Before the start of the bull market in the second half of the year, you need to know about these BTC ecosystem projects yet to be released.

Original Title: "Second Half of the Year Bull Market Eruption, BTC Ecosystem Unissued Coin Projects You Must Know"

Original Authors: Viee, Biteye

With the increased possibility of the Fed starting rate cuts in September, market liquidity will significantly improve, and funds will continuously flow into the Bitcoin market. This influx of funds will inevitably drive up the price of Bitcoin, attracting more investors' attention.

When the price of Bitcoin rises, it will trigger a "rising tide lifts all boats" effect—investors will take a keen interest in various projects and applications within the Bitcoin ecosystem. It can be foreseen that this virtuous cycle of improved liquidity and rising Bitcoin prices will lay a solid foundation for the prosperity of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Looking back at the frenzy of Ordinals and the wealth effect brought by Inscriptions before last year's surge, the market began to focus more attention on the Bitcoin ecosystem. As the market gradually heats up, this article will explore potential issuance projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem to help everyone seize new opportunities in the bull market.

01 Project Inventory

L2 Mainnet

1. Bitlayer: Total funding of $16 million, invested by Framework Ventures, OKX Ventures, among others.

It is the first Bitcoin secure-equivalent Layer2 network based on BitVM, aiming to become Bitcoin's computation layer, introducing super scalability while inheriting Bitcoin's L1 security, providing users with a high-throughput, low-cost transaction experience.

2. BOB (Build on Bitcoin): Total funding of $11.6 million, invested by Castle Island, Bankless Ventures, among others.

A hybrid Layer2 that combines Bitcoin's security and Ethereum smart contract flexibility, supporting projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem like Ordinals, Lightning, and Nostr.

3. B² Network: Total funding undisclosed, invested by HashKey Capital, OKX Ventures, among others.

A Bitcoin Layer 2 solution based on zero-knowledge proofs, aimed at increasing transaction speed and expanding application diversity while ensuring security, supporting Turing-complete smart contracts.

4. BEVM: Total funding undisclosed, backed by Skyland Ventures, Waterdrip Capital, among others.

A fully decentralized Bitcoin Layer 2 solution, compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), aimed at expanding Bitcoin's smart contract capabilities and using native Bitcoin (BTC) as gas fees.

5. Rollux: Total funding undisclosed, backed by Dewhales Capital, among others.

A Bitcoin-based EVM-compatible Optimistic Rollup platform, aimed at enhancing Bitcoin's scalability and smart contract capabilities, providing developers with a secure, low-cost decentralized application environment.

L2 Testnets

1. Babylon: $96 million total funding, backed by Paradigm, Polychain, Binance Labs, among others.

This protocol is a Bitcoin staking protocol that allows users to lock Bitcoin on the Bitcoin network to secure other POS chains while earning staking rewards.

2. Mezo: $28.5 million total funding, backed by Pantera Capital, Ledger Cathay Capital, among others.

A Bitcoin-native economic layer compatible with the EVM, aimed at promoting applications that facilitate Bitcoin token usage, driving the circular Bitcoin economy beyond just being a "store of value technology."

3. Botanix: $11.5 million total funding, backed by Polychain, ABCDE Capital, among others.

A decentralized Turing-complete L2 EVM built on Bitcoin, consisting of two core components, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and Spiderchain, combining Bitcoin's security with EVM's usability.

4. Nubit: $11 million total funding, backed by Polychain, OKX Ventures, among others.

The first Bitcoin DA Layer, designed to efficiently scale Bitcoin's data capacity, support Ordinals, Layer 2 solutions, oracles, and other applications, thus expanding the scope and efficiency of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

5. Arch Network: Raised a total of $7 million, backed by Multicoin Capital, OKX Ventures, among others.

A Bitcoin-based Layer 2 that uses the Rust-based zero-knowledge virtual machine ArchVM, combined with a decentralized validator network, to provide developers with an efficient, scalable application environment.

6. Bitfinity Network: Raised a total of $7 million, backed by Polychain, ParaFi Capital, among others.

An EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 network that utilizes the Solidity language and leverages IC's unique architecture and Chain Key technology, offering storage capacity and processing speed comparable to traditional web services without gas fees.

7. Zulu Network: Raised a total of $3 million, backed by Waterdrip Capital, Cryptogram Venture, among others.

A Bitcoin-based Layer 2 that uses a unique two-layer architecture to extend the functionality of the Bitcoin network. Through ZuluPrime (L2), it achieves EVM compatibility, while ZuluNexus (L3) serves as Bitcoin's third layer, providing additional security guarantees.

