{"id":2979,"date":"2023-11-29T17:40:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci02cfa29af0002444"},"modified":"2023-11-29T17:40:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:40:26","slug":"botanix-labs-launches-first-evm-equivalent-layer-2-testnet-on-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/technical\/botanix-labs-launches-first-evm-equivalent-layer-2-testnet-on-bitcoin","title":{"rendered":"Botanix Labs Launches First EVM-Equivalent Layer 2 Testnet on Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p>Botanix Labs has officially launched the first-ever fully decentralized&nbsp;Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalent Layer 2 on Bitcoin, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.&nbsp;This represents over a year of dedicated research and development by the team, with a focus on enhancing user experience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We want to make it as easy as possible to start building on Bitcoin,&#8221; said&nbsp;Willem Schroe, the Founder and CEO of Botanix.&nbsp;The initiative stems from the team&#8217;s ambition to propel Bitcoin beyond its status as the pinnacle of digital currency and position it as the cornerstone of a novel decentralized financial ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>At the core of this initiative is Spiderchain, a decentralized network of multisigs empowering anyone to operate a full Botanix node and participate in the network. Introducing forward security, a concept derived from encryption systems, Spiderchain facilitates low-cost, swift transactions for Bitcoin deployments.<\/p>\n<p>The innovative aspect of Botanix&#8217;s Spiderchain is its seamless compatibility with Ethereum&#8217;s EVM smart contracts. This compatibility enables developers to effortlessly replicate and deploy any EVM smart contract onto the Botanix testnet using Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/casa.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Casa&#8217;s<\/a>&nbsp;co-founder &amp; CTO&nbsp;Jameson Lopp, in his <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lopp.net\/an-introduction-to-spiderchain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis<\/a> of the Spiderchain&#8217;s whitepaper, highlighted its implementation on Bitcoin without necessitating any protocol alterations at the base layer.&nbsp;\u201cWhile there are a variety of proposals being discussed for enhancing Bitcoin&#8217;s Layer 2 capabilities\u2026one distinction with spiderchains is that they can be implemented on Bitcoin today without any protocol changes to the base layer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Botanix Labs is now forging ahead to incubate the first-ever Bitcoin-enabled DeFi and NFT ecosystem. The testnet encompasses a Signet Bitcoin faucet, a bridge, and AvocadoSwap, akin to PancakeSwap, facilitating token swaps.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Botanix is launching the &#8220;Botanix Testnet Accelerator,&#8221; inviting 10 startups for enhanced BD support, co-marketing, and development resources ahead of the mainnet launch slated for early next year. Selection criteria encompass the product&#8217;s development, transaction activity, and business potential.<\/p>\n<p>The Botanix testnet is available for trial, inviting feedback from users at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.botanixlabs.xyz\/testnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclaimer: UTXO Management is an investor in Botanix. UTXO&#8217;s parent company, BTC Inc., is also the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This represents over a year of dedicated research and development by the team, with a focus on enhancing user experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2511,"featured_media":2980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[76,694,518,93,1135],"class_list":{"0":"post-2979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technical","8":"tag-bitcoin","9":"tag-botanix-labs","10":"tag-layer-2","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-spiderchain"},"author_data":{"id":2511,"name":"Nik","nicename":"nik","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/NIK_.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/leonardo_diffusion_xl_bitcoin_testnet_0-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2511"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}