Jeff, founder of Merlin Chain: expansion, interest generation and asset swaps, how Merlin's native innovation empowers the Bitcoin ecosystem

The following is the full text of the speech, compiled based on the on-site recording.

Before 2023, the impression of Bitcoin in people's minds has always been that of digital gold used to store value, and no builders are creating new concepts and applications around Bitcoin. But after the Ordinals craze in mid-2023, more and more people began to create NFT-related content on the Bitcoin network, issuing BRC-20, BRC-420, ORC-20 and other assets. Later, Atomics and Runes also entered everyone's imagination. vision. Everyone gradually discovered that there are many things that can be done on the Bitcoin network, and more and more voices were heard, starting to discuss the expansion and re-staking of the Bitcoin network.

Subsequently, IDO, fair launch and other activities brought Bitcoin assets to Layer 2. Merlin started preparing for Layer 2 related matters in February this year, and also heard many voices saying that Bitcoin Layer 2 is not practical, is a scam, etc. But in fact, there are now a lot of Bitcoin Layer 2, and there are many supporters and builders in our industry, all of whom are using EVM and similar Bridge technology. My point of view is that users have strong demand for Bitcoin Layer 2, and at the same time they hope to trade Bitcoin ecological assets in a faster and lower-cost way. Merlin wants to bring new possibilities to the entire ecosystem and empower Layer1 assets. That is, if you hold Runes, BRC-20, NFT and other assets on Layer1, what Merlin wants to do is to enable these assets to be used in DeFi and GameFi. , SocialFi and other areas to exert unique value.

Merlin’s Phantom Token Swap

We bring many new ideas to the entire Bitcoin ecosystem. Merlin’s Phantom will be officially launched this month, and we will be able to freely swap NFTs with tokens, Runes, BRC-20 and other assets. We will define various permissionless asset swaps through standardized contracts. For example, I can define a standard for converting NFT into tokens, and then I can freely stake this token and become an LP to obtain income. I can also exchange 10,000 MERL for NFT and hold it. Of course, these assets can also be exchanged at any time. Therefore, I think that although assets were born in Layer1, Layer2 is where these assets can be freely traded, exchanged and other operations. In fact, the possibilities for Layer 2 are endless.

Merlin Yields: Introducing low-risk returns to Bitcoin on a holding basis

This chart shows data related to the Merlin BTC Bridge. In the past month, a total of 163,400 Bitcoins were transferred in and out of Merlin, equivalent to a total of 10.167 billion US dollars. Looking at Bitcoin trading records across all cross-chain bridges and exchanges like OKX, Binance, etc., I don’t think any platform can surpass this number. Our transaction volume has exceeded 10 million times, and we have a total number of millions of users. At the same time, our cross-chain bridge can still run smoothly, without any errors in the process of crossing in and out. This is how we will Bitcoin Introduce the fundamental guarantee of the EVM ecosystem.

Now, assuming you hold one Bitcoin in Layer1 or Binance, you will still only have one Bitcoin in your address at the end of the year. But if you held one Merlin Bitcoin, what would your balance be at the end of the year? I mean, unless Bridge no longer operates properly, or there are other security issues, you will have more than 1 BTC in your hands because of the added value of the Merlin network.

First of all, for staking, we have cooperated with many project parties and will also open our PoS system. Therefore, if you hold a Merlin BTC and participate in staking, not only will the pledged BTC receive additional income after the lock-up period is over, you will also receive additional network incentives and token airdrops for all cooperative projects. For Merlin’s Seal’s Bitcoin stakers, they received the MERL airdrop at a top APY of 120%.

Secondly, if you pledge Merlin Bitcoin in projects such as StakeStone or Solv, there is no doubt that you will obtain the tokens of these projects, and you will also be able to obtain additional pledge points and project tokens through Babylon re-staking. . In addition, you will also receive funding agency income through other agencies such as Antalpha, that is, 50% BTC APY from CEX such as Binance.

Finally, SolvBTC that pledges Merlin BTC and exchanges it on Solv Protocol has many application scenarios. We have already cooperated with 10 Ethereum Layer2, and will also announce cooperation with Linea, ZKLink, Arbitrum and other networks in the near future. You can also earn re-staking benefits by introducing SolvBTC to other Layer2 networks. Since other ecosystems urgently need Bitcoin ecosystem users and transaction volume, but they have no choice in obtaining liquidity, cooperation with Ethereum Layer 2 is a natural choice for the ecosystem.

I think all the above benefits are very important for Bitcoin, Bitcoin should not be just for holding, what Merlin is doing now is introducing low risk returns to Bitcoin on a holding basis. In short, I think all the innovations happening on Bitcoin Layer 1 and Layer 2 are very important, and I am very happy to see that there are so many builders in the ecosystem working with us. We are all peers who want to introduce these fun into the Bitcoin ecosystem. By.

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