Lightning Labs Wants to 'Bitcoinize the Dollar' with Stablecoins Lightning Labs, one of the major firms responsible for developing Bitcoin’s lightning network,
has released the mainnet alpha of its long-awaited “Taproot Assets” protocol on Wednesday,
allowing stablecoins and other tokens to functionally trade on Bitcoin.
In its Wednesday announcement,
the firm touted its release as “the dawn of a new era for bitcoin,” effectively transforming it into a “global routing network for the internet of money.”
“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,” wrote
Ryan Gentry, Lightning Labs’ Director of Business Development.
Formerly known
as “Taro,” Taproot Assets leverages Bitcoin’s “Taproot” upgrade from 2021, which bolstered the network’s smart contract capabilities
while improving the privacy and memory efficiency of transactions.
