Bitlayer has kicked off a major push to bring next-gen dApps to Bitcoin with the “Ready Player One” developer program, seeded with $5 million and offering prizes up to $1 million for standout projects. It’s a global call for builders — from DeFi architects to GameFi studios — to develop on Bitcoin and unlock new use cases.
The program runs in three stages:
• Phase 1 — Idea Incubation: Submit a whitepaper to qualify for $10K–$50K in seed funding to build a prototype.
• Phase 2 — Ecosystem Co-building: After technical review, teams can receive $100K–$300K plus access to Bitlayer’s developer toolkit (prebuilt contract templates, cross-chain APIs) to accelerate development.
• Phase 3 — Commercial Landing: Teams that hit 10,000 active users within six months are eligible for up to $1M in liquidity incentives to scale product-market fit.
Bitlayer also delivers strong technical freedom: a dual virtual machine (EVM + Rust) for easy porting from chains like Ethereum or Solana, direct Bitcoin script calls for native functionality, and much lower gas costs—reported at roughly 1/20th of Ethereum’s gas for comparable transactions. Real-world examples, such as Vanilla Finance building on BitVM, showcase the practical benefits.
Early traction is strong: 200+ teams have applied worldwide, with ~30% coming from financial institutions an encouraging sign that established players are interested in building on Bitcoin. In short, “Ready Player One” pairs substantial capital with developer-friendly tooling to turn Bitcoin into a platform for mainstream, production-grade innovation.
