Block by Block, till we got the Blockchain!

Satoshi built BLOCK by BLOCK, connected each by a CHAIN till Bitcoin dominated the BLOCKCHAIN! — Pardon me for trying to be funny :)

This year, Crypto maxis, and blockchain enthusiasts have celebrated lots of wins. One of the significant wins we have had is the successful completion of the Bitcoin halving.

With lots of predictions about the bullrun coming, and $BTC ranging between $66k to $69k, it feels like we are yet to see the impact of this event, however, #BTC seems to be gathering more and more momentum with time, as more platforms build innovations to address the issue of scalability.

Humanity thrives on Innovation!
It’s quite awesome to learn that we have grown wayyyy past trading gems and diamonds (trade and barter systems), to the use of metals and coins to carry out transactions, to the adoption of banknotes, and now to the adoption of virtual currencies.

We have seen the limitations of each of these innovations, and the solutions built to handle them. For instance:

• The trade-by-barter system came with the difficulty of in determining the fair value of the exchange
• The invention of coinage by the Lydians (around 600BCE) still came with the challenges of supply constraints, portability issues, and disuniformity.
• The Great Depression in the 1930s revealed the weaknesses of the Gold Standard as a means of value exchange.
• Traditional banks and financial institutions have to fight against inflation, issues around setting the right policies, currency wars, etc.

All of these called for more innovation, hence the rise of innovative solutions like cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, with Bitcoin leading the way!

Created in 2008, by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was initially an experiment in digital cash and decentralized finance. Over the years, it has grown into a robust asset class, attracting investors, developers, and enthusiasts worldwide.

2017, was quite a year for lots of Crypto maxis, with $BTC attracting lots of attention and growing in value to about $20k in December. This bull run brought unprecedented mainstream attention, with media coverage and public interest surging.

Following the 2017 peak, Bitcoin experienced significant market corrections, but it continued to mature as an asset class. Institutional investment grew, with major firms like Fidelity, MicroStrategy, and Tesla entering the market. The launch of Bitcoin futures and ETFs further legitimized Bitcoin as a financial instrument.

Last week, I read an article by zkBTC that gave insights about the solutions the platform was providing to enable #Bitcoin scalability, zkBTC proposes that it will utilize Polygon’s leading zero-knowledge scalability stack to make the #Bitcoin network scalable. This means it processes transactions off the main Bitcoin blockchain, reducing the load and making transactions faster and cheaper.

You can learn more about this here: https://medium.com/@zkBTC/introducing-zkbtc-a-modern-web3-ecosystem-for-the-bitcoin-community-ce12c44f5191

The truth about the matter is that we have not fully harnessed all of the opportunities within the blockchain, or cryptocurrency, ecosystem. And like a teen still experiencing puberty, with a lot of prospects and potential, #Bitcoin still has a long way to go!

This means our beautiful innovation still has a couple of limitations and problems to solve.

And here’s why we have platforms like Babylon, and Persistence, which are adopting the technology and paving the way for more individuals to jump on the trend of investing in Bitcoin.

The Babylon Chain is a blockchain interoperability solution designed to enhance the security and functionality of various Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains by leveraging Bitcoin’s robust security features. By using Bitcoin’s secure infrastructure, Babylon Chain aims to provide additional security guarantees to PoS blockchains, making them more resilient and trustworthy.

Around March 2024, the Persistence team made a strategic move to partner with Babylon to enable its platform to adopt #Bitcoin security to strengthen its Liquid Staking & Restaking ecosystem.

With this, the Persistence team pushed to create a new staking pool with a $WBTC/$XPRT pool on their product, Dexter. This way, Persistence would be able to:

• Increase alignment with Bitcoin for the chain that will soon be secured by Bitcoin
• Build liquidity for the biggest asset (BTC) on the Persistence chain
• Expand liquidity opportunities for XPRT paired with BTC
• Offer new yield opportunities for liquidity providers on Dexter
• Create additional trading routes on Dexter

The team is currently working around the clock to ensure that $BTC comes to Persistence as the $WBTC/$XPRT pool will go LIVE if the proposal passes.

The future of finance is unfolding before our eyes, and Bitcoin is a foundational block. From clunky barter systems to sleek digital currencies, humanity’s journey with money has been one of constant evolution. Bitcoin is poised to become the financial swiss army knife — secure, fast, and ever-evolving!

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