c-lightning remained an innovator and leader in the space, from opening the first dual-funded channel to decentralizing the liquidity offering landscape to simplifying payment routing for Lightning app developers. One of the hallmarks of c-lighting is its rich set of features and plugins, many of them BOLT12 specifications, which allows users and developers to experiment firsthand with new Lightning tools not available or widely used in the ecosystem. And with the recent introduction of PeerSwap, an atomic swap plugin for nodes that allows on-chain channel rebalancing for a faster, cheaper, more reliable network, the Lightning Network is poised for another leg up in the coming year.
Building The Financial Layer Of The Bitcoin Economy On The Liquid Network
Last year, the Liquid Network saw impressive ecosystem growth through a wide range of trading venues, wallet providers and integrations that leveraged the sidechain, including Hodl Hodl, SideSwap, TDEX, WooCommerce, Specter Wallet and many others.
2021 was also the year Liquid became the platform of choice for companies and, yes, even nation states seeking secure asset issuance on Bitcoin.
In September, El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender and rolled out a nationally-sponsored Lightning Network wallet to onboard its citizenry. A few months later, on stage at Feel The Bit, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, alongside Blockstream CSO Samson Mow, proposed a $1 billion bitcoin-backed bond (EBB1) tokenized on the Liquid Network to expand the country’s energy and Bitcoin mining infrastructure.
Like its Bitcoin law, El Salvador’s planned digital securities law will pave the way for additional bitcoin-backed financial instruments and create new markets and exchanges for investors to trade security tokens on.
Our Blockstream Mining Note, launched in July, is a Luxembourg-regulated security that offers investors exposure to Bitcoin hash rate at our mining facilities. Through seven tranches, it has raised a total of €33.5 million (about $38 million) and mined nearly 2.5 BTC per BMN in 170 days.
As a tradeable security token issued on Liquid and managed using our asset platform Blockstream AMP, investors can easily adjust their exposure by trading the BMN on secondary markets or peer to peer. From a Bitcoiner perspective, the BMN creates a win-win for investors and the broader ecosystem by expanding investor participation in Bitcoin’s proof of work.
Going forward, we are optimistic about the mainstream adoption of security tokens, their further regulatory clarity and their subsequent reformation of capital markets. The BMN, the EXO token, and other Liquid security tokens are slated for release on new STO platforms Bitfinex Securities and MERJ Exchange, and the EBB1 is expected as early as Q1 2022.
Note: As the El Salvador Bitcoin Bond (EBB1) proposal matures and gets fine tuned, Blockstream will remain a technical consultant, with Bitfinex as bookmaker taking on the primary duties of distribution and issuance.
Thank You
We are now nearly 13 years forward from Bitcoin’s genesis block and more than four years from the activation of SegWit. Looking back over the years is a humbling reminder of how far Bitcoin has come and the incredible pace at which we are moving closer to hyperbitcoinization.
We want to sincerely thank the community and each Bitcoiner for their unwavering belief in a better future.
With your support, we look forward to continuing our company mission of building out innovative Bitcoin infrastructure, with Layer 2 solutions Lightning and Liquid as cornerstones of the new Bitcoin economy.
Donʼt trust, verify.
This is a guest post by Fernando Nikolic. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
