Yesterday, @MerlinLayer2 boss @BitmapTech participated in @OrdRevolution's Merlin Monday live stream, updating a lot about Merlin, including wallet upgrades, MERL as GAS, a million-dollar joint wallet campaign, and information on TG mini-programs. It looks like there will be many updates and events in November, which I summarize and share with everyone here.
One, Bitcoin has pulled back today; do you think it will continue to fall?
(Strong believers) As long as we know Bitcoin will eventually rise to $100,000 or $200,000, any fluctuations in the meantime do not matter.
Two, what are the latest developments in MerlinChain and its ecosystem?
1. Upgrade the AA wallet and launch MERL as GAS functionality. We are upgrading the AA wallet, which is the Particle wallet. After the upgrade, users using the Particle wallet (for example, logging in through X, UniSat, or OKX wallet) will be able to use MERL tokens to pay Gas fees. This will greatly facilitate user transactions, as we are about to launch a series of major events during which the trading volume is expected to be very large. Currently, bridging Bitcoin to the second-layer network takes about an hour; some users may miss some information. After the upgrade, users only need to hold MERL tokens in their wallets or purchase and transfer them from exchanges (like BYBIT, OKX) to their wallets (usually taking just a minute or two, no more than five minutes) to start trading, exchanging, mining, and any other operations. This will lower the user entry barrier and, of course, give the MERL token utility. Although we haven't officially announced it yet, users seem to have noticed this upgrade and released related information. Additionally, we will launch a series of activities regarding the concept of MERL Gas. The first event we planned is related to many of our DApps, which are now launching Telegram mini-programs.
2. Jointly offer generous rewards with mainstream wallets to acquire new users. We are also collaborating with some mainstream wallets to carry out a campaign. Our goal is to gain at least millions of users, ideally at least 10 million users. We have prepared millions of dollars in rewards, such as Bitcoin, stablecoins, and MERL tokens, to incentivize external users to understand Bitcoin and bring Bitcoin and its assets to 1 billion users, which is our ultimate goal. I'm not saying we can achieve 1 billion today, but that's our ultimate goal. We are doing a lot of work for this, and we've been talking about Telegram DApp; now the community can see progress in this area.
Three, Telegram mini-programs and user guidance.
There will be many different kinds of mini-programs, but if you're on Telegram, you can basically do anything: use AI tools, use bots to trade or create, play various new social games, and conduct token exchanges. We hope that daily users can more easily conduct on-chain transactions because currently, if you want to trade, you have to operate on a computer and install a wallet, which is quite difficult for everyday users. Therefore, various practical mini-programs will emerge.
Four, thoughts on using Telegram to guide Web2 users.
Regarding Telegram and Web3, I believe developers are using three different models or strategies.
The first approach is purely aimed at Web3 users, who understand everything on-chain, including meme coins, etc. They use Telegram bots for the convenience of Web3 users because even Web3 users cannot be in front of the computer 24/7.
The second approach is to create something unrelated to current Web3 users. For example, I issue a meme coin, and the value of this meme coin depends on how much time you spend online singing karaoke with everyone every day. The share of tokens you receive depends on your time spent there. Millions of users participate, creating memes and earning tokens. The tokens go live on exchanges. This is a brand new asset that doesn't require any existing Web3 users; they just do it.
The third way, I believe many people are doing now, which I call integration. They introduce the concept of Web3, such as meme coins, Launchpad, NFTs, etc., and bring in both types of users. There are some core users in the community who do marketing, brand promotion, asset splitting, incentives, and airdrops to attract more users to take interest in this kind of token. Like the case of Ozzar, suppose you issue a runes token, you allocate 20% of the total circulation to 5 million users who are learning about runes for the first time, bringing various voices from around the world to your community, while the remaining 80% of the tokens are allocated to core Bitcoin users. I call this integration. I believe all these strategies may work, but it's still hard to say; let's wait and see.
Five, how do you view the future development of Telegram? Do you think it will become a second-layer network for Bitcoin or interoperate with other first-layer networks? How will it leverage its users and infrastructure?
Many people have some thoughts about what's happening on Telegram, but they are not comprehensive. I don't plan to reveal too many details right now. Telegram mini-programs do not belong to anyone, nor do they belong to Telegram or the TON network. It is a website they call a mini-program, but it is like HTML. So, you can build this HTML on various applications. I know some people have millions of users on Telegram, and they are also doing this on TikTok and other platforms. So it's a website; you are not building on Telegram but using Telegram's API to do different things. What kind of API are you using? First, you are of course using their social graph. So, when you complete some tasks and share them with your three friends, you earn 100 points. This makes it easier. Moreover, the API is open-source, so you can actually build your native application on the App Store and Google Play while using Telegram's API. I think this is a great thing because they have a huge social network, and they've open-sourced everything to developers. So if you build something on Telegram on the first day, the next day you can build on a native app or on TikTok; you can build anywhere. I think the only difficult part is how to provide users with deposit and withdrawal channels in fiat money. So if your users have credit cards, the good news is that there are thousands of different companies providing deposit and withdrawal services and are regulated institutions. You can use Apple Pay or credit cards. Therefore, I believe everything is just beginning, but whether you are building on Bitcoin, Merlin, Solana, or Ethereum, you should pay attention to this, just like smartphones. When you had a smartphone in 2010, everyone should build apps on it, regardless of what products you currently have, you must enter this new ecosystem.
Six, the future of MerlinChain.
I believe November's Merlin Monday will be even more exciting because many different things are happening simultaneously now, and I feel today is quite different. I find myself short on time, just like in February. So I've activated my 'battle mode,' full of passion, drinking a lot of energy drinks. Therefore, I think the next month or two will be very different and very exciting. I just replied to a user on Twitter who said Jeff has been gone for a long time and hasn't done anything. I said, dude, I'm live right now. If you watch the live stream, you'll understand how much work we've been doing. Honestly, I don't think many chains have updates every week. So I found my 'battle mode,' and I think we are entering combat mode because everything is very urgent, with a lot to build, to ensure everything goes smoothly, and to make sure nothing bad happens. So there are a lot of preparations needed. But I believe next month will be very different.
