Opinion: Bitcoin Ecosystem Sectors and Representative Projects Worth Watching in 2024
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Opinion: Bitcoin Ecosystem Sectors and Representative Projects Worth Watching in 2024
This article will analyze the Bitcoin ecosystem sectors based on personal understanding and review representative projects within each sector.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: defioasis
Editor: Colin Wu
With major exchanges Binance and OKX listing mainstream assets such as ORDI, SATS, and RATS (futures), other inscriptions have struggled to gain momentum. The listing of Bitcoin inscriptions on exchanges has gradually entered a lull period. Meanwhile, with the approval of BTC ETFs and speculation around ETH ETFs, the ETH/BTC exchange rate continues to strengthen, prompting some capital to shift gradually from BTC to ETH and from the Bitcoin ecosystem to the Ethereum ecosystem. The Bitcoin ecosystem may now be entering a calm phase focused on building.
This article analyzes key sectors within the Bitcoin ecosystem based on personal understanding and highlights representative projects in each sector. It is important to note that the Bitcoin ecosystem is still in its early stages and carries high risks; investors should make rational judgments.
Launchpad
BRC-20 provides an easy way to issue assets on the Bitcoin network, offering grassroots projects opportunities for breakout success while also allowing numerous low-quality inscription projects to crowd the network and fragment user attention. To address this, Launchpads emerged with the goal of curating high-quality projects for users. Today, Launchpads are among the most mature sectors in the Bitcoin ecosystem, serving not only as a first line of investment protection but also continuously enhancing the value of their native platform tokens.
However, as staking participation grows, allocation rates and available shares become increasingly competitive. Additionally, to sustain the value of their platform tokens, launchpads must consistently introduce new projects. In doing so—especially as more users rely on them—they may inadvertently or intentionally list subpar assets due to underlying利益-driven incentives. Even quality projects can generate dissatisfaction among early users if returns fail to meet expectations.
TurtSat
TurtSat is one of the leading launchpads on Bitcoin Ordinals, having established partnerships with OKX, Galxe, UniSat, and DWF Labs. Projects incubated or launched by TurtSat have generally delivered strong returns, including CHAX Bitcoin and MultiBit. However, it has faced criticism over serious insider trading allegations involving the project Dova and collaboration with Copycat, a suspected shell project.
Bounce
Bounce’s core product is a decentralized auction platform enabling users to create and participate in token and NFT auctions. Prior to entering the Bitcoin Ordinals space, Bounce’s AUCTION token was already listed on major exchanges including Binance, OKX, and Coinbase. Its Bitcoin-based launches include the Bitcoin stablecoin protocol BitStable and the Ordinals DID protocol BDID.
Bounce’s smart contracts have been audited by Salus Security, an audit firm backed by Binance Labs.
DeFi
Before inscription assets are listed on centralized exchanges, their trading mechanism resembles early NFT order book systems, lacking instant settlement capabilities. Since the Bitcoin network does not support smart contracts, implementing DeFi functionalities like those on Ethereum—such as decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or lending platforms—is extremely challenging. Currently, several indirect or third-party solutions enable similar functionality: leveraging external protocols that execute smart contracts on sidechains parallel to Bitcoin; cross-chain technologies; atomic swaps; and Layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network.
ALEX
ALEX is an integrated trading platform for crypto assets where Bitcoin serves as the settlement layer and Stacks acts as the smart contract layer. ALEX has launched its B20 (Orderbook) swap feature, allowing users to trade BRC-20 assets via AMM mechanisms.
ALEX has raised a total of $8.3 million in funding and secured additional strategic investment of undisclosed amount in December last year.
BendDAO
BendDAO is a well-established lending protocol originally built for Ethereum NFTs. In December last year, it announced expansion into the BTC ecosystem, offering lending services for BTC NFTs and supporting wBTC liquidity pools as collateral. The team is currently exploring seamless integration between BTC NFTs and BendDAO, with potential solutions relying on third-party cross-chain bridges or multi-sig wallet bridges.
BitStable
BitStable is a stablecoin protocol on the Bitcoin network incubated by Bounce. Its design is notable: users can mint the stablecoin DAII on the Bitcoin network by collateralizing BRC-20 assets such as ORDI, MUBI (MultiBit), and BSSB (the platform token). DAII can then be burned through the MultiBit cross-chain bridge to receive ERC-20 DAII on Ethereum. Due to Bitcoin's lack of native smart contract functionality, BitStable’s governance system plays a critical role, allowing manual adjustments to parameters for minting, redemption, and collateralization. Additionally, BitStable offers staking for DAII on the Bitcoin network, rewarding stakers with the platform token BSSB.
