Lightning Labs has found a solution to the turbulent process of minting digital assets on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin users have been blessed with an increasingly efficient way of minting new assets on the blockchain via an updated version of the recently rebranded Taproot Assets Protocol, formerly known as Taro. Lightning Labs previously criticized the methods used on the Bitcoin chain, and pointed fingers toward the protocols that write asset metadata directly into the block space.
Today we're excited to announce the newest version of Taproot Assets 🥕, a scalable protocol to issue assets on #bitcoin and Lightning.
With this release, developers have the core set of features to bitcoinize the dollar in a chain-efficient manner! 💸⛓️https://t.co/7WmeDjNnM2
— Lightning Labs⚡️🍠 (@lightning) May 16, 2023
However, the Taproot Assets Protocol has been specially designed to operate maximally off-chain, mainly to avoid network congestion that has become an unfortunate trait of the Bitcoin network following the launch of the BRC-20 token standards. Furthermore, it would soon be possible for users to seamlessly integrate BRC-20 assets into the Lightning Network. All wallets, exchanges, and merchants would be ported over, rather than relying on bootstrapping an entirely new ecosystem.
Many believe that the Taproot Assets Protocol is a better option for minting new assets in comparison to the already existing methods like JSON, as it is possible for users to swiftly transfer to the Lightning network for fast and cheap transactions. However, the Taproot Assets Protocol is the new name of the original Taro protocol. Lightning Labs was forced to change its name following a trademark infringement suit filed by Tari Labs back in December.
The Suit Against Lightning Labs
Lightning Labs managed faced problems following a trademark infringement suit by Tari Labs. The new offering, now on a testnet, comes with a bundle of features that are bound to bitcoinize the dollar. The suit resulted in a massive bottleneck for Lightning Labs that severely restricted any additional development of the project.
With the rebranding being put into effect, the firm has resumed work on the primary software. However, according to Lightning Labs, Taproot Assets is currently available on a test network, and the main network support would follow soon.
The founder of Lightning Labs, Elizabeth Stark, stated,
‘’We are committed to building an assets protocol for Bitcoin and Lightning. That scales to many people around the world and doesn’t make the Bitcoin blockchain effectively unusable’’
The rebranding of the protocol has put an end to the lawsuit chapter and opened up new doors for developers to experiment with new software that has an entirely new set of features.
