ChainCatcher news, Xiaohui Liu, head of the MVC technology department and founder of sCrypt, announced on Twitter that the Bitcoin sidechain MVC (MicrovisionChain) has made progress in research for the third quarter of 2024, and will implement the following three aspects in the next six months:Full activation of the OP_CAT opcode: As a Bitcoin sidechain, MVC will utilize the OP_CAT opcode to support Layer-1 smart contracts, enabling developers to build Turing-complete decentralized applications (DApps) under the UTXO model.SegWit integration: The introduction of SegWit will enhance transaction processing efficiency, reduce transaction fees, and optimize the execution of smart contracts, ensuring higher transaction throughput and security.Merged mining research: MVC will strengthen the decentralized security model by merging mining with Bitcoin, leveraging the security and hash power of the Bitcoin network, while attracting more miners to participate.

ChainCatcher news, BOB co-founder Alexei Zamyatin posted on social media that Bitcoin scalability developers have released a new white paper on the second version of the Bitcoin Virtual Machine, BitVM2, and the updated BitVM Bridge. The white paper details the latest achievements in improving transaction efficiency within the Bitcoin network by enhancing transaction processing capabilities and, in some cases, updating cryptographic methods.The white paper states that the main goal of BitVM2 is to increase Bitcoin's transaction capacity without modifying the core Bitcoin code or principles of decentralization. Unlike V1, BitVM2 introduces a permissionless system that allows any user to challenge suspicious transactions.Additionally, the white paper mentions improvements to the BitVM Bridge, focusing on reducing capital requirements and shortening asset lock-up periods, which support cross-chain transactions between Bitcoin and Rollup.Previously, Robin Linus, the project lead of ZeroSync and creator of BitVM (who is also involved in the development of V2), first introduced BitVM last October.

ChainCatcher news, SushiSwap has launched the Bitcoin sidechain Rootstock. Rootstock was launched in 2018 with the aim of bringing DeFi to the Bitcoin network and is EVM compatible.

ChainCatcher news, Bitcoin Layer2 network BOB announced on platform X that it will collaborate with the sidechain development platform Anduro to develop a new Bitcoin sidechain ALYS standard, focusing on leveraging Bitcoin's proof of work for security.In previous news, BOB (Build on Bitcoin) announced at the end of March that it had completed a $10 million seed round financing, led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Mechanism Ventures, Bankless Ventures, CMS Ventures, UTXO Management, and several angel investors. BOB is a hybrid Layer 2 network built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain but is compatible with Ethereum.

ChainCatcher news, reported by Blockworks, crypto mining company Marathon Digital announced the launch of the Bitcoin sidechain development platform Anduro, which aims to help users create Bitcoin sidechains.At the same time, Marathon has begun building two sidechains, named Cooperative and Alys, and the company stated that open-source contributors can further develop these two sidechains.Marathon stated that the sidechain Cooperative aims to serve the Ordinals community by providing dedicated space for UTXOs.

ChainCatcher message, the Mintlayer network is officially launched today, and the genesis block has been officially activated. It is reported that Mintlayer is a Bitcoin sidechain and L2 network.

ChainCatcher news, based on the Liquid atomic swap protocol Sideswap, stated on platform X that the number of bitcoins locked on the Bitcoin sidechain Liquid has reached a historic high of 3749.86 BTC, worth approximately 158 million USD.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the trading terminal Oku team GFX Labs has deployed the Uniswap V3 version on Rootstock.Oku will provide trading tools for Rootstock that include analytics, limit orders, and liquidity provider position management.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the developers of the Bitcoin sidechain MicroVisionChain (MVC) plan to launch a BRC-20 based decentralized exchange (DEX) in the first quarter of 2024. MVC shares the same mnemonic phrases and receiving addresses as Bitcoin.In addition, MVC is also developing a meta-contract integrated development environment (IDE) to facilitate the migration of DApps from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to the Bitcoin sidechain of MVC.

ChainCatcher news, Bitcoin sidechain development company Nomic expects to launch nBTC supporting IBC on October 30. Users can directly transfer Bitcoin to the Cosmos ecosystem using Bitcoin addresses through Nomic's cross-chain bridge.

ChainCatcher news, Bitcoin development company Layer 2 Labs has completed a $3 million seed round financing, but has not disclosed the angel investors for this round. The funds will be used to implement innovative sidechain solutions on the Bitcoin network.It is reported that Layer 2 Labs CEO and founder Paul Sztorc is a well-known Bitcoin researcher and developer who has been working on drivechains since 2015, aiming to enable Bitcoin users to access innovative features and products currently limited to altcoin networks. In addition to Sztorc, the founding team of Layer 2 Labs also includes Bitcoin core contributor CryptAxe and Austin Alexander, a senior figure with 8 years at Kraken. (CoinDesk)