How should we define BTC Layer2?
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How should we define BTC Layer2?
Arguing about who is orthodox is meaningless; whoever has higher market cap and higher TVL holds the right to define.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Jademont, Founder of Waterdrip Capital
Editor's Note: As the prevailing narrative today, the BTC ecosystem is thriving. To increase capacity and reduce costs, BTC Layer2 solutions are flourishing in diversity. Regarding the definition of BTC L2, Jademont, founder of Waterdrip Capital, shared his views on X. BlockBeats has compiled the full text below:
Broad Definition of BTC Layer2:
Any platform that uses BTC as gas, treats BTC as its underlying asset, serves as a dapp platform, and offers significantly better performance than Bitcoin’s base layer qualifies as a BTC Layer2. This includes, but is not limited to, indexer-based application platforms, EVM rollups, EVM cross-chain systems, sidechains, Lightning Network, RGB, etc. Ultimately, what matters is TVL—how much BTC actually trusts your Layer2. Just like the battle among Ethereum’s many L2s, debating who is “orthodox” is meaningless. The one with higher market cap and higher TVL holds the power to define.
Narrow Definition of BTC Layer2:
Must meet at least the following two conditions simultaneously:
1. Does it share security with BTC? If BTC goes down, can your L2 survive independently? If it can, then at most it's a sidechain.
2. Is it censorship-resistant? Are your L2 nodes or cross-chain multi-signatures sufficiently decentralized? Not like Multichain, where everything was controlled by a few insiders, leading users' assets to vanish when operators got arrested.
BTC Layer2 According to Ethereum Community Standards:
In addition to the narrow definition, two more criteria must be met: whether the base layer can verify transactions on the second layer, and whether assets on the base layer can safely exit when the second layer collapses.
Personally, I think discussions based purely on definitions are meaningless, because Satoshi Nakamoto won't pop up to tell us what his ideal BTC L2 looks like, and no organization has the authority to define orthodoxy.
The Bitcoin ecosystem may seem chaotic, just like in 2013 when a bunch of messy altcoin forks emerged from BTC. But it was precisely within that chaotic community environment that Vitalik tried—and failed—to build smart contracts on BTC, which led him to create Ethereum. It was through such disorderly exploration that new technologies were conceived, laying the foundation for the prosperity of the public blockchain era. A decade later, things are different—BTC itself has evolved with upgrades like Taproot, greatly improving programmability, scalability, and privacy. This time around, the technological progress born from that chaos can now be implemented directly within the BTC ecosystem.
Crypto independent researcher @ordjingle (Dr. Jingou) asks: If an Arc20 token like $sophon is used as gas, does it count as Layer2?
Jademont: It can count, because the cross-chain process still requires consuming BTC.
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