The Layer 2 BOB network launched its test network ahead of the mainnet launch in Q4 of this year.
BOB, describing itself as a hybrid layer 2, aims to combine the security and reserves of Bitcoin with the programmability of Ethereum, utilizing the BitVM computing paradigm to create a center for decentralized finance (DeFi).
BitVM was introduced in late 2023 by Robin Linus as a way to enable rollups on Bitcoin, thus allowing faster and cheaper transactions without compromising the security of the network.
The BOB bridge uses BitVM to facilitate the transfer of BTC to a rollup and later bring it back so that it can be withdrawn.
A key element of BOB's philosophy is that it will use real BTC, not a wrapped version of the asset, as fuel for DeFi services. Some projects use a form of wrapped bitcoin to bring BTC value into their ecosystem for use in DeFi applications, such as Stacks with its sBTC token.
"Just as ETH remains 'ETH' on Ethereum rollups like Optimism and Arbitrum, BTC on BOB remains native and simply referred to as 'BTC'," said BOB in an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Wednesday.
Rollups like Arbitrum batch transactions that are then settled on Ethereum cheaply, using fraud proofs to ensure their correctness. BOB claims to do something similar on Bitcoin.
Co-founder Alexei Zamyatin described it as a "clear distinction" between their offering and wrapped versions of BTC, in a message on Telegram to CoinDesk.
The test network debuts with support from several major cryptocurrency firms that will operate nodes on the BitVM bridge, such as P2P.org staking developers and Lombard, the DeFi platform Solv Protocol, venture capital investors RockawayX, and digital asset managers Amber Group.
