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Bitcoin L2 MAP Protocol Ecosystem Investment Opportunity Analysis

WorldOfMercek
12 min readDec 25, 2023

$BTC belongs to institutions, BRC20 to Individuals

The booming Bitcoin ecosystem has become a definite wealth opportunity. With the imminent approval of Bitcoin ETFs, expectations of a decrease in US interest rates, anticipation of Bitcoin halving, the popularity of Brc20, and the crypto community’s weariness of Ethereum’s VC model, a combination of factors is leading to the booming Bitcoin ecosystem. Institutions predict that the price of Bitcoin in the next bull market could reach $1 million. Thus, there’s no doubt that this bull market is all about the Bitcoin ecosystem.

$BTC belongs to institutions, and $Brc20s belongs to individuals. The high price of $BTC makes it less attractive for individuals and almost exclusively a holding for institutions. However, the fair launch mechanism of brc20, along with its potential for significant wealth, offers individuals a huge opportunity to participate in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Billions of individuals are expected to enter the brc20 market, but Bitcoin L1 is not Turing complete, lacks programmable technology features, and has low TPS, leading to high gas fees of over 200U and congestion lasting up to 24 hours for inscriptions and transfers of BRC20. In contrast, the Bitcoin L2 with extremely low gas fees is surely an absolute investment opportunity and a new source of wealth.

Undervalued Bitcoin L2: A Trillion-Dollar Investment Opportunity, Yet Currently Under 10 Billion

The Bitcoin L2 network can solve all the problems in the Bitcoin L1 ecosystem, from inscriptions to transactions. The investment opportunity in Bitcoin L2 is certain. This conclusion can be drawn from the development of Ethereum L2s.

The total market value of Ethereum L2 at its peak exceeded $200 billion, with its leading project Arbitrum’s market value consistently over $10 billion. However, Ethereum’s market value is only a quarter of Bitcoin’s. As the market heats up and Bitcoin’s price rises, a trillion-dollar new market for Bitcoin L2 is a golden investment opportunity not to be missed.

Currently, the total market value of all Bitcoin layer2 concept projects is undervalued, totaling less than $1 billion. So, what qualifies as a proper Bitcoin layer2 network?

A true second layer network must have the following characteristics

1. The security of the L2 network is ensured by the Bitcoin network.

Otherwise, it is only a parallel network, not a second layer. MAP Protocol, built upon ZK technology, writes the transaction hashes of MAP Protocol into the Bitcoin network. Thus the security of L2 transactions will be ensured by Bitcoin miners.

2.Able to assets from other chains to interact with the Bitcoin network, while still adhering to Satoshi Nakamoto’s peer-to-peer consensus.

MAP Protocol is a Bitcoin layer-2 focusing on cross-chain interoperability. Its ecosystem application butterswap.io is a ZK cross-chain aggregator swap built on MAP Protocol, utilizing MAP Protocol’s leading ZK technology with peer-to-peer cross-chain features, keeping security in line with Nakamoto’s consensus ethos.

3. Has a complete L2 infrastructure.

Such infrastructure includes asset conversion channels between the L1 and L2. Currently, all applications within the Bitcoin second layer MAP Protocol ecosystem, including L2 inscriptions, inscription trading platforms, etc., are live and growing in terms of user base.

LessGas.xyz is an inscription platform deployed on the Bitcoin L2 network, where platform token $LSGS are fairly inscribed on L2 MAP Protocol, and now has one of the top four brc20 holding communities globally with over 14k holders. Satsat.exchange is an inscription order book trading platform, with token $STST fairly inscribed on the Bitcoin L1 network, achieving a daily trading volume of over 1Mn within a week of launch. Hiveswap.io is a liquidity- pool based swap platform.

4. Free transfer of Bitcoin L1 assets with L2

ROUP, based on theBrc201 protocol of MAP Protocol, enables the rolling up of brc20 assets between Bitcoin L1 and Bitcoin L2 MAP Protocol.

Highlights for Investing Bitcoin L2 Network MAP Protocol

As mentioned earlier, in the coming bull market of the Bitcoin network, $BTC belongs to institutions, and brc20 belongs to individuals.

The brc20 craze will only stop for three reasons: 1) the end of the Bitcoin bull market, which is unlikely; 2) the absence of a qualified Layer 2, leading to rising gas fees and network congestion, causing the Bitcoin ecosystem narrative to revert to $BTC itself; 3) other EVM chains taking over the inscription craze, which will happen but is sure to be temporary.

