Interlay Expands Mission: polkaBTC becomes interBTC — Bitcoin on any Blockchain
Interlay is expanding product scope and mission, rebranding polkaBTC to interBTC — Bitcoin on any Blockchain. Stay tuned for major announcements over the coming weeks!
Dear Interlay friends and crypto community,
Exciting news! We are changing and expanding! We are bringing trustless Bitcoin to all DeFi platforms.
Our flagship product PolkaBTC is now InterBTC, allowing anyone to invest, earn and pay with BTC on any blockchain.
No centralized services. Radically open and secured by insurance.
We had a new take on our visual identity but more importantly, on the way we communicate our vision, mission and values, the latest products and developments from our tech lab. Most importantly, the way we collaborate with and serve our community and partners.
Interlay is becoming more colourful. Our stories, intricate. Our work, focused on creating financial opportunities for everyone, on any blockchain.
The Beginning: From Paper to Code
Interlay was born just before the disruptive 2020. Two PhDs — Alexei and Dominik, who met in the Imperial College’s cryptocurrency research lab a few years earlier, took on making Bitcoin interoperable. The result — XCLAIM, the first trustless protocol for cross-chain “wrapped” assets.
The academic project passed the scrutiny of various communities and quickly turned into a full-time endeavour.
From the very start Interlay went the DeFi way — via security and decentralization, cryptography and incentives. No “trusted” hardware. No “roadmaps to decentralization”.
Development started on Polkadot — chosen as the most promising multi-chain project that envisioned a truly decentralized bridge to BTC. Interlay built the PolkaBTC parachain, supported by Web3 Foundation grants and in collaboration with Parity Technologies.
The team kept improving PolkaBTC and solving challenges related to capital efficiency and openness, which other wrapped Bitcoin attempts had failed to crack:
- Integration of staking derivatives for capital efficiency,
- Trustless, multi-collateral stake delegation for more decentralization,
- MakerDAO-style multi-collateral balancing for peg stability,
- On-chain ECDSA key derivation for better Vault security…
The result: interBTC Vaults will be earning competitive APY and anyone can become a Vault, anytime.
interBTC: Bitcoin on any Blockchain, Trustless
Interest in our work sparkled across all major blockchains. Our community grew organically. No need for hype. No promotions.
That was when we understood that to realize the true nature of Bitcoin interoperability, we must bring BTC to all DeFi platforms, right from the start.
InterBTC embeds the vision of our brand. It doesn’t discriminate. It is for everyone, everywhere.
For the cypherpunks, the degens, the maxis. For the hodlers, the traders, the yield farmers
Earn, invest and pay with your Bitcoin, however and wherever you want!
Go to bridge.interlay.io to try out interBTC on testnet!
What’s Next?
Still reading! Jump on our new website interlay.io and DYOR!
We’re completing our final audits and preparing everything for launch.
Upcoming, we will be sharing more about our plans for Polkadot and Kusama launch, details on the expansion to other networks, and technical deep dives for brand new product features.
Stay tuned for more information on interBTC:
- Twitter: @interlayHQ and @interBTC
- Discord: https://discord.com/invite/KgCYK3MKSf
- Telegram: https://t.me/interlay_community
- Or join our mailing list
Interlay Expands Mission: polkaBTC becomes interBTC — Bitcoin on any Blockchain was originally published in Interlay on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
