ChainCatcher news, the Bitcoin Layer 2 network open project Zulu Network announced the completion of a seed round financing, with participation from Draper Dragon, CGV, Web3.com Ventures, PANONY, D11 Labs, and Splinter Node Capital. It is reported that Zulu aims to unlock a new type of infrastructure for the Bitcoin economy and change the Bitcoin Layer 2 paradigm, having previously secured $3 million in seed pre-financing earlier this year.

ChainCatcher news, Galaxy Research stated in a report that the vast majority of Bitcoin rollups will be unsustainable. Due to transaction fees, Bitcoin rollups require millions of dollars annually to maintain.Galaxy wrote, "Each individual data publication transaction can occupy up to 400KB (0.4MB) of block space, effectively taking up 10% of an entire block." With multiple rollups expected, data is anticipated to be published every 6 to 8 blocks, which could quickly push the base layer fees to new highs and make small transactions too expensive. Given the competition for block space, only rollups that can generate the most fee revenue and pay block fees will be able to sustain operations.Galaxy estimates that in a low-fee environment, when the average transaction cost is 10 sat/VB, rollups will incur $460,000 in monthly fees to maintain Bitcoin's security. In a high-fee environment of 50 sat/VB, when Ordinals or tokens minted through Runes or the BRC-20 standard are frequently active, monthly costs could reach $2.3 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to official information, BEVM has officially launched the Sats Network, a Bitcoin Layer 2 network built on the BEVM-Stack that uses BRC20 inscribed Sats as gas.This network employs BEVM's unique Taproot Consensus technology framework, enjoying network security equivalent to that of BEVM. The network will allow Sats holders to become validation nodes of the Sats Network by staking Sats to earn network gas rewards. The officials stated that the Sats Network will be fully operated and governed by community users.

ChainCatcher news, the BTC DeFi ecological protocol bitSmiley has completed two rounds of testing and is now officially launched on the pilot network. The first phase of the pilot network for bitSmiley is deployed on the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Bitlayer mainnet, and the bitPoint seasonal gameplay is also launched. The preseason will kick off today at 12pm UTC for a duration of ten days, during which bitSmiley will allocate 1% of its tokens for an airdrop to participants of the preseason.It is reported that bitSmiley is a project that mints native stablecoins through over-collateralization of Bitcoin, led by OKX Ventures and ABCDE, and has launched a series of BTC ecological DeFi products based on its stablecoin bitUSD, including the AMM DEX bitCow. This pilot network event will simultaneously launch both the bitSmiley and bitCow products. In the previous testnet Trumeme event, the winning Meme assets will also be listed for trading on the bitCow DEX today at 20:00 Beijing time.

ChainCatcher message, since the official launch of the Zulu testnet 17 days ago, we have welcomed over 160,000 registered users and processed over 1 million transactions, with enthusiasm continuing to run high.It is reported that Zulu Network aims to create a brand new Bitcoin Layer 2 network, leading the way with a dual-layer architecture. ZuluPrime is EVM compatible, focusing on building the BitFi ecosystem through smart contracts and dApps; ZuluNexus will integrate the extensibility of UTXO, focusing on innovations in Bitcoin's original ecosystem. Zulu makes the BitFi dream a reality while retaining the original security, reliability, and functionality of the Bitcoin network.

ChainCatcher news, the modular blockchain NULS technology community announced on Twitter that it is developing the Bitcoin Layer2 module.It is reported that NULS adopts a microservices architecture and is one of the earliest projects to propose modular blockchain. The Bitcoin Layer2 module mainly enables cross-chain interaction of data and assets between NULS and NULS parallel chains, allowing native assets on the Bitcoin chain to expand use cases across all blockchains created by NULS ChainBox. Developers can create Layer2 networks in the Bitcoin ecosystem and achieve interaction with the Bitcoin network by simply configuring #ChainBox.In addition, the NULS parallel chain NerveNetwork is also one of the earliest projects to implement cross-chain functionality, having achieved cross-chain interaction with dozens of EVM networks such as ETH, Polygon, Optimism, and BNB Chain, allowing assets on the Bitcoin chain to also interoperate with these networks.

ChainCatcher news, the Bitcoin Layer2 network Merlin Chain tweeted that Merlin's Seal is now live. Users can earn the same points for participating in staking at any time on the same day. Staking for ETH, USDT, and USDC will be available in the next few hours, and M-Token will also be launched in a few days.

ChainCatcher news, OKX Ventures announced its investment in B² Network. B² Network is the first Bitcoin second-layer network that achieves commitment verification through ZK Rollup and on-chain logic gates, and it is EVM compatible, making it very developer-friendly. B² Network addresses the scalability challenges of Bitcoin while preserving the core principles of decentralization, trustlessness, and transparent ledgers, aiming to enhance the utility and impact of Bitcoin and its emerging derivative assets in Web3.Dora, the founder of OKX Ventures, stated that she is pleased to participate in the investment in B² Network. The Bitcoin ecosystem has experienced a boom this year, but the diversity of applications in the Bitcoin ecosystem has always been limited by its Turing incompleteness, transaction costs, and network congestion issues. B² Network is EVM compatible, solving Bitcoin's scalability while bringing diversity to the Bitcoin ecosystem, achieving interoperability in on-chain application development between Ethereum and Bitcoin, and will prosper the ecosystem in the future to meet the challenges and demands of the Bitcoin network.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Bitfinity based on Internet Computer has completed a $7 million financing round at a valuation of $130 million, with participation from Polychain Capital, ParaFi Capital, Warburg Serres, Dokia Capital, and Draft Ventures.Bitfinity co-founder Max Chamberlin stated that the funding was achieved in two parts—approximately $1 million in a seed round in 2021, and another round completed last June, both of which were token financings. By the time of the second financing, Bitfinity's valuation had reached $130 million. Currently, Bitfinity is in the testnet phase and plans to launch its mainnet later this month or in early February.

ChainCatcher message, BRC20 inscription Turtsat stated on social media that it has launched a Layer2 platform "BL2" based on Bitcoin's security consensus.It is reported that BL2 can introduce ZK-Rollup to Bitcoin and achieve multi-node ZK verification on the Layer2 network to enhance the security of zero-knowledge proofs.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the blockchain network Elastos plans to launch the Bitcoin Layer2 network BeL2. BeL2 will allow for more complex Bitcoin transactions than the base Bitcoin blockchain, including smart contracts and irreversible digital protocols. Additionally, the network will allow users to directly stake their Bitcoin on the service, earning rewards when interacting with applications built on BeL2.

ChainCatcher news, the public blockchain project Elasto announced the launch of BeL2, which is a BTC Rollup that introduces Bitcoin staking and other comprehensive Layer2 solutions. Elasto also plans to announce a series of partnerships supporting BeL2 and use cases in areas such as financial services, entertainment, and real-world assets (RWA) in the coming months.

ChainCatcher news, the Bitcoin Layer2 network Stacks has announced the activation of version 2.1, which includes multiple improvements to Stacking, eliminating inefficiencies or confusion in Stacking, PoX rewards, and security mechanisms. It also updates a large number of Clarity language keywords, making it easier for developers to build projects such as cross-chain bridges and decentralized mining pools.In addition, the upgrade enhances miners' ability to mine using local isolated validation or main root UTXO. Stacks 2.1 unlocks the capability to send Stacks assets directly to Bitcoin addresses. (source link)