The most urgent matter for the entire industry is having a qualified Bitcoin L2 network. Although many claim to be building Bitcoin L2 infrastructure, most of their launch dates are in 2024. Stacks, despite being a Bitcoin L2 network, focuses on providing L2 financial services for $BTC, i.e., serving institutions only.

In the fast and fierce market competition, MAP Protocol first positioned itself as a Bitcoin L2 serving for the brc20 community and rapidly constructed a complete set of related infrastructure within months, making it the only certain and qualified Bitcoin L2 ecosystem.

Unique Features of Bitcoin L2 MAP Protocol

1. MAP Protocol is a Bitcoin L2 network built with ZK technology.

Its website and technical documentation contain a rich tech stack, developed over four years.

2. The spirit of MAP Protocol’s website is similar to Wikipedia, representing open community collaboration.

Compared to all other infrastructure websites, MAP Protocol’s website, from the scrolling illustrations representing the future on the homepage to the rich content and the accessibility of contributing directly to its website development via GitHub, all demonstrate MAP Protocol’s quality and future.

3. Although assets are on L2, their security is protected by Bitcoin.

The status of Bitcoin L2 MAP Protocol is written into the Bitcoin blockchain to prevent “long-range attacks.” In such cases, when starting a new node, its integrity and security can be verified by checking the data stored on the Bitcoin blockchain.

4. MAP Protocol has an active global community.

Japan and Korea, as well as the French market, are very challenging to enter, yet MAP Protocol has high support in these regions. In language areas where the crypto market is booming, such as English and Chinese, MAP Protocol also has a solid base of popularity.

5. Developed over 4 years, launched at the end of 2023

Compared to many hastily launched Bitcoin L2 networks, MAP Protocol has been in development since 2019 and only officially launched at the end of 2023. With its pursuit of true decentralization and Nakamoto’s peer-to-peer consensus, technical challenges are considerable. It took over four years to complete the development.

6. Mature technology stack

MAP Protocol has a mature technology stack, evident from its whitepaper in various language versions. Developers can easily build their applications.

7. Complete ecosystem infrastructure

The foundational infrastructure for the explosive application of MAP Protocol, the Bitcoin layer-2, is fully ready:

Mainnet Token $MAP has Low Circulation, long team lockup, not just used for gas fee, but being an utility and deflationary Token

1. $MAP and $MAPO

They are the same token, just named differently to differentiate the chains they are on. It’s called MAP on some centralized exchanges and other Turing-complete chains, and MAPO on the MAP Mainnet and some centralized exchanges.

2. Low Circulation, Continuous Burning, Dividend for Holders

$MAP was initially issued at 10 billion tokens. The circulating supply over five years is only 22%, and in the past three days, more than 5% of the circulating supply has been successfully repurchased/destroyed, leaving the actual circulating supply at only 16%.

According to the LessGas economic model of its ecosystem infrastructure,users will need the mainnet token $MAPO to inscribe, and all Mainnet tokens obtained by the LessGas platform will continue to be burned. Moreover, holders of the mainnet token will receive dividends from the income of LessGas.

3. Team Token Lockup from 2019 to 2025, Spanning 7 Years

This is one of the longest lockup periods in the entire crypto industry, fully demonstrating the MAP development team’s commitment and responsibility to the long-term future.

4. Token Market Value and Trading Status

As of December 20, 2023, the total circulating market value of $map is only $90 million. The main trading volume occurs on decentralized trading market Uniswap ($5 million), cross-chain aggregator butterswap.io ($3 million), and top Korean exchange Bithumb ($7 million). Secondary trading volume is on exchanges like Kucoin and Mexc. The daily trading volume is $17 million.

*For details, please visit: https://www.mapprotocol.io/get-map

Bitcoin L2 Network MAP Protocol Ecosystem Projects

The Bitcoin second layer MAP Protocol has the most comprehensive infrastructure system for brc20:

  • Butterswap is a cross-chain swap based on ZK technology, allowing assets from various chains to interact with the Bitcoin ecosystem;
  • ROUP is an asset state interoperability channel between Bitcoin L1 and MAP Protocol L2, handling the exchange of brc20 assets between L1 & L2.
  • Hiveswap is a liquidity pool-based L2 trading platform;
  • LessGas is a fair launch platform for inscriptions based on L2;
  • Satsat.exchange is an order book BRC20 L2 trading platform.

These L2 infrastructures for BRC20 have made the inscription service complete, providing a strong, low-gas, high-tps, programmable financial system for application and community consensus inscriptions.

ROUP: State Channel Between Bitcoin L1 and L2 MAP Protocol

ROUP, short for Rolluper, is a channel between Bitcoin’s first and second layers, based on the brc201 protocol launched by MAP Protocol. ROUP supports the conversion of any brc20 token between L1 and L2. ROUP is now live and has already seen millions of dollars worth of brc20 assets transferred to the Bitcoin L2 MAP Protocol’s brc20 order book trading platform SATSAT.exchange during its trial run.

