Latest news with #BotanixLabs
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin Layer-2 Botanix Mainnet Debuts, Cuts Block Times to 5 Seconds
The mainnet of Botanix, a network designed to bring Ethereum-equivalent utility to the Bitcoin ecosystem, has gone live, slashing the time it takes to add new blocks to five seconds from 10 minutes. The network is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), the software that powers the Ethereum blockchain, allowing Ethereum-based applications and smart contracts to be copied and pasted onto Bitcoin, developer Botanix Labs said in an email. Botanix is one of several projects attempting to scale the Bitcoin blockchain and make it a more conducive venue for decentralized finance (DeFi) by enhancing its utility and programmability. Others include Rootstock, Stacks and BOB ("Build on Bitcoin"), which have all adopted the BitVM computing paradigm that can make complex computations verifiable on Bitcoin, paving the way for smart-contract provision, similar to Ethereum's. The expansion of Bitcoin's utility would allow developers to take advantage of the value held in BTC, which dwarfs that of all other digital assets. Botanix Labs also emphasized its decentralized governance structure. The mainnet launch coincides with its transition to being operated by a foundation of 16 node operators. Botanix said it expects the number to grow beyond 100 in 2026. The founding federation includes some of the biggest names in cryptocurrency, including as Mike Novogratz's financial services firm Galaxy Digital and crypto custody specialist Fireblocks. "If we want a world that runs on Bitcoin, we have to build systems that honor its core principles of self-custody, open participation and global fault tolerance,' Botanix Labs CEO Willem Schroé said. 'Too many Bitcoiners have been burned by centralized platforms, which is why Botanix is fully decentralized at launch. No single party, including us, can touch a user's Bitcoin." Several products that will form the basis of Botanix's Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) offering also debuted in conjunction the mainnet launch. These include BTC-backed stablecoin Palladium and decentralized exchange Bitzy. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Botanix Launches Mainnet to Power the Bitcoin Economy with Chainlink, Fireblocks, GMX, Dolomite and Others
New York, United States, July 1st, 2025, Chainwire Botanix is the first and only EVM-equivalent Bitcoin L2 that is decentralized from the start meaning no single entity, including Botanix Labs, can unilaterally influence or control the network as the network is run by a growing federation of industry-leading node operators. Users can now trade, lend, borrow, stake, pay, LP, leverage, go short, go long, and stay stable all in bitcoin on Bitcoin, with an expanding ecosystem of Bitcoin-native applications. Launching today, Bitcoin 2100 is a retro-futuristic immersive experience where players can earn bitcoin by exploring a world built on Bitcoin. Each house in the experience highlights a live app on the Botanix network, making it a fun way to discover what's possible when Bitcoin becomes programmable. Botanix Labs, the protocol research team developing Botanix, the Bitcoin-based blockchain that powers the Bitcoin economy, today announced the launch of Botanix mainnet, with live applications including GMX and Dolomite, and ecosystem partners such as Chainlink and Fireblocks now active on the network. This milestone also marks the launch of new Bitcoin-native applications committed to building exclusively on the network, including Arch, Bitzy, Palladium, and Rover. With the launch of Botanix, Bitcoin users experience a significant improvement in transaction times, with block times reducing from 10 minutes to five seconds, and $0.02 transaction fees on average. Mainnet goes live just days after Botanix officially transitioned governance and consensus to a 16-node founding federation of independent node operators, including Galaxy, Fireblocks, Alchemy, Antpool, XBTO, Kiln, Chorus One, and others. With this transition and the support of the Spiderchain, a novel Bitcoin scaling cryptographic primitive, Botanix becomes the first and only secure Bitcoin-based blockchain that is decentralized from inception, which means no single entity, including Botanix Labs, has control over the network. Botanix expects the operator set to expand beyond 100 in 2026. 'We've spent the last two years building Botanix to give Bitcoin real utility without compromising on self-custody,' said Willem Schroé, CEO and Co-Founder of Botanix Labs. 'Too many Bitcoiners have been burned by centralized platforms, which is why Botanix is fully decentralized at launch. No single party, including us, can touch a user's Bitcoin, and that's why I'm incredibly excited to see mainnet go live and finally put real tools into the hands of Bitcoiners. If we want a world that runs on Bitcoin, we have to build systems that honor its core principles of self-custody, open participation, and global fault tolerance.' As part of the mainnet launch, Botanix is also introducing 'Bitcoin 2100', a retro-futuristic immersive experience that invites users. Players can collect free bitcoin, denominated in sats, by playing in a stylized world set in the year 2100, where Bitcoin has become the rails of a new financial system. Each house within the experience represents a different live application on the Botanix network, offering a creative and engaging way for users to discover what's possible when Bitcoin becomes programmable. Both mainnet and Bitcoin 2100 are live beginning today. "Botanix adopting Chainlink is a significant step towards redefining what's possible for Bitcoin,' said Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs. 'Botanix developers are now equipped to build advanced applications and unlock new utility for Bitcoin. This is a pivotal moment for the evolution of Bitcoin finance and the broader Bitcoin economy." Botanix testnet has completed over 26M transactions since its launch in December 2024. Founded in 2023, Botanix Labs is the protocol research and development team that initiated and coined the Spiderchain protocol and developed Botanix, an EVM-equivalent Bitcoin L2. With Botanix fully decentralized and independently operated, Botanix Labs contributes through research, developer tooling, and ecosystem growth. Contact Margaret Botanix
