Renowned Bitcoin developer, Burak, known for uncovering a bug in the Lightning Network that led to an emergency update in 2022, is now working on a new layer 2 solution for Bitcoin with the goal of expanding decentralized finance applications on the network.
Burak, the creator of the competing Ark Protocol for Lightning Network, has introduced a new concept called “Brollups.” This layer 2 solution utilizes a Bitcoin-native rollup design, consolidating transactions without the necessity of a Bitcoin hard fork or the creation of a non-Bitcoin token, as Burak explained.
In a recent Medium post on June 21, Burak mentioned that Brollups is currently in the design phase. He hinted at the possibility of a signet (testnet) release later this year.
Once launched, Brollups aims to cater to over 90% of decentralized finance (DeFi) use cases, deeply integrated with Bitcoin as a transactional mechanism, according to Burak.
Managed by designated “operators,” Brollups will facilitate liquidity provision to the protocol and progress the rollup state through the chaining of Bitcoin transactions at regular intervals. These transactions will be processed on the Bitcoin Virtual Machine.
Burak’s innovative approach in developing Brollups without the need for a hard fork or a new token has garnered significant acclaim within the Bitcoin community.
From his initial exploit of the Lightning Network in October 2022 with a 998-of-999 multisignature Taproot transaction, which prompted an emergency update for Lightning Network nodes, to his latest venture into scaling solutions like Brollups, Burak has been at the forefront of Bitcoin development.
While Taproot transactions initially saw limited usage until the introduction of the Ordinals protocol by Casey Rodarmor in January 2023, they have since grown to represent a substantial portion of Bitcoin transactions. However, other scaling projects like Drivechain and Spiderchain are also vying to enhance DeFi capabilities on the Bitcoin network.
In May 2022, Burak launched Ark, a layer 2 solution focused on streamlining payments by eliminating the necessity of payment channels.
As the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to evolve, with developers like Burak leading the charge, the integration of DeFi functionalities and innovative solutions like Brollups are poised to shape the future of decentralized finance on the Bitcoin network.