The Bitcoin Lightning Network made significant development with the alpha release of the Taro daemon protocol. The Lightning Network is a Bitcoin network Layer-2 scaling solution.
Taro is a Taproot-powered protocol that enables developers to create and transfer assets via the Bitcoin network.
The Lightning Network is a Layer-2 scaling technology for the Bitcoin network. With the release of the Taro daemon, developers will be able to mint, transfer, and receive assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. In the coming months, the Lightning Network will be adding more complex functionality to the Taro daemon.
“Universes will enable users and asset issuers to produce proofs of asset origin, supply issuance, and interact more effectively with Taro asset data. Once the on-chain functionality is implemented, we will strive to integrate the Taro protocol into LND (Lightning Network Daemon), bringing Taro assets to the Lightning Network.”
The initial steps in implementing basic, undisclosed Taproot channels in LND have begun, which is required for Lightning channels that may transfer and receive Taro assets.
Bitcoinizing the Dollar
The launch of the Taro daemon, according to Lightning Network engineers, is the first step toward Bitcoinizing the Dollar. This is because Taro will allow stablecoins to be issued on the decentralized blockchain network. As a result, users will be able to use stablecoins in the same manner that they use Bitcoin: instantly settled, low-fee, peer-to-peer transactions without the involvement of financial intermediaries.
Another advantage of Taro is that users will be able to have USD-denominated and BTC-denominated balances in the same wallet. This will hasten the objective of bringing Bitcoins into the billions.
Taro Assets have all been embedded with pre-existing Bitcoin outputs or UXTOs. The official announcement explains:
“A developer creates a new Taro asset by creating an on-chain transaction that commits to unique information in a Tapoot output. When a new asset is minted, the Taro daemon creates the necessary witness data, assigns the asset to the minter's private key, and broadcasts the newly formed bitcoin UTXO to the bitcoin network. This new outpoint serves as the asset's genesis point and serves as its unique identification.”
The Taro minting process includes design features such as verifiability, scalability, and the ability to create fungible assets like currencies. Michael Saylor, a prominent Bitcoin supporter, believes that the Lightning Network will assist BTC to gain traction. He also believes that it will address some of the current challenges in the DeFi space.
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