BitStable also accepts collateral from Ethereum, primarily using USDT to back DAII. According to official website data, the current supply of DAII is approximately 21.73 million, with 21.64 million issued as ERC-20 DAII. Collateral includes 18.63 million USDT and 3 million FDUSD on Ethereum, and 6,479 ORDI, 1.33 million MUBI, and 9,000 BSSB on BRC-20.
BitStable has completed a security audit by Salus Security.
BitFlow
BitFlow is an open-source platform enabling users to trade and earn yield using BTC on Bitcoin. It leverages technologies such as partially signed Bitcoin transactions (PSBT), atomic swaps, and Stacks Bitcoin (sBTC). Core features include stablecoin trading, Bitcoin trading, single-sided liquidity provision, and yield farming. BitFlow planned to launch BTC atomic swaps in Q4 2023 according to its roadmap, but this feature has not yet gone live.
BitFlow has received investments and grants from the Stacks Foundation and Bitcoin Startup Lab, and its codebase has been audited by Coinfabrik and StrataLabs.
Cross-Chain Bridges
Cross-chain bridges for Bitcoin may be far more significant than those between EVM chains. They not only facilitate the movement of Bitcoin network assets but also serve as crucial gateways connecting Bitcoin to more complex financial systems. Given Bitcoin’s immense value and influence, the security of these bridges is paramount—any vulnerability could lead to substantial financial losses and market-wide repercussions. Bridge designs must rigorously balance security and decentralization, addressing not only potential hacker attacks but also providing contingency plans for resolving consensus disputes over asset indexing.
MultiBit
MultiBit is the first BRC-20 cross-chain bridge between Bitcoin and EVM networks, incubated by TurtSat. It uses multi-signature contracts to transfer tokens across networks and relies on monitoring nodes to track transaction status on both Bitcoin and EVM blockchains. Since launch, MultiBit Bridge has processed over $490 million in cross-chain transaction volume. Additionally, MultiBit supports NFT bridging from Bitcoin to Ethereum and plans to expand into staking, mining, and trading functionalities in the future.
MultiBit has completed a security audit by Salus Security.
Layer 2
There remains considerable debate about the necessity of Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions, largely depending on perspectives regarding Bitcoin’s current performance, long-term development goals, and market demand. For example, during the BRC-20 boom, network fees surged significantly, fueling demand for L2 solutions that batch process transactions off-mainchain to reduce costs. However, any L2 solution must enhance efficiency without compromising Bitcoin’s security and decentralization. Questions remain about whether there is sufficient user demand for faster, cheaper Bitcoin transactions, and whether L2s might fragment the Bitcoin ecosystem into tiers. Furthermore, there is ongoing discussion about whether assets moved off the expensive Bitcoin mainnet still truly belong to the Bitcoin network. Regardless of the debate, proponents are already advancing efforts toward Bitcoin Layer 2 development.
Bitfinity Network
Bitfinity is an EVM-compatible Layer 2 network built on ICP, designed to serve Bitcoin and its on-chain assets. It employs a threshold encryption scheme called Chain-Key to establish a decentralized bridge between Bitfinity and the Bitcoin mainnet. The Chain-Key private key is regenerated every 11 minutes through what the team calls "moon-math." Bitfinity has launched a testnet and expects to go live on mainnet within 1–2 months, introducing its native token BFT.
In January this year, Bitfinity raised $7 million in a token sale led by Polychain Capital and ParaFi Capital, achieving a post-money valuation of $130 million.
Nubit
Nubit is a Bitcoin-native data availability layer launched by Riema Labs, aiming to transform how Bitcoin network transactions are processed to make them more cost-effective and efficient. Additionally, Riema is developing a Bitcoin-native data availability standard known as BRC-1310, which encompasses BTC staking, data availability sampling techniques, on-chain data proofs, and decentralized bridges—all designed to reduce trust assumptions, increase data throughput, lower costs, and improve data accessibility.
Riema Labs secured an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed round in January this year, backed by investors including Bounce Finance and BRC-20 creator domo.
NFT
From the perspective of full on-chain data storage and immutability, storing art collectibles as NFTs on Bitcoin may be even more suitable than on Ethereum. Casey’s original intent when creating Ordinals was precisely to store things on the Bitcoin network that would never change. Although Bitcoin NFTs are still in their infancy, standout projects such as Bitcoin Frog and NodeMonkes have emerged, alongside early experiments leveraging Bitcoin NFTs for financial leverage.
Liquidium
Liquidium is a peer-to-peer lending platform built on the Bitcoin network, allowing users to borrow BTC by pledging Bitcoin Ordinals NFTs or BRC-20 assets as collateral. This process is facilitated through partially signed Bitcoin transactions (PSBT) and Discreet Log Contracts (DLC).
In December last year, Liquidium raised $1.25 million in a pre-seed funding round from investors including Bitcoin Frontier Fund and Side Door Ventures.
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