Bitcoin Season 2.
An Orange Wave.
The Bitcoin Renaissance.
It has many names, but they all refer to one thing – the explosion of development, investment, and user attention on the Bitcoin ecosystem. Ever since this trend started with the inscriptions crazy in early 2023, it has shown no signs of slowing. With so much development, marketing and user activity, every builder faces one simple question: “Should I start building in the Bitcoin ecosystem too?”
In this short blog post are key reasons why Bitcoin developers should consider building new dApps for the ecosystem where they have spent their careers and why – out of every other Bitcoin layer, metaprotocol, or other adjacent network – this one called the Spiderchain deserves special consideration.
The Basics of Bitcoin’s Spiderchain
In short, the Spiderchain is a new primitive network for rapidly expanding the simplicity, security and scalability of a second-layer ecosystem built directly on Bitcoin. A series of successive, randomized and decentralized multisigs secure all assets moved from the Bitcoin base layer. Every Bitcoin block is associated with a new multisig created between a set of random participants from the Spiderchain. This growing chain of multisigs can be seen as a sort of web that safeguards all bitcoins moved to the Spiderchain.
Read more about the protocol in the whitepaper or in this blog post written by Jameson Lopp.
Reasons to Build on the Spiderchain
Consider the following four (4) reasons to build new Bitcoin applications on the Spiderchain.
- A Lindy Software Environment
Trigger warning for some bitcoin maximalist readers: the Spiderchain allows the Ethereum Virtual Machine software layer to be ported back to Bitcoin. Bitcoin – a monetary protocol – is universally recognized for its strong Lindy Effect that strengthens with each new block. Similarly, the EVM is a Lindy software layer that supports billions of dollars in capital, millions of users, and thousands of applications. But the problem is all of this exists on the wrong blockchain – it should be on Bitcoin. Especially in software battles, these network effects are unquestionable advantages for winning the distribution battle. Bitcoin developers should understand the power of adopting a Lindy software environment running on the most Lindy monetary protocol.
- Familiar Network Architecture
The Spiderchain creates a second layer that will be familiar in many ways to most Bitcoin developers. Consider the Lightning Network that also runs fully on Bitcoin (not partially on Bitcoin and Ethereum, “Internet Computer,” or Polygon, like some other new Bitcoin metaprotocols), and it often uses two out of two (2-of-2) multisig setups. Instead of a 2-of-2 setup, the Spiderchain operates with a randomized set of 100 multisigs created with each new Bitcoin block that moves funds from the base layer. Also, the Spiderchain uses Bitcoin Core as it exists today – no new token is needed, no new BIP is needed, no other blockchain is needed.
- Innovative Security
The Spiderchain introduces an encryption system that is novel to the world of cryptocurrency but old hat to the world of cryptography – forward security. Being forward secure means that participating users in a network can refresh their keys across epochs (i.e., new sets of randomized multisigs with each block) in a way that any instance of compromise that threatens the current secret keys leaves all prior encrypted keys secure. If Block 100 is compromised, for example, Blocks 1 through 99 are unaffected. This is a powerful tool for any cryptocurrency network but especially for a second-layer protocol because security actually is a higher priority on a Layer 2 compared to the base layer (but that’s a topic for another article).
- Bitcoin Adoption Acceleration
“Everything is good for Bitcoin,” as the mantra goes, but some things are more good than others. Creating a second layer that is familiar to every non-Bitcoin user and builder (a.k.a., the EVM) is a powerful tool for onboarding everyone who wrote off Bitcoin as too hard to use and too difficult to build on. This is the Lindy effect in action. Not only does the Spiderchain adhere to core Bitcoin principles of security, simplicity, and decentralization, but it tears down any perceived barrier to entry for everyone else on other blockchain platforms. Suddenly, self-sovereign financial applications running on other chains can copy-paste to a superior base layer without changing the end-user’s experience or habits, and Bitcoin advocates should jump at the chance to orange pill this new horde of freedom money enthusiasts. The Spiderchain, in this sense, is truly a game changer.
“Does Bitcoin Need More dApps?”
Some Bitcoin users will inevitably question whether any of this activity on Bitcoin is beneficial at all. Should the Bitcoin network be used to support a new, experimental financial system? We strongly believe the answer is yes.
Global adoption of the world’s best money – an internet-native permissionless currency – is undeniably limited by a lack of ways to use it. Bitcoin is money for enemies, criminals, entrepreneurs, refugees, gamblers, academics, and every other type of person in the world, and Bitcoin development should grow to meet the demands of anyone who wants to use it. Of course, the Bitcoin base layer should not necessarily change in this way, but second-layer networks certainly should.
In fact, any application that finds a product-market fit outside of Bitcoin should also become a Bitcoin-native tool. This radical idea extends even to the much-hated institution of banks, which Hal Finney wrote about in 2010.
“There needs to be a secondary level of payment systems which is lighter weight and more efficient. [...] Bitcoin backed banks will solve these problems. They can work like banks did before nationalization of currency.”
Understand the unique advantages of pairing the world’s most secure monetary layer with the world’s most ubiquitous decentralized software layer unlocks radical growth potential for any team building new applications in crypto.
Study the Spiderchain, and start building new stuff on Bitcoin.
