrections due to the upcoming BTC halving. Now, the BTC ecosystem has changed significantly compared to six months ago. VC institutions are actively entering the space, and in addition to community-driven fair launch meme inscriptions, many venture capital firms or exchanges are leading the emergence of BTC L2 or re-staking chain projects and other public chain projects.Produced by: DODO Research
Author: dt
Editor: Lisa
BounceBit
BounceBit is a project that bases its security on BTC value and claims to expand the use cases of Bitcoin through its Restaking mechanism. Recently, it announced that its token $BB will be launched on Binance's Web3 wallet token issuance platform Megadrop. After receiving public investment from BinanceLab, BounceBit's popularity surged, and it is now previewing a collaboration with Binance Web3 wallet, making $BB one of the few new BTC projects recently launched by Binance, attracting more users and funds.
Unlike other BTC L2 projects that leverage the security of the Bitcoin chain technology, BounceBit focuses on building an independent POS public chain based on BTC value. By collaborating with CeFi asset management institutions and utilizing fee arbitrage, users' entrusted BTC can earn an additional layer of returns. The $BBTC certificates obtained from user staking can be used to run BounceBit Chain nodes or receive $BB token rewards through the LST protocol. Additionally, the introduced Restaking mechanism allows other applications within the BounceBit ecosystem to rely on $BBTC in nodes to complete other verification tasks, such as oracles and cross-chain bridges.
Currently, BounceBit is still conducting a points program where users can deposit wBTC, BTCB, and other assets to earn points, and it has stated that this will continue until before Metadrop starts.
Source: https://www.binance.com/zh-CN/research/projects/bouncebit
Merlin Chain
Merlin Chain has the highest TVL among the five projects introduced today, currently exceeding $950M, and is the earliest BTC EVM L2 to launch its mainnet. Its token $MERL was recently listed on major exchanges such as OKX and Bybit following the Bitcoin halving event.
Merlin Chain is backed by The Sparta Group and OKX Ventures, and is a Layer2 solution built on Bitcoin. It employs both OP-Rollup and ZK-Rollup architectures in parallel, referred to as optimistic ZK-Rollup, and introduces a decentralized off-chain oracle network as a DAC (Data Availability Committee) to address data availability issues. Specifically, Merlin's sequencer sends transaction data to Oracle nodes and Prover nodes (using lumoz's Prover as a Service), where the Oracle nodes are responsible for verifying ZK Proofs and publishing verification results to the Bitcoin chain (ZK-Rollup). Since the Bitcoin chain cannot fully verify ZK Proofs, a fraud proof mechanism is implemented to allow others to challenge the verification process (OP-Rollup), ensuring the network's security.
Source: https://docs.merlinchain.io/merlin-docs/architecture
Merlin's ecosystem projects are currently among the best developed in BTC L2, with asset management protocol Solv Funds, lending protocol Avalon Finance, and DEX protocol MerlinSwap all exceeding the $100M TVL threshold. However, whether there will be a need for more airdrop hunters to move funds elsewhere after the successful launch of $MERL remains to be seen.
Source: https://defillama.com/chain/Merlin
B² Network
B² Network is also a BTC EVM Layer2 project, backed by Hashkey Capital, OKX Ventures, and Kucoin Lab. Technically, B² Network shares some similarities with Merlin Chain, both employing optimistic ZK-Rollup with parallel ZK-Rollup and OP-Rollup. It collaborates with Polygon Lab to extend the Polygon CDK to BTC using zkEVM solutions, allowing users to interact using both EVM wallet accounts and BTC wallet accounts, catering to users from both ecosystems. Since BTC cannot store large data, B² Network has established its own DA Layer, B² Node, and plans to upgrade B² Node to B² Hub in the future, providing a data availability layer and state verification/proof system based on the Bitcoin network for other developers to build their own Bitcoin Rollups.
The biggest difference between B² Network and other BTC Layer2 projects is its vision, which is not limited to a single BTC Layer2 but aims to become a BTC Layer2 hub similar to Cosmos Hub or Op Stack through B² Hub.
