The Rise of Bitcoin’s Second Layer Scaling

Source: Daoshuo Blockchain

In the previous article, I introduced several rising stars that emerged in the second-layer expansion ecosystem of Ethereum last year. These second-tier expansion projects are either “newcomers” who have broken into this field using marketing strategies (such as airdrop incentives), or they are existing projects that have used this limelight to once again boost their momentum.

No matter what the background and purpose of these projects are, what they have in common is that they are targeting the next segment that may explode in the Ethereum ecosystem and seizing new opportunities in this field.

In fact, this phenomenon is also very obvious in the Bitcoin ecosystem. For example, the rise of “golden shovel” projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem that I introduced in the previous article is a typical example. In addition to the golden shovel, there is another subdivision that is also very popular in the current Bitcoin ecosystem: this is the second layer expansion of Bitcoin.

Why is Bitcoin’s second-layer scaling attracting so much attention?

Because everyone has discovered that the second layer of expansion will be the only way for the development and growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Why is Bitcoin’s second layer scaling so hot right now?

Because the Bitcoin ecosystem now has extremely rich assets (native assets Bitcoin, Inscription assets, Inscription NFT), and these assets require DeFi to support their flow and generate derivative value, and there will be more in the future A more imaginative metaverse needs to be built on these assets, and all of these applications are difficult to develop based on the Bitcoin mainnet.

Although some DeFi applications have been derived based on the main network and inscription technology, it is always difficult to further improve the user experience due to high handling fees and overcrowded networks.

Therefore, the second-layer expansion of Bitcoin has become the key to the development of the entire ecosystem at this stage, and has become a problem that must be solved at this stage.

It is against this background of time and space that Bitcoin’s second-layer expansion is now showing a blowout situation in which a hundred flowers bloom.

According to preliminary statistics, there are now at least dozens of Bitcoin second-layer expansion projects, large and small. There are two articles on the Internet (see the reference link after the article) that introduce and classify these second-layer extensions in particular detail. One of them I remember sharing in a previous article, but I still recommend reading it again. The other article is an introduction to some typical projects. I suggest that you pay appropriate attention to the projects mentioned in it.

As for the second layer expansion of Bitcoin, I feel that due to the technical limitations of Bitcoin itself, it is always difficult for these existing solutions to fully benchmark in terms of both security and performance. Ethereum. Therefore, which of these solutions will stand out in the competition will ultimately depend not only on technology, but also on the speed of ecological construction and the status of community development.

Among these projects, I noticed that some projects already have their own community base, and are now using their own community base to expand the project to the second layer extension of Bitcoin.

There are two categories of these projects:

The first category is emerging projects that have emerged in this round of inscription ecology and already have a strong community base, such as in the BRC-420 ecology. The Merlin Chain is an example.

Many readers are aware of the BRC-420 ecology. It has developed assets such as Bitmap, Blue Box, and Blue Crystal that have a broad mass base. The goal of this ecosystem has always been to build the metaverse of Bitcoin. To build a metaverse ecosystem, a high-performance, low-cost network system is necessary. So the launch of Merlin Chain is not surprising.

Based on its existing strong community, being a second-layer extension of Bitcoin will inherently have a good community foundation and startup popularity. This is an advantage that other projects cannot match in the current competition.

The second category is originally not in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and there have been basically no large-scale projects in recent years. They hope to use the momentum of Bitcoin’s second-layer expansion to change the track and cut into Bitcoin’s second layer. layer expansion, in order to increase the popularity of the project and find new development directions for the project.

There is a once well-known blockchain project Nervos Network joining the battle.

Nervos was a relatively well-known blockchain project in its early years, positioned as the first-layer public chain that supports smart contracts. However, the development in recent years has not been satisfactory, and its influence in the ecology is relatively limited.

However, the project team recently announced that it will switch to the second layer expansion of Bitcoin.

I think this decision is wise.

If the project continues to develop on the original path, it will be compared with Ethereum intentionally or unintentionally. This is very difficult to have a future. It is better to switch to a new track and find new opportunities in the new track, and the second layer expansion of Bitcoin is also more in line with the technical direction of the project.

I believe that teams like Merlin Chain and Nervos Network will continue to emerge in the future.

Bitcoin’s second-layer expansion will soon turn into an extremely involuted Red Sea, and at the same time, there are also likely to be massive airdrop opportunities.