Unlocking the Bitcoin ecosystem with MAP Protocol
Bitcoin network may have the most robust security. Since the first transaction block in 2009, the network has never once shut down, nor has any Bitcoin ever been stolen from the blockchain. Yet due to the lack of Turing completeness, Bitcoin is limited in its usability compared to Ethereum, and its ecosystem grows slowly. Ethereum and its EVM ecosystem, on the other hand, expand rapidly and capture most people’s attention.
However, as BCR-20 tokens and Ordinal NFTs took over the Web3 sphere in May 2023, people saw new possibilities to grow the Bitcoin ecosystem. Below is what’s possible with MAP Protocol for Bitcoin.
Greater Bitcoin ecosystem interoperability
As the Layer0 of Bitcoin L2s, MAP Protocol allows any assets on Bitcoin L2 or other chains to easily interact with one another. This will facilitate interoperability among assets on various Bitcoin L2s and add other assets and communities to the existing Bitcoin ecosystem and community. Through this, Bitcoin will not only serve as a means of value storage but also expand its interoperability and pave the way for decentralized applications and innovations.
Enhanced BRC-20 liquidity
BRC-201 protocol, a cross-chain extension protocol to BRC-20 tokens, enables BRC-20 and ORC-20 assets on the Bitcoin network to cross-chain and be transferred to MAP Protocol — a Bitcoin layer-2 and an interoperable omnichain infrastructure. This cross-chain ability will allow BRC-20 tokens on the Bitcoin network to interact with other tokens on other public chains, thus increasing the market liquidity for BRC-20 tokens.
Through the MAP Protocol, a peer-to-peer cross-chain interoperable network, BRC-20 community members can trade with other tokens on other chains more conveniently and at a lower cost. This layer of Bitcoin network cross-chain interoperability will also grow the Bitcoin community as a whole.
Better and safer Bitcoin trading option
Despite the increasing use of Bitcoin as a sovereign money or reserve option, Bitcoin itself is not as productive an asset as it should be. To trade Bitcoin, people need to either go through separate blockchains in the form of wrapped BTC or trusted custodians. Both options have their safety issues:
- Wrapped BTC depends on the smart contract that issues them. In other words, wrapping itself cannot be automated via a smart contract on those smart contract blockchains, but is done by a central program, which opens for manipulation.
- The trustworthiness of many of the coins offered in exchange is questionable, especially if there is no strong regulatory legal framework and requirements for those exchanges issuing their wrapped BTC.
Given wrapping on a smart contract chain still cannot avoid the issue of centralization, a trusted but regulated custodian would seem a safer and more logical option for trading Bitcoin or any other digital assets without Turing completeness. As part of the Bitcoin community, MAP Protocol will actively explore ways and seek collaboration with qualified custodians to empower safer Bitcoin trading.