Source: https://docs.bsquared.network/architecture
Currently, B² Network has also launched its mainnet alongside the Bitcoin halving, with the first phase of the locked airdrop activity completed. It is now conducting the second phase of random airdrops, where users can bridge BTC to the B² Network mainnet for a chance to receive airdrops when the protocol token is released. This activity has no specific time limit, and the official statement indicates it may end at any time.
BOB
BOB (Build On Bitcoin) is also a BTC EVM Layer2 project backed by Castle Island and Coinbase Ventures, having raised $10 million in its seed round.
In BOB's roadmap, the technology is divided into three phases. In the first phase, BOB L2 will adopt OP Stack to launch its mainnet in the form of Ethereum OP Rollup, with settlement occurring on Ethereum, while tracking Bitcoin status through Bitcoin light nodes, verifying block headers, and accepting transactions with proofs to achieve trustless cross-chain operations.
Source: https://docs.gobob.xyz/docs/learn/bob-stack/roadmap
The second phase will introduce Bitcoin PoW security using a new merged mining protocol called OptiMine, separating block production from PoW. After the BOB sequencer processes transactions and blocks, Bitcoin miners will verify the BOB Rollup state, and only if the state transition is correct will miners include the commitment as part of PoW, minimizing trust in the sequencer. Ultimately, the sequencer will submit data covering the PoW commitment to Ethereum, using Ethereum as a DA Layer to verify data availability.
Source: https://docs.gobob.xyz/docs/learn/bob-stack/roadmap
The third phase will introduce Bitcoin as the settlement layer, with BOB's goal being to incorporate Bitcoin as the settlement layer (currently under research). Possible solutions include introducing ZK compression as part of the proofing process, collaborating with ZK infrastructure providers, designing BOB light clients, building bi-directional bridges, and expanding BitVM programs to ultimately achieve BOB Rollup state verification.
These three phases illustrate BOB's development path from the initial optimistic Ethereum Rollup to the introduction of Bitcoin PoW security and finally to using Bitcoin as the settlement layer. Through this progressive hybrid design, BOB aims to inherit Bitcoin's security and Ethereum's programmability, providing an innovative Layer-2 solution for the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem.
Source: Source: https://docs.gobob.xyz/docs/learn/bob-stack/roadmap
Currently, BOB is conducting its first season points activity, where depositing tBTC, WBTC, or stablecoins and ETH LST can earn points rewards. However, with the halving event approaching, the official announcement states that the mainnet will launch on 4/24, at which point the first season activity will stop and the second season points activity will begin, with details yet to be disclosed.
Mezo
Recently announced, Mezo has raised $21M in financing led by Pantera Capital, with participation from top venture capital firms like Multicoin and Hack VC. It is developed by the Thesis team, which created the BTC wrapped asset tBTC, and describes itself as the "economic layer" of Bitcoin, dedicated to creating an application ecosystem based on users' economic needs, focusing on expanding BTC use cases. Its consensus mechanism is called Proof of HODL, which protects the network by having users lock BTC and MEZO tokens while executing CometBFT consensus to validate transactions.
Similarly, Mezo is also conducting a HODL points activity, allowing users to deposit native BTC, WBTC, or tBTC to earn points. Currently, there are not many technical details disclosed about Mezo; all deposits in Mezo are held in locked contracts controlled by the team’s multi-signature until the Mezo mainnet is launched and bridged.
Source: https://info.mezo.org/proof-of-hodl
Author's Perspective
The narrative of public chains is always the most grand and highly valued segment in the blockchain ecosystem, attracting many institutions eager not to miss this wave of Bitcoin narrative-driven bull market, leading to the launch of various public chain projects linked to Bitcoin concepts. In practical terms, does Bitcoin really need these L2s? Or to put it another way, do crypto users care whether the underlying chain they use is BTC or EVM?
From my perspective, the BTC-related public chain race is less about the underlying technical logic of how to achieve it and more about the infusion of resources behind it. It is a market of capital games among various institutions, and for retail investors, it simply means a new chain to participate in, with speculative targets typically being MEME, DEX, or lending mining.
Therefore, from my point of view, a more effective way to participate might be to assess the capital quality behind each project and engage early in activities like airdrop locking points to obtain free tokens. Additionally, it would be wise to pay attention to whether there are prominent Memecoins or if there is official endorsement of any Memes after the mainnet goes live.
