Orbiter Finance: Empowering BTC Layer 2, Building Real-time Communication Infrastructure for the Multi-chain Era

(8 May 2024, Hong Kong)--- Orbiter Finance, in collaboration with OKX Web3, Zulu Network, and ChainCatcher, successfully held the "BTC Layer2 Assembly in HK" at the century-old venue of the Fringe Club in Hong Kong. The conference attracted numerous well-known Bitcoin-native L2 solutions, including Merlin Chain, BEVM, Bitlayer, BOB, B² Network, Nubit, and others. The event was honored to invite OKX Web3 CIO Jason Lau, Hashkey Global MD Ben El-Baz, and independent Bitcoin researcher Professor Hong Shuning to discuss the development prospects of BTC L2.

Iris, co-founder of Orbiter Finance, pointed out in her opening speech that we are moving towards a multi-chain era, with an increasing number of blockchains being developed and deployed. With the rise of modular blockchains, general-purpose rollups, and application chains, the number and diversity of blockchains are rapidly increasing, and the demand for real-time multi-chain communication and breaking down inter-chain interaction barriers is becoming increasingly urgent. This is precisely the underlying infrastructure issue that Orbiter is committed to solving.

2023 has been a significant year for Ethereum Layer 2, with over 20 Ethereum Layer 2 public chains successfully launched, and Layer 2 scaling solutions gaining widespread recognition. At the same time, the fragmentation of users and liquidity brought by numerous Layer 2 solutions has become increasingly prominent. As one of the best interoperability solutions for the Ethereum network, Orbiter has processed over $17 billion in funds and 21 million transactions through the Orbiter Bridge and the upcoming Vizing, occupying a leading position in the cross-chain Layer 2 bridging field, holding more than half of the market share, and connecting to over 20 Ethereum Layer 2 solutions, including mature networks like Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, and zkSync Era, while quickly integrating newly launched L2 networks such as Blast, Morph, Taiko, Zircuit, and Mode Network. This has largely addressed the liquidity fragmentation issue of Ethereum L2, providing efficient one-stop cross-chain data communication services for over 3 million users globally as an important infrastructure for Ethereum.

The success of Ethereum Layer 2 has inspired builders in the BTC ecosystem, who also hope to achieve scaling by building Layer 2 networks, thereby unlocking Bitcoin's potential. After all, Bitcoin, as the cornerstone of the entire crypto industry, is currently only seen as a store of value, while the BTC network needs to further empower the ecosystem to truly realize and widely promote the concept of Bitcoin.

Therefore, since the end of 2023, the second-layer network of Bitcoin has shown explosive growth. As Merlin co-founder Jeff stated, the Bitcoin second-layer network is undoubtedly one of the most important tracks in the current and future bull markets—whether considering the prosperity of the Ordinals protocol and new BTC assets or the foreseeable market explosion.

Orbiter is replicating its successful experience and advanced technology from Ethereum to the Bitcoin network, enhancing the interoperability of the BTC second-layer network with other networks, and providing support for the upcoming explosive growth of the BTC second-layer track. By integrating with Orbiter Finance, the BTC second-layer network will be able to connect to multiple blockchains in other ecosystems. Developers from the Bitcoin and EVM ecosystems can seamlessly deploy their applications on chains supported by Orbiter, and BTC ecosystem users can easily access numerous dApps in other ecosystems through Orbiter.

BEVM co-founder Gavin stated, "One of our goals is to enable BTC assets to circulate on any network. We can learn from the excellent technologies and principles of other blockchains to achieve scaling for BTC, such as from EVM to BVM. We bring BTC assets to networks like Ethereum and Solana through cross-chain messaging protocols like LayerZero and Wormhole, as all blockchain technologies are essentially prepared for Bitcoin."

Zhixi, Growth Director of BOB, and Xavier, Growth Director of Nubit, pointed out that for ecosystem builders, improving infrastructure is key to attracting users and maintaining stickiness, which also contributes to the prosperous development of the ecosystem. Jordan, founder of Uxuy, emphasized the importance of positive interaction between underlying technology and users and developers for ecosystem vitality.

Finally, Iris noted that Orbiter has rapidly evolved from a single bridging business to an ecosystem infrastructure provider. By connecting the BTC ecosystem, Orbiter has further realized this vision. Currently, Orbiter's aggregated signature zkps generation speed has reached once every 16 seconds, and in the future, it will provide developers with various full-chain APIs and lower the interaction threshold for users in the multi-chain era through AA solutions, becoming a true multi-chain real-time communication layer that connects all networks and promotes large-scale blockchain adoption.

As an important participant in Hong Kong's Web3 ecosystem, Orbiter Finance is committed to building and leveraging the influence of blockchain in Hong Kong. As a blockchain hub in Asia, Hong Kong's geographical location, financial system, and technological innovation atmosphere make it an ideal base for Orbiter. Orbiter will continue to expand its technology and ecosystem in Hong Kong, promoting the popularization and application of blockchain, impacting more people, and inspiring innovation. Orbiter believes that through its efforts and investments in Hong Kong, it will bring a positive driving force to the global blockchain development, shaping a more open and innovative future.