Galaxy and Fireblocks will operate nodes on the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Botanix

According to reports from Hash World Chain News, Galaxy, the digital asset financial services company owned by Mike Novogratz, and the crypto custodian Fireblocks will participate as node operators in the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Botanix. These operators have completed their onboarding preparations and will be operational once the Botanix mainnet goes live later this quarter. Botanix Labs aims to ensure the decentralized nature of the network from the initial phase by forming a node alliance composed of diverse entities. The network plans to transition to a dynamic alliance model in the future, ultimately allowing any global user to run a Botanix node. Other institutions joining the alliance include the blockchain development platform Alchemy, the Bitcoin mining pool Antpool, and the hedge fund UTXO Management. The Botanix testnet Aragog has launched a series of DeFi foundational tools, including the BTC-collateralized stablecoin Palladium, the decentralized exchange Bitzy, and the lending market Spindle. Its protocol Spiderchain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), theoretically allowing Ethereum smart contracts and DeFi applications to run directly on the Bitcoin network.