The #Dfinity Foundation, which made a substantial contribution to the growth of the Internet Computer network, released #ckBTC on Monday. It is a liquid and affordable "twin" token that is backed exactly one to one by #bitcoin (BTC).

With the addition of layer-2 capabilities, bitcoin can now transact more quickly and cheaply without sacrificing security. A secondary framework or protocol that is added on top of an existing blockchain system is referred to as a layer 2.

Without relying on centralized bridging services, which are a major security problem in the larger crypto ecosystem, ckBTC can be utilized on #decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on supported networks by connecting directly with the Bitcoin network.

Dominic Williams, founder at Dfinity said:

“ckBTC means low transaction fees, speed, and, most importantly, no bridges.”

He added:

“This is a milestone in the Bitcoin journey, and the Dfinity Foundation is excited to see how projects building on the Internet Computer blockchain implement ckBTC and explore novel use cases.”

Yet, even if bitcoin integration opens up a wide range of possibilities, it also carries over the network's pricey and lengthy transaction times. To counter this, Internet Computer reduced Liquid Bitcoin fees to just 0.0000001 ckBTC, or a few cents, a considerable reduction from the cost of the Bitcoin network.

Users contribute actual bitcoin to their deposit address and receive an equal amount of ckBTC, unlike wrapped tokens, which are managed by a centralized company. ckBTC employs canisters, smart contracts for asset transfers, and does not require intermediaries or hazardous cross-chain bridges. Users can also exchange their ckBTC tokens for actual bitcoin at a predetermined bitcoin address by returning them in an equivalent amount.

Because of the popularity of the recently introduced Ordinals protocol, which enables non-fungible tokens (NFT) to be held on-chain, Bitcoin network activity reached a two-year high in February.

Since then, Bitcoin layer 2 protocols like Stacks have become more popular; in March, STX tokens were among the best performers, indicating a desire for comparable protocols.

This news is republished from https://coinaquarium.io/

Summary👇

The SNS (Service Nervous System) was introduced.

Openchat announced its SNS Launch and Decentralized Sale

The aggregated Canister was introduced to the IC

Some improvements were added to the ICRC-2 Token Standard

Garbage collector functionality for the #motoko language has been implemented

SNS local handling improvements are introduced By caching signature verification, certification optimizations, and adding an aggregated canister for the SNS. 

Finally, the participation and things around #ETHDenver Were discussed.

This comes to the end of the summary, until next time🫡

#ICP #Dfinity #BlockchainSingularity #WorldComputer