Burak, a notable Bitcoin developer known for his work on the Lightning Network and creator of Ark Protocol, is launching a new Bitcoin layer 2 solution named “Brollups.” This innovation aims to bring more decentralized finance (DeFi) use cases to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Brollups: Enhancing Bitcoin’s DeFi Capabilities
Brollups offer a Bitcoin-native rollup design, bundling transactions without requiring a hard fork of Bitcoin or the issuance of non-Bitcoin tokens. Burak asserts that Brollups can support over 90% of DeFi use cases, including NFT sales and token orders on decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
“Whether it’s listing an NFT for sale in exchange for Bitcoin where the buyer pays with Bitcoin upon execution, or placing a token sell order on a decentralized exchange, [all of this is] atomically executed, verifiable, scalable, and enforceable on Bitcoin,” explained Burak.
How Brollups Work
Brollups are integrated deeply into Bitcoin, functioning natively with Bitcoin as a payable construct. They will be managed by “operators” who provide liquidity to the protocol and advance the rollup state by chaining Bitcoin transactions at regular intervals. Transactions will be executed on the Bitcoin Virtual Machine.
Community Reception and Innovation
Burak has received considerable praise within the Bitcoin community for developing this solution without necessitating a hard fork or creating a new token. His previous achievements include exploiting a bug in the Lightning Network in October 2022, which triggered an emergency update for Lightning Network node operators. Although no funds were stolen, the incident highlighted an unintended consequence of the Taproot upgrade.
Also Read: Coinbase’s New Era with Bitcoin Lightning Network
Evolution of Bitcoin’s Taproot and Other Scaling Projects
Taproot transactions saw a significant increase in usage, particularly after the launch of the Ordinals protocol by Casey Rodarmor in January 2023. Taproot transactions comprised a record 46.4% of all Bitcoin transactions in December 2023, though this has since fallen to 30%, according to Dune Analytics.
Other Bitcoin scaling projects focused on bringing DeFi functionality to Bitcoin include Drivechain and Spiderchain. In May 2022, Burak also launched Ark, a Bitcoin layer 2 solution focused on payments by negating the need for payment channels.
