Lightning Labs, the Bitcoin layer-2 infrastructure developer has recently released its Taproot Assets protocol on the main network. This initiative would eventually enable the issuance of stablecoins along with other assets on both Bitcoin and Lightning.
Taproot Assets would grant users the necessary tools required to make Bitcoin a multi-asset network but in a scalable fashion that would adhere to Bitcoin’s core values. The head of business development at Lightning Labs, Ryan Gentry, stated that the new development in the Bitcoin space would set the stage for global currencies to be issued as Taproot Assets.
Lightning Labs continued to explain that the current version of Taproot Assets would work by routing through existing Bitcoin (BTC) liquidity on its network. As a result of this development, the masses have called it a crucial step toward bitcoinizing the dollar.
Gentry also mentioned that the minting of more than 2000 Taproot Assets on various blockchains had made the launch of the alpha mainnet possible. Alpha launches usually suggest that the development is not in the final stages. Lightning Labs has suggested that the alpha tag indicated that they expect the crypto community to put it through rigorous testing to identify bugs.
Lightning Labs Discusses the Perks of Taproot Assets
Lightning Labs stated that the ability to add stablecoins in its applications is the greatest request it received from developers. The main challenge for Taproot Assets would lie in meeting this demand while avoiding congestion on the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin network faced severe congestion earlier this year as a result of minting BRC-20 tokens via the Ordinals Protocol.
The recent version of Taproot Assets has been upgraded to help developers start issuing, managing, and exploring mainnet assets on-chain. The asset issuance has been considerably improved based on developer feedback to fit the expected flows of the mainnet usage. For on-chain transactions, receiving assets has become easier as both users do not need to be online at the same time.
The fundamental goal of Taproot Assets is to establish Lightning Labs as a multi-payments network. The project aspires to provide stablecoin support to users in a borderless financial world. As soon as the payment channel functionality of the protocol is completely developed, users can send and receive the currency of their choice over the Lightning Network.