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Botanix Labs challenges Ethereum to cement Bitcoin as finance hub
Botanix Labs challenges Ethereum to cement Bitcoin as finance hub originally appeared on TheStreet. In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Alisia Painter, co-founder of Botanix Labs, outlined a plan to migrate decentralized finance from Ethereum onto Bitcoin — rebuilding Bitcoin's full financial stack on-chain to support its evolution from peer-to-peer cash to a global reserve asset. Painter noted that most DeFi today lives on Ethereum, yet Bitcoin holders have long lacked comparable on-chain options. 'Everything that we see in TradFi, we need to bring on-chain and we need to bring it to Bitcoin,' she said — framing Botanix's mission as a direct challenge to Ethereum's supremacy. She explained that institutions and everyday investors are eager both to hold and to earn yield on Bitcoin. 'They do not want to sell their Bitcoin,' Painter said — highlighting demand for collateralized lending and yield products native to Bitcoin rather than wrapped versions on other chains. Botanix's day-one offerings will include lending protocols comparable to Ethereum's largest platforms. 'You'll be able to use a lending protocol such as Dolomite, such as Aave in a few months, which are some of the largest lending protocols in Ethereum,' Painter said — enabling users to use their Bitcoin as collateral to borrow, effectively using Bitcoin as money. By contrast, current Bitcoin loans often rely on centralized exchanges or cross-chain bridges that introduce custodial or technical risk. Botanix's fully on-chain approach aims to keep all activity secure and aligned with Bitcoin's principles. Painter coined the term 'real Bitcoin yield' to describe returns generated entirely on Bitcoin's network. 'Whenever you bridge to another cryptocurrency, there is some risk,' she said — referring to the hacks and exploits that plague cross-chain bridges. Botanix's yield mechanism is based on transaction activity within its Bitcoin-native ecosystem. Users will stake Bitcoin directly and earn passive yield, paid in Bitcoin, without ever leaving the chain. Painter argued that most Bitcoin gains to date have come solely from price appreciation, asking, 'Why doesn't Bitcoin actually earn yield?' Painter says that by offering native on-chain lending and yield services, Botanix can draw DeFi users from Ethereum — solidifying Bitcoin's status as the main hub of decentralized finance. Botanix Labs challenges Ethereum to cement Bitcoin as finance hub first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 12, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Galaxy, Fireblocks to Operate Nodes on Bitcoin Layer-2 Botanix
Botanix Labs has onboarded a couple of crypto industry heavyweights as node operators for its bitcoin layer-2 network. Mike Novogratz's digital asset financial services firm Galaxy and crypto custody specialist Fireblocks are among 16 new node operators on Botanix, the company announced on Thursday. The operators have been onboarded and will be live once the Botanix mainnet launches later this quarter. With the creation of a federation of different entities running nodes, Botanix Labs is establishing its eponymous network as "decentralized from the start." "The network will soon migrate to a dynamic federation to support hundreds of nodes, with the eventual goal of allowing anyone in the world to run their own Botanix node," Botanix Labs said in Thursday's announcement. Also joining the federation are blockchain developer Alchemy, bitcoin mining pool Antpool and hedge fund manager UTXO Management. Botanix's testnet, known as Aragog, introduced various tools that will form the basis of its decentralized finance (DeFi) offering: BTC-backed stablecoin Palladium, decentralized exchange Bitzy and lending and borrowing market Spindle. Botanix's protocol Spiderchain was built to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), the software that powers Ethereum. This in theory would make any smart contract or DeFi application on Ethereum compatible with Bitcoin-based Botanix. Developing Bitcoin into a settlement layer for DeFi activity elsewhere in the blockchain world has become a matter of increasing interest among the great and the good of the crypto industry. With BTC's market cap consistently accounting for over 60% of the entire crypto market, developers see the opportunity in harnessing the deep reserves held in BTC to finance applications on networks more technically suited to DeFi, such as Ethereum, Solana or Cardano. At the Dubai Token2049 conference last month Franklin Templeton's managing principal of blockchain venture capital Kevin Farrelly described this as trend as "infrastructure narrative dilution," in response to those in the Bitcoin community who believe it dilutes from BTC's core purpose as a store of value. The involvement of the likes of Galaxy and Fireblocks demonstrates that Bitcoin DeFi may become a sector that grows and grows.
CNBC
01-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Bitcoin climbs to highest level since late February: CNBC Crypto World
On today's episode of CNBC Crypto World, major cryptocurrencies and broader markets climb following positive Big-Tech earnings. Plus, Robinhood's Q1 earnings report reveals crypto revenue increased 100% compared to the prior year. And, Alisia Painter, co-founder of bitcoin-based blockchain Botanix Labs, discusses the cryptocurrency's performance and what can be expected in May.
