Following weeks of debate about Bitcoin drivechains, a similar project to unlock the network’s programming potential is picking up steam.
On Monday, Jameson Lopp—co-founder and CTO of mobile self-custody firm Casa—published a blog post about “Spiderchain,” which he called “yet another proposal for building 2-way pegged sidechains.”
A sidechain is a separate blockchain that is tied into the main Bitcoin network in some way. They typically use the same native currency—BTC—and may also leverage Bitcoin’s security guarantees. Sidechains let Bitcoiners access more features with their BTC that the main network can’t always provide, such as scalability, programmability, and privacy.
A prevailing difficulty with sidechains, however, is building a “2-way peg” allowing BTC to be safely transferred to the sidechain and back without requiring a centralized middleman.
That’s where the Spiderchain, developed by Botanix Labs, comes into play.
“The Spiderchain works as a Proof of Stake Layer 2 on Bitcoin,” Willem Schroé, founder of Botanix Labs, told Decrypt. “You…