Mining Giant Marathon Launches Bitcoin L:ayer 2 Network Anduro

Author: Martin Young, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Cryptocurrency mining giant Marathon Digital is entering Bitcoin through a newly released multi-chain Layer 2 network called Anduro Coin expansion area.

The company revealed in a February 28 blog post that it has been incubating an expansion platform designed to accelerate the development and adoption of Bitcoin.

Anduro is designed to act as an application layer and encourage innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem by allowing the creation of multiple sidechains.

The company stated that Programmable Layer 2 aims to “systematically integrate decentralized governance with a focus on becoming the most reliable, developer-centric Bitcoin Layer 2.”

While Marathon helped incubate Anduro, it is intended to be community-led and driven, it added.

The mining giant said it is also developing its first two sidechains on Anduro, Cooperative and Alys. Coordination provides the Ordinals community with a cost-effective UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) stack, while Alys is an Ethereum-compatible sidechain for institutional asset tokenization.

Anduro employs a novel system called merged mining, which allows miners like Marathon to earn revenue from Anduro sidechain transactions while continuing to mine Bitcoin.

According to Litepaper, governance is conducted through “a diverse coalition of Bitcoin forward entities known as the Collective.” However, this will be phased out once the untrusted alternative reaches production-ready status.

Anduro network design, source: Marathon Digital

Marathon Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said that the The company has a vested interest in supporting innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem, including projects like Anduro.

“We believe in testing, iterating, and letting the market decide which ideas will succeed,” he added. “Anduro is one of those ideas that provides value to both Bitcoin holders and app developers, while Strengthening Bitcoin’s long-term sustainability.”

Litepaper reports that the company’s next step is to recruit “influential and aligned partners” to invest in the forefront of Bitcoin adoption.

Earlier this month, Marathon launched a new direct Bitcoin transaction submission service called "Slipstream."

After the 2023 Ordinals and BRC-20 hype, the Bitcoin Layer-2 narrative is gaining momentum. As a result, tokens used for projects that scale Bitcoin or offer features like smart contracts have soared in recent weeks as BTC surges to new multi-year highs.