Bitcoin Layers Season Heats Up: Thesis Announces Mezo
Thesis launches Mezo, an economic layer for Bitcoin, and highlights the growing appetite for building on Bitcoin
Hi Bitcoin Builders,
I hope you had a great week. Here’s what’s happening in the Bitcoin Builder ecosystem.
Thesis, a web3 venture studio, launched Mezo, “an economic layer for Bitcoin.” Mezo introduces the idea of Proof of HODL, which gives yield to users who lock BTC and MEZO tokens and validate transactions via CometBFT consensus.
Shortly after launch, Mezo’s TVL rose to $46.5M.
Importantly, Mezo is built on tBTC, Thesis’s bitcoin wrapper; tBTC has been in operation for almost four years. The Mezo launch shows us that Bitcoin Builders are building and finding ways to unlock Bitcoin’s value.
Bitcoin Layers
Arch Network launches Turing-complete programmability directly on Bitcoin with the ArchVM. Arch aims to build a way to bring smart contracts to Bitcoin without bridging to a second layer. Arch is currently in Private Beta.
Zest Protocol launches to the public. Zest is “the first money market on Stacks,” and it aims to pave the way to unlock the power of borrowing and lending Bitcoin with sBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset on the Stacks network.
SolvBTC launched on the Merlin Chain and is the “first-ever yield-bearing BTC.” Their partnership with the Merlin Chain allows mBTC holders to earn yield (by securing the PoS consensus mechanism) while participating in DeFi.
Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin Layer that uses ZK-rollups to enhance security and scalability. It’s compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
According to Messari’s State of Bitcoin Q1 2024 report, “TVL on programmable Bitcoin layers increased 127% QoQ.”
Meta Protocols and Layer 1
The big Meta Protocol story is Runes, a new token standard set to launch with the halving. As we approach its launch, excitement is starting to get tactical — there will likely be a rush to mint the first 10,000 runes.
To capitalize on the Runes excitement, protocols like BitFlow are building Runes into their offerings: Bitflow to create an Automated Market Maker for Runes.
More
The success of the Bitcoin ETF is causing some FOMO:
China’s Largest Funds Apply for Spot Bitcoin ETF in Hong Kong - Bitcoin Magazine
The First Australian Spot Bitcoin ETF could launch Mid-year - Bitcoin Magazine
Report: Morgan Stanley ‘Racing’ to Offer Bitcoin ETFs to All Clients - Bitcoin Magazine