Original author: @BMANLead

Original source: twitter

Compiled by: Vernacular Blockchain

1. The mysterious power of the East: Merlin Layer2

Just two weeks after its mainnet launch, a new Bitcoin Layer2 network has done something miraculous, surpassing @Blast_L2 and @solana to become the network with the highest Total Value Locked (TVL). That network is @MerlinLayer2.

As of February 26, Merlin Chain’s total TVL has exceeded $2.1 billion, ranking fifth among all chains.

Merlin has launched NFTs worth more than $420 million, making it the highest NFT value chain after Ethereum, including 220,000 Bitmaps, 4,800 Goosinals NFTs, and 160,000 BRC-420 ecological assets.

 

2. How did Merlin rise to prominence?

Merlin has gained incredible momentum in the East, but the West has yet to fully feel this “mysterious power from the East.” So I put together a timeline to review Merlin’s rise, thanks to @Web3Loon’s efforts:

Merlin's rise timeline:

  • June 17, 2023: @rcsvio publishes first tweet and launches RCSV.io (Recursiverse), allowing SVG mosaic creation; other 2D inscriptions can be recursively referenced to generate new works.

  • July 17, 2023: The BRC420.io protocol is released, treating inscriptions as modules for building the Ordinals stack.

  • July 31, 2023: Released Bitmap Explorer (http://Bitmap.Game), a Bitmap-based visual panel for social, gaming, and trading activities.

  • September 19, 2023: Launch of the BRC-420 marketplace and deployment of the first BRC-420 asset, the Blue Box.

  • November 15, 2023: The Bitmap coin exchange plan was announced, 1 Bitmap can be exchanged for 1,000 $WMAP, doubling the price of Bitmap; at the same time, the price of the blue box rose to $1,000.

  • December 26, 2023: Renamed to @BitmapTech; OKX supports BRC-420.

  • January 19, 2024: Official announcement of Bitcoin’s second layer network - @MerlinLayer2.

  • January 26, 2024: Merlin Chain testnet bridge launched.

  • February 3, 2024: The Blue Box price reaches $40,000, becoming the third-largest 10k-series NFT on the market, behind BAYC and Punks.

  • February 4, 2024: @ABCDELabs announces lead investment in BitmapTech.

  • February 5, 2024: Merlin Chain launched its Launchpad on @ParticleNtwrk and released 1% of the governance token $MERL.

  • February 8, 2024: Merlin’s Seal staking officially goes live, with 20% of $MERL issued fairly.

  • February 9, 2024: @OKX_Ventures announces investment in BitmapTech.

  • February 10, 2024: The first Merlin Chain Launchpad event ends with more than 1 million participating addresses.

  • February 23, 2024: Merlin Chain’s TVL exceeds $2 billion, surpassing Solana and Blast, ranking fifth among all chains.

Merlin’s asset dashboard: https://geniidata.com/ordinals/index/merlin?ref=K62O1R

Merlin surpassed Solana and Blast in just 14 days, not just due to these two weeks, but the team's deep cultivation in the Bitcoin ecosystem, from Recursiverse to Bitmap Explorer to BRC420, and finally to Merlin Chain.

 

3. My three conclusions on Merlin’s rise:

1) The Bitcoin ecosystem will give birth to 10 unicorn-level Bitcoin second-layer networks.

After the emergence of Ordinals, BRC20, BITVM, etc., Bitcoin has transformed from being just a value storage currency to an ecosystem, from a zero-interest asset to an interest-bearing asset. This has led to a surge in Bitcoin ecosystem assets and second-layer solutions, with Merlin being the brightest star. When Ethereum's market cap reached $300 billion, the total market cap of ERC-20Token was also in the $300 billion range. Today, with Bitcoin's market cap reaching $1 trillion, the total market cap of BRC assets is still less than $10 billion, with a potential growth space of 99 times.

2) Assets drive the second layer, rather than the second layer driving assets.

Bitmap is unique in its second-layer strategy. Unlike other second-layer solutions that "build the second layer first, then generate assets", Bitmap takes the approach of "build assets on Bitcoin first, then build the second layer", bringing its leading first-layer assets and strong user base to Merlin. Merlin has built the largest first-layer asset community, with Blue Box, a market cap of $350 million, and a community of more than 1 million addresses participating.

3) Asset issuance from the bottom up, not from the top down.

Merlin adopts a bottom-up issuance model, driven by the community, from assets to ecosystems. Merlin's native assets, including blue boxes and BRC420, are built entirely from the bottom up by the community through fair issuance. After the community fully grasps the assets, it will build around them. This is completely opposite to other L1 or L2 projects, which will first come up with an idea, allocate tokens, and develop products to attract more builders, adopting a top-down model. In the Bitcoin ecosystem, the situation is completely reversed. The community first discovers assets, fairly issues assets, and then creates applications, ecosystems, and empowerment based on assets. This is the biggest reason why Merlin attracted $2 billion in TVL in just 14 days.

#NFT