This year, we returned with 8 high-quality projects in the BTC Ecosystem. On January 31st, 2024, ABCDE’s second Demo Day is scheduled, welcoming over 80 investors. These 8 projects, carefully selected from various sectors including Layer 2, Statechain, Staking, DA, Liquidity Layer, Launchpad, etc., showcase the diversity and innovation in our field.

ABCDE actively invests in and supports innovative projects within the BTC ecosystem, not only providing investment support but also offering ecosystem support, such as media, developer communities, etc. Up to now, we have invested in more than 10 BTC ecosystem projects, including BitSmiley, Bsquared, Bitmap Tech, BitMask, Bison Labs, DLC Link, Babylon, etc. We believe that the replacement of infrastructure will lead the next wave of the BTC ecosystem, and the summer of Bitcoin is coming!

We extend our sincere thanks to our co-hosts: @unisat_wallet, @BeWaterOfficial, @UTXOmgmt, @ABCDEhighlight, and OGs Fund.

Together, our goal is to support the development of a more diverse and vibrant Bitcoin ecosystem.

TL;DR

We believe that, following the hype of inscriptions, infrastructure will lead the next wave in the BTC ecosystem. Beyond typical DeFi protocols, we’ve observed many native solutions for BTC Layer 2. This burgeoning infrastructure will foster a new era of DeFi, NFTs, Derivatives, and other use cases on BTC L1/L2.

Projects Schedule

14:00–14:10 Introduction

14:10–14:20 BitLynx

14:20–14:30 zkSat

14:30–14:40 Bitlayer

14:40–14:50 Mercury Layer

14:50–15:00 Denostr

15:00–15:10 Stroom

15:10–15:20 Nubit

15:20–15:30 Flash Protocol

BitLynx

One-Line Summary

Light and fast Bitcoin L2, based on UTXO and channel scaling

Project Highlights

BitLynx is a Bitcoin-native L2 scaling solution that integrates multiple covenants.

- Diverse Covenants Integration

- Based on UTXO

- Synergistic Settlement with Lighting Network

Twitter

@bitlynxoffcial

zkSat

One-Line Summary

zkSat is the first Bitcoin Liquidity Layer that supports native BTC assets.

Project Highlights

Cutting-edge DeFi safety infrastructure powered by various software and hardware protection technologies, such as TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) and ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proof), built on a network of T-Prover Nodes. It aims to provide the ultimate cross-chain experience while maintaining the core value of zero-knowledge-empowered self-custody and safety.

About the Team

Davion Labs is a crypto impact incubator. Davion is committed to supporting top-notch crypto and blockchain projects through its extensive resources and strong network, paving the way towards the robust growth and expansion of the Web3 ecosystem.

Twitter

@zkSatX

BitLayer

One Line Summary

The First Bitcoin security-equivalent Layer2 based on BitVM

Project Highlights

Bitlayer’s core objective is to address the trade-off between security (trustlessness) and Turing completeness in BTC Layer 2. Based on this context, three key tasks are abstracted:

Trustless entry and exit of L1 assets
State transitions using a Turing-complete L2 virtual machine
L1 verification of the validity of L2 state transitions

Bitlayer innovatively utilizes the DLC/LN protocol to enable trustless bidirectional flow of signals/assets. It introduces VMs (EVM, SolanaVM, MoveVM, etc.) to support a wide range of state transition expressions. The project aims to implement BitVM to validate L2 state transitions on Bitcoin L1 using an Optimistic Rollup approach. The project plans to achieve a trustless and Turing-complete BTC L2 through several iterative phases.

About the Team

Our team, composed of experts from Huobi, Polygon, and Polkadot, brings years of experience in leading public blockchain development, achieving significant industry results. Our product R&D team is skilled in full-stack blockchain development, having launched 3 EVM-compatible chains, 2 Ethereum zk-rollups, and 1 MPC+AA self-custody platform, with a total TVL of over 14 billion and daily transactions exceeding 4 million.

Our ecosystem team, with over 6 years of experience in early-stage Polkadot and Polygon ecosystem development, has vast global resources and has successfully integrated hundreds of projects onto public blockchains, collaborating with leading enterprises in the blockchain sector.

