🚀 I recently researched the new BTC protocol and found a project that suits my taste: @buildonspark
To be honest, it kind of evokes my long-lost "technical affection" for Bitcoin's scalability:
1⃣ Use an off-chain expansion solution (similar to Ark). I have always believed that this is the right solution for BTC expansion.
2⃣ Focus on the core scenario of "payment", with clear positioning and no gimmicks
3⃣ Almost every sentence in the official statement hits my judgment on the long-term path of BTC, it feels like meeting a soulmate
4⃣ With a strong background and sufficient funds, many BTC OGs and Tether are paying close attention. a16z invested in the parent company and me cooperated with it to go online.
5⃣ The document is extremely professional and neat, and it can be seen that it is driven by serious people.
📌 If you are also looking forward to the future of BTC, you can study Spark.
This might be the project that deserves a serious second look.
Spark is a Bitcoin-native L2 designed for instant, low-cost payments — including to Bitcoin stablecoins. Spark makes Bitcoin useful again, not just valuable. Developers can build self-hosted wallets and applications that scale, interoperate with Lightning, and settle in any currency or coin.
Spark is a return to first principles. It is an approach built on Bitcoin rather than around Bitcoin. An attempt to restore applications to the master protocol: Bitcoin.
First, Spark provides the best Bitcoin-based UX ever. Whether you are a wallet, a game, or a marketplace — you get the easiest, fastest, and cheapest rails in crypto.
Second, Spark unlocks new primitives — such as stablecoins — directly on top of Bitcoin. Not through a wrapper or bridge, but as a native asset that you can move instantly, autonomously, and at scale.
Spark is a Bitcoin-native L2 built for payments and settlements. No bridges. No custodians. Just a lightweight signing protocol that works with digital cash — no matter BTC or stablecoins.
Using Spark, developers can:
Move BTC and Bitcoin-native assets (e.g. stablecoins) instantly and at near-zero cost
Building scalable self-custodial wallets and applications
Natively interoperable with the Lightning Network
What we are launching in Q2
Wallet SDK: Quickly build Bitcoin-powered wallets with stablecoin support
Issuance SDK: Allows issuers to mint and manage assets directly on Bitcoin
2. The first token?
fapk has been minted, currently around 80u off-site, a total of 21,000 pieces, 21 million total
https://fspk.xyz/
LRC-20 is a native Bitcoin token protocol introduced in the summer of 2024. It is built to be primarily compatible with Bitcoin and Lightning, with additional features for issuers.
We played with it, pushed the limits, and then made the call — LRC-20 must run natively on Spark to reach its full potential. But we will not break L1 composability. Backward compatibility is non-negotiable.
TL;DR
LRC-20 has two key components: Bitcoin (L1) as the settlement layer and Spark as the execution engine.
On Bitcoin (L1), LRC-20 works by tweaking Bitcoin addresses that embed token data in regular transactions. Bitcoin nodes process these transactions as usual, but nodes with LRC-20 can extract and verify token moves by observing how these keys are tweaked.
On Spark, LRC-20 doesn’t need to play the same tricks as L1, and we don’t need to adjust keys. Instead, they exist natively as metadata in Spark’s TTXO. When an issuer mints a new token, they submit a transaction that embeds the token’s details — amount, ID, and properties — directly into the specified TTXO. Spark Operators validate these transactions, ensuring that they follow the protocol rules and prove state changes. They then share this data with LRC-20 nodes, which continuously track transactions and keep Spark in sync with L1. LRC-20 tokens on Spark inherit the same L1 guarantees as Bitcoin — you can unilaterally withdraw your assets at any time.