Botanix: The Spiderchain on Bitcoin’s Blockchain.

A special write up to discovering of Bitcoin’s Layer 2 Hottest trend as of May 2024.

DeFi Singapore
4 min readMay 22, 2024

Introduction

Botanix is the first EVM Layer 2 built on top of the Bitcoin network. While still in its testnet phase, Botanix has garnered over a million testnet transactions, more than 200,000 unique wallets connected and raised an impressive $11.5 million from industry led investors. Their aim is to be the decentralized scaling and security layer for Bitcoin whereby Decentralized Applications (Dapps), Virtual Machines (VMs) and rollups can be built on top of their Botanix layer.

Testnet — more than 1,000,000 transactions

No. Of Wallets — 200,000 unique

Total Raise — $11,500,000 till date.

What sets Botanix apart is the introduction of the “Spiderchain”. The Spiderchain is a dynamic series of decentralized multi-signature wallets between randomized node operators (Orchestrators) to create new blocks, validate transactions and mint and burn the BTC on the Botanix EVM layer. All transactions are then finally settled on the Bitcoin blockchain. This mechanism effectively creates a secure and unique decentralized network. Bitcoin brings security and stability of the network, EVM brings composability and programmability of smart contracts and the Spiderchain glues the two together. Pretty impressive!

Image: https://a-us.storyblok.com/f/1014909/x/8bdb3e5611/botanix-protocol-whitepaper.pdf

Ok so what’s stopping these Orchestrators from stealing my PRECIOUS BITCOIN??

Just like any Proof of Stake (POS) mechanism, these Orchestrators will need to stake a portion of their BTC as collateral, and any malicious actions will have their BTC stake slashed. In addition, the randomized mechanism to create a new multi-sig wallet to hold the BTC assets also makes it extremely difficult for collusion and tampering.

You can interact with Botanix by bridging your native BTC from the Bitcoin (L1) to the Botanix EVM (L2), where you get an equivalent synthetic BTC to interact with DEFI protocols and Decentralized Applications (Dapps) on Botanix. Meanwhile, your native BTC is held in the multi-signature wallet secured by the Spiderchain. Botanix wants to truly build a BTC native DEFI ecosystem (BTCFi) with all of the yield generated with Bitcoin itself.

Why build on Bitcoin?

Image: https://x.com/BotanixLabs/status/1792832464433324514

Let’s face it, there are a plethora of EVM L2s offering similar features in terms of reduced gas fees, improved functionalities, scalability solutions, DEFI yield optimization and so on. This narrative is starting to stagnate and while EVM L2s are competing with each other for market share, Bitcoin is slowly gaining back attention and evolving beyond its “store of value” label.

Bitcoin has stood the test of time serving as the most decentralized, immutable,

permissionless and secure network and Botanix Labs has taken pride in building on Bitcoin leveraging on these distinct features. The team is mostly made up of Bitcoin OGs, and their passion and dedication to help scale Bitcoin is impressive. Botanix’s ambition is to also be truly permissionless whereby anyone in the world can run their own spiderchain node and to become more decentralized than Ethereum itself in the long term.

Co-founder of Botanix Labs, Alisia Painter, had stated on Flywheel DeFi podcast that “there is no token for the foreseeable future as the team is more focused on building the best product possible instead.” (RIP Airdrop Farmoors!)

Sometimes, taking time to launch a token may be in the best interest of innovation as we have seen a lot of recent token launches having a severe downward trajectory in price instead.

With the imminent mainnet launch and significant buzz around Botanix, it clearly has the potential to be a game-changer for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Photo by Iván Díaz on Unsplash

With popcorn in one hand and a sniper rifle on the other; i eagerly anticipate towards their mainnet launch and what remians to be seen is their growth trajectory. This project may potential give the moonshot opportunity for those who have had missed the previous years of bitcoin’s halvings’ and rallies. one can only hope.

Written by:
Kaths aka KryptoKaths
Web3 Analyst / Research Writer
DeFi Singapore

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaths7/

References:

https://cryptorank.io/ico/botanix-labs#funding-rounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeY6fm4jWV4&t=3394s

https://docs.botanixlabs.xyz/botanix-labs

https://x.com/BotanixLabs

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE

Cryptocurrencies like NFTs are nascent and in very early-stage startups. They are heavily subjected to speculation on the secondary markets and should never be treated as a form of investment.

Our write-up is a humble attempt to show the technological advancements and innovation that the blockchain technology possesses.

Readers are advised to engage their own financial advisors and do their own due diligence before making their first purchase.

All information expressed here are in the views of the writer based on the date of article.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/defi-singapore/

#bitcoin #bitcoinLayer2 #botanixlabs #botanix #spiderchain #Orchestrators

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DeFi Singapore
DeFi Singapore

Written by DeFi Singapore

To promote financial literacy & awareness of benefits & risks of crypto assets, & advocate practical technical analysis education for consumers.

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