Leveraging the core team’s extensive experience and early-stage investment incubators, we excel in research, development, operations, capital management, channeling, and community support, positioning us strongly in the blockchain industry.

Twitter

@BitLayerLabs

Mercury Layer

One-Line Summary

Bitcoin Layer 2 service, based around MPC and Statechains

Project Highlights

MercuryLayer is a Layer 2 service aimed at improving Bitcoin’s scalability and transaction efficiency by enabling faster and more cost-effective transfers.

Twitter

@mercurylayer

Denostr

One-Line Summary

Denostr is a relay incentive solution for the Nostr protocol, similar to what Filecoin is to IPFS.

Product Highlights

Denostr is a cloud-native relay solution recommended by the Nostr community, significantly enhancing performance and offering incentives for relay hosting, attracting participation in building interesting applications and supporting a vast user base to join the Bitcoin ecosystem via Nostr.

About the Team

10+ years experience in social media; 8 years in bitcoin; early team members of TikTok; Columbia, Stanford, ZJU alum.

Backed by Waterdrip Capital, Satoshi Lab, LK Ventures, Mask Network, ByteTrade Lab, PAKA, SIG.

Twitter

@denostr_com, @denostr_cn

Stroom Network

One-Line Summary

Stroom Network is Bitcoin Liquid Staking Protocol in Lightning Network.

Project Highlights

By applying the mechanics of liquid staking, Stroom Network offers users the ability to utilize their Bitcoin (BTC) capital on both the Lightning Network (LN) and in DeFi in a decentralized manner. Stroom Network has already raised $3.5 million in an oversubscribed Seed round led by Greenfield with participation from Lemniscap, No Limit Holdings, Cogitent Ventures and Ankr: https://www.theblock.co/post/248104/stroom-raise-bitcoin-liquid-staking-lightning-network

About the Team

Project founded by ex-core members of Lido, Storj, and Bitfury, with a deep expertise in Lightning Network and DeFi.

Twitter

@StroomNetwork

Nubit

One-Line Summary

Nubit is a scalable and the first Bitcoin-native data availability layer.

Project Highlights

Nubit enables the scaling of Bitcoin’s data capacities without compromises, empowering applications like Ordinals, layer 2s, price oracles, and indexers thus broadening the scope and efficiency of the Bitcoin ecosystem. It leverages the innovative consensus algorithm and lightning network to inhere the full censorship-resistant nature of Bitcoin.

About the Team

The Nubit team, consisting of top-tier researchers from UC Santa Barbara, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, brings strong academic backgrounds and innovation experience. Their expertise is evident through top-tier blockchain papers, academic recognition, extensive involvement in major blockchain projects and industry events.

Twitter

@nubit_org

Flash Protocol

One-Line Summary

Flash Protocol is a decentralized protocol that allows users to issue assets (Taproot Assets) and NFT on Bitcoin, while FlashVM, a computational engine built on Flash Chain, is designed for smart contract-like functionalities for Bitcoin.

Product Introduction/Highlights:

Streamlined Taproot Assets issuance
The 1st NFT mint and trade platform on Taproot Assets
BTC angel hub for ample support of Taproot assets project creators
BTCFi for Asset Utilization, Secure and censorship-resistant

Twitter@flashprotocol

We firmly believe that 2024 is a crucial year for the Bitcoin ecosystem to reach new heights! The Bitcoin ecosystem is evolving towards greater diversity and innovation, with various asset issuance protocols offering a wider range of choices and more abundant development opportunities to the market.

About ABCDE

ABCDE is a VC firm focused on leading investments in top crypto builders. Co-founded by Huobi Co-founder Du Jun and former Internet and Crypto entrepreneur BMAN, who have over 10 years of experience in the crypto industry. The co-founders of ABCDE have built multi-billion dollar companies in the crypto industry from the ground up, including listed companies (1611.HK), exchanges (Huobi), SAAS companies (ChainUP.com), media (CoinTime.com), and developer platforms (BeWater.xyz).