8. Citrea: Raised a total of $2.7 million, backed by Galaxy, Delphi Digital, among others.

The first zero-knowledge proof-based Layer 2 in the Bitcoin ecosystem, employing a unique bi-directional peg architecture, achieving the first-ever universally trust-minimized Bitcoin Layer 2 solution, bringing greater programmability and use cases to Bitcoin.

9. Fractal Bitcoin: Total funding undisclosed, developed in collaboration by UniSat and Block Space Force.

A Layer 2 scaling solution based on the Bitcoin Core code, designed to increase Bitcoin's transaction processing capacity and speed by recursively creating infinite layers, while maintaining full compatibility with the Bitcoin main chain.

L2 Pre-Mainnet

1. Lorenzo Protocol: Total funding undisclosed, backed by Binance Labs, among others.

A decentralized liquidity staking platform based on Babylon, aiming to provide users with secure and convenient Bitcoin staking services. The protocol, through a liquidity financial layer, allows users to stake Bitcoin and receive liquidity staking tokens.

2. QED Protocol: $9 million total funding, backed by Blockchain Capital, Arrington Capital, among others.

A Bitcoin-based zk-rollup execution layer focusing on zero-knowledge proof validation technology, supporting decentralized exchanges, DeFi, and various applications on Bitcoin through the Taproot upgrade, promising high-speed transactions and global state access.

3. GOAT Network: $5 million total funding, backed by Metis Foundation, among others.

The first Bitcoin Layer 2 solution with decentralized sequencer sharing ownership and mining rewards, introducing unique OP technology to extend the Bitcoin network through Bitcoin Rollup.

4. Nexio: $2.2 million total funding, backed by Lattice Capital, HTX Ventures, among others.

An innovative Bitcoin scaling solution utilizing parallelized Rollup technology to support over 30,000 transactions per second while keeping transaction fees below $0.01.

DeFi Mainnet

SolvProtocol: $10 million total funding, backed by Binance Labs, The Spartan Group, among others.

A full-stack base yield protocol offering coin-native asset yield farming services, where users can stake BTC in Solv Protocol to receive Solvbtc.

DeFi Testnet

1. BitSmiley: Total funding undisclosed, backed by ABCDE Capital, OKX Ventures, among others.

A Bitcoin ecosystem-based stablecoin lending protocol that combines an overcollateralized stablecoin protocol, trustless lending protocol, and derivative protocol, addressing the need for stablecoins and lending infrastructure in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

2. Chakra: Total funding undisclosed, backed by ABCDE Capital, Bixin Ventures, among others.

A zero-knowledge proof-driven Bitcoin rehypothecation protocol that uses ZK-STARKs technology and a middleware chain to solve trust issues with intermediaries. It has partnered with the Nubit data availability layer to modularly enhance the Bitcoin ecosystem.

DeFi Pre-Testnet

Lombard: $16 million total funding, backed by Polychain, OKX Ventures, among others.

A Bitcoin rehypothecation protocol that enables users to earn yield by cross-chain moving Bitcoin without dispersing liquidity, driving the development of the Bitcoin collateral ecosystem.

RGB+Lightning Network Mainnet

BiHelix: Total funding undisclosed, backed by Waterdrip Capital, LK Venture, UTXO, Satoshi Labs, among others.

A Bitcoin-native blockchain project that optimizes nodes using the RGB protocol and Lightning Network as part of the Bitcoin ecosystem infrastructure. The project aims to lower the development barriers and increase Bitcoin's use cases.

RGB++ Pre-Testnet

UTXO Stack: Total funding undisclosed, backed by ABCDE Capital, OKX Ventures, among others.

A Bitcoin Layer 2 issuance platform based on the UTXO model, natively integrating RGB++ protocol capabilities to help developers rapidly deploy UTXO-based applications.

L3 Mainnet

U Protocol: Total funding undisclosed, backed by Alfa DAO, YAM DAO, among others.

The first BitcoinFi modular Layer 3 infrastructure, offering features such as uBTC and the U Bitcoin Thunder Network, aiming to enhance Bitcoin's liquidity and use cases.

02 Summary

From a higher-level perspective, Bitcoin's (BTC) value narrative has evolved over more than a decade, and its function as a store of value is now widely recognized.

Regulatory policies, the launch of ETFs, and macroeconomic factors such as interest rate cuts have significantly influenced its market performance, indicating that Bitcoin is gradually becoming a key target for traditional institutional asset allocation.

With Bitcoin's store of value feature being widely accepted by society, its derivative financial products and innovations will become increasingly rich.

Although Layer 2 solutions may face scalability issues, and the challenges based on the UTXO mechanism should not be underestimated, the Bitcoin track will continue to improve and develop. This is an industry inevitability and a social inevitability.

Risk Warning: Cryptocurrency assets are highly risky. The above is for information sharing only and not investment advice.

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