The well-known Bitcoin developer, who gained fame for exploiting a bug in the Lightning Network and forcing it to issue an emergency update in 2022, is currently working on a new layer 2 solution for Bitcoin. This new solution, called “Brollups,” aims to bring more decentralized finance (DeFi) use cases to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Burak, the Bitcoin developer who previously created Ark Protocol as a competitor to the Lightning Network, has now introduced Brollups. Brollups is a layer 2 solution that utilizes a Bitcoin-native rollup design, allowing for the bundling of transactions without the need for a Bitcoin hard fork or the creation of a non-Bitcoin token.
In a Medium post published on June 21, Burak stated that Brollups is still in the design phase. However, he mentioned that a testnet rollout could potentially take place later this year. Once launched, Brollups aims to support over 90% of DeFi use cases, making it a powerful addition to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
According to Burak, Brollups is deeply integrated with Bitcoin and functions seamlessly with Bitcoin as a payment mechanism. The protocol will be managed by operators who will provide liquidity and advance the rollup state by linking Bitcoin transactions at regular intervals. All transactions will be executed on the Bitcoin Virtual Machine.
Burak received significant praise from the Bitcoin community for developing Brollups without the need for a Bitcoin hard fork or the creation of a new token. This demonstrates his ability to find innovative solutions within the existing Bitcoin framework.
In addition to his work on Brollups, Burak made headlines in October 2022 when he exploited the Lightning Network with a multi-signature Taproot transaction. This incident prompted an emergency update for Lightning Network node operators as it temporarily disrupted the synchronization of all nodes. Although no funds were stolen, the incident highlighted an unintended consequence of the Taproot upgrade.
Taproot transactions saw minimal usage until January 2023 when Casey Rodarmor launched the Ordinals protocol. Since then, Taproot transactions have accounted for a significant portion of Bitcoin transactions, reaching a peak of 46.4% in December 2023 but falling to 30% this month, according to Dune Analytics.
There are other Bitcoin scaling projects, such as Drivechain and Spiderchain, that are also focused on bringing DeFi functionality to the Bitcoin ecosystem. However, Burak’s Brollups solution is expected to be a significant contender in this space.
In conclusion, Burak is actively working on Brollups, a Bitcoin layer 2 solution designed to enable more DeFi use cases within the Bitcoin ecosystem. With its Bitcoin-native rollup design, Brollups aims to provide seamless integration with Bitcoin while avoiding the need for a hard fork or the creation of a non-Bitcoin token. Burak’s innovative approach and previous contributions to the Bitcoin community have garnered widespread recognition.