Blogs & Articles: Liquid Federation Matures With Addition of 9 New Members as Bitcoin on Liquid Reaches New Highs 🔗 7 weeks ago

The Liquid Federation has today announced the addition of nine new Bitcoin-focused members, expanding its global reach to a total of 73, in what has proven so far to be a momentous year for the Liquid Network, Bitcoin’s first and most popular sidechain. 

The new members - Alby, Botev Plovdiv, Breez, Changelly, Daedalus Labs, Ditobanx, eNor Securities, Peach Bitcoin and Spirit of Satoshi - are drawn from across a variety of industries, including L2 infrastructure, AI and digital securities. Their onboarding to the Federation is expected to bring innovative new use cases over the coming months, as well as boost the decentralization and security of the entire Liquid Network, as uptake grows throughout the Bitcoin ecosystem and across traditional industries.

“We are delighted to welcome nine new members to the Liquid Federation in what represents yet another sign of the Liquid Network’s pivotal role in shaping a decentralized future built on top of Bitcoin,” said Dr. Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream, the official technology provider to the Liquid Network. “On behalf of the Liquid Federation as a whole, we look forward to the innovative new use cases these new members will bring, as we work together to cement the Liquid Network’s position at the forefront of the burgeoning Bitcoin L2 ecosystem as a complement to Lightning.” 

Bitcoin’s First Sidechain 

Conceptualized in 2014 by Dr. Adam Back, Andrew Poelstra, and other cypherpunks at Blockstream with the first-ever sidechain whitepaper, the Liquid Network has since matured into Bitcoin’s leading sidechain. The network currently secures over $1.6 billion in asset value, which will include more than 5,000 BTC ($290 million) pegged into the network after payout from the BMN1 hashrate-based security token later this week, putting it on par with the Lightning Network and reinforcing its growing reputation as Bitcoin’s financial layer. 

Prominent recent Liquid use cases include Mexican fintech trailblazer Mifiel’sissuance of digitized promissory notes worth an estimated $1.2 billion as of July 2024, aimed at facilitating debt financing between Mexican Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) and global investment banks. Another is Luxembourg-based digital asset marketplace STOKR’s historic launch of the MicroStrategy Note (CMSTR) in May 2024. CMSTR is the first Bitcoin ecosystem-wide issued tokenized security backed by stocks from a Nasdaq-traded company, representing a watershed moment for the future integration of blockchain technology with legacy finance. 

New Federation Member Highlights 

Among the notable new additions to the Liquid Federation is Swiss-based peer-to-peer exchange, Peach Bitcoin. Peach is working to integrate Liquid to support API functionality for buying and selling LBTC and plans to integrate swaps from Lightning to Liquid and vice versa using Boltz. Spirit of Satoshi, another key addition, is using Liquid developer resources as part of its efforts to develop a Bitcoin--centric large language model (LLM) to drive BTC education and adoption. Daedalus Labs meanwhile, a Suriname-based startup dedicated to open protocol development led by Suriname Presidential candidate Maya Parbhoe, recently announced its intention to use Liquid to support its RESIN initiative aimed at addressing the unbanked in the real estate market. 

Full details on all the newest Liquid Federation members can be found in an extended blog post here.

Businesses interested in leveraging Liquid’s benefits, such as faster, more confidential transactions, integrating Lightning with Liquid, or issuing digital assets and tokenized securities, are urged to contact the Liquid Federation via the community Telegram (https://t.me/liquid_community) or on the Build On L2 platform (https://community.liquid.net/home). 

About Liquid: 

The Liquid Network is a Bitcoin sidechain and layer-2 solution that enables faster, more confidential bitcoin transactions and the issuance of digital assets, such as stablecoins, security tokens, and other financial instruments. The network is operated and managed by a globally distributed federation of more than 70 of Bitcoin's leading enterprises. To date, Liquid has amassed more than $1.6 billion in network value and remains foundational to Bitcoin's growth and adoption, particularly in the rapidly developing security token market.