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Wednesday

Bitcoin

David Vance

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<![CDATA[<figure class="image"><img src="https://cimg.co/news/126695/334553/adobestock-179533027.jpg" srcset="https://cimg.co/news/126695/334553/responsive-images/adobestock-179533027___media_library_original_1200_794.jpg 1200w, https://cimg.co/news/126695/334553/responsive-images/adobestock-179533027___media_library_original_900_596.jpg 900w, https://cimg.co/news/126695/334553/responsive-images/adobestock-179533027___media_library_original_720_476.jpg 720w, https://cimg.co/news/126695/334553/responsive-images/adobestock-179533027___media_library_original_600_397.jpg 600w, https://cimg.co/news/126695/334553/responsive-images/adobestock-179533027___media_library_original_300_199.jpg 300w" width="1200" class="content-img" alt=""><figcaption>Source: Adobe / zatevakhin</figcaption></figure>Lightning Labs, one of the major firms responsible for developing Bitcoin&rsquo;s lightning network, has released the mainnet alpha of its long-awaited &ldquo;Taproot Assets&rdquo; protocol on Wednesday, allowing stablecoins and other tokens to functionally trade on Bitcoin.In its Wednesday <a href="https://lightning.engineering/posts/2023-10-18-taproot-assets-v0.3/">announcement</a>, the firm touted its release as &ldquo;the dawn of a new era for bitcoin,&rdquo; effectively transforming it into a &ldquo;global routing network for the internet of money.&rdquo;&ldquo;We believe this new era for bitcoin will see a myriad of global currencies issued as Taproot Assets, and the world's foreign exchange transactions settled instantly over the Lightning Network,&rdquo; wrote Ryan Gentry, Lightning Labs&rsquo; Director of Business Development.<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://twitter.com/lightning/status/1714659264101253317"></oembed></figure>Formerly known as &ldquo;Taro,&rdquo; Taproot Assets leverages Bitcoin&rsquo;s &ldquo;Taproot&rdquo; upgrade from 2021, which bolstered the network&rsquo;s smart contract capabilities while improving the privacy and memory efficiency of transactions.Taproot is also the upgrade that inadvertently enabled <a href="https://cryptonews.com/news/btc-ordinals-craze-puts-miners-dilemma-glassnode.htm">Ordinals</a> and BRC-20, enabling NFTs and later tokens (mostly including memecoins) to launch on Bitcoin. Unlike Ordinals, however, Taproot Assets structures its transactions to be as data-efficient as possible, allowing for far lower transaction fees and greater throughput.&nbsp; Upon releasing the BRC-20 token standard in March, developer &ldquo;domodata&rdquo; wrote to Github that Taro is &ldquo;unequivocally a better solution&rdquo; for Bitcoin asset issuance.For now, the current Taro release supports on-chain functionality, though it will later be compatible with the lightning network. Lightning enables instant and virtually free BTC transfers by processing transactions in private payment channels off-chain, before settling transactions on-chain.&ldquo;Users will be able to send and receive the currency of their choice over the Lightning Network, using the existing bitcoin liquidity as a global routing currency and Medium of Exchange,&rdquo; explained Gentry.<h2 id="the-importance-of-bitcoin-assets">The Importance of Bitcoin Assets</h2>Though many Bitcoiners view BTC as a viable currency in and of itself, a growing number of developers believe the Bitcoin network&rsquo;s potential lies in moving existing currencies on Bitcoin&rsquo;s rails.Paypal co-founder David Marcus, who now spearheads lightning-focused company Lightspark, said in an <a href="https://cryptonews.com/news/former-paypal-president-davis-marcus-says-people-wont-use-btc-buy-things-heres-what-you-need-know.htm">interview</a> last month that people won&rsquo;t use BTC to buy things, but that Bitcoin would become a &ldquo;universal protocol for money on the internet,&rdquo; through which fiat currencies like dollars, euro, and yen could be transferred.Tether USD (USD), the world&rsquo;s largest stablecoin, currently boasts greater daily transaction volume at crypto exchange than any other digital asset.&nbsp; &nbsp;
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Lightning Labs Wants to 'Bitcoinize the Dollar' with Stablecoins – How Does it Work?

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