$Roup is a token fairly inscribed on Bitcoin’s first layer, with all income distributed to the community, and continuously repurchasing and burning Roup tokens, making $ROUP a deflationary token. Notably, part of the income from the L2 trading platform satsat.exchange is also used to repurchase and destroy $ROUP, and a portion of Rolluper’s income is used to repurchase the brc20 version of $mapo, seen as an early community attraction effort. As of December 20, 2023, $ROUP has over 4,000 holders.

According to the agreement, ROUP community developers will receive a certain percentage of the transaction fees to support project development and pay for cloud servers. The project itself has no token presale revenue, making it the first brc20 application infrastructure token to operate in this manner, in line with Satoshi Nakamoto’s spirit. ROUP’s holding community is mainly distributed in France, Korea, Greater China, and other regions.

Butterswap: A cross-chain aggregated Swap that allows assets from other chains to interact with the Bitcoin network, built upon MAP Protocol ZK technology, has not yet issued tokens

Butter has now connected with Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Conflux, Klaytn, NEAR, and other major public chains, and has ample liquidity pools. Butter is not a bridge but a cross-chain aggregator swap, aggregating major swaps on various chains, allowing the exchange of any coin on any chain to interact with inscription assets on the Bitcoin network. Notably, Butter is the only global cross-chain aggregator Swap built on ZK technology, with security and decentralization fully in line with Nakamoto’s consensus.

*Data: As of December 20, 2024, butterswap’s daily transaction volume is about $3 million. The peak trading volume of LessGas platform coin $LSGS on the day of fair inscription reached $50 million.

*Token: butterswap has not yet issued tokens, and the official announcement states that tokens will be issued in a zero-premine manner, with airdrops to addresses that have used butter to be announced before January 5th.

Satsat: Bitcoin L2 Inscription Order Book Platform, Trading Mechanism Similar to OKX

SatSat is innovating BRC20 trading. New trading features including split orders, order placement, etc., will be coming up soon. Based on MAP Protocol’s programmable features, SatSat’s trading functions will be increasingly intelligent, and its nearly zero gas fee feature will further ensure the economic sustainability of BRC20 asset trading on SatSat.

Meanwhile, SatSat is developing related NFT markets for Metaverse applications. $STST, its platform token fairly inscribed on L1, now has 2,400 holders. The SatSat trading platform has chosen $STST as its platform token and will repurchase and destroy $STST with its income. Notably, a portion of SATSAT’s revenue will also be used to repurchase and destroy $ROUP and brc20 $mapo.

*Data: Satsat is in a trial run until December 24, 2023, with an average daily trading volume of around $1 million.

HiveSwap: Liquidity Pool Trading Platform on Bitcoin L2

Hiveswap is a liquidity pool-based trading platform, currently with a TVL of about $2 million. It has not yet issued tokens, but the possibility of issuing tokens in the future is not ruled out. MUBI, by combining liquidity pools on EVM chains with brc20, has created significant wealth opportunities, and Hiveswap is also expected to experience growth, showing great potential.

LessGas: Fair Inscription Platform for brc20 on Bitcoin L2

LessGas is the world’s first Bitcoin L2 fair inscription platform, with its platform token $LSGS, which has utility. $LSGS is the first project deployed fairly on the L2 inscription platform LessGas, and now with 14k token holders, has the fourth largest brc20 holding community globally. LessGas uses $map/mapo tokens as fees and burns $map/$mapo it receives, continuously deflating the MAP Protocol native token ($map/$mapo). After the $LSGS inscription was completed, the received $MAPO worth $6 million, representing over 5% of the circulating supply of MAP Protocol mainnet tokens, was burned.

Unlike other EVM chain based BRC tokens, inscriptions deployed on LessGas have root data on Bitcoin L1, ensuring that inscriptions are stored on L1, but inscription and trading activities will be on L2. For users, the cost of inscription is only 0.5%-10% of the Bitcoin L1 network. This has not only completely solved Bitcoin’s congestion problem but also addressed the issue of high gas fees for users. After completing the inscription, users can choose to trade directly on L2 SatSat or cross back to the first layer through ROUP to trade on okx with extremely high gas fees.

Notably, creators who deploy inscriptions on LessGas can earn royalties. For example, if someone creates an inscription on LessGas, and others inscribe that token on LessGas, the creator can receive 0.7% of the amount of the token inscribed by others.

$LSGS has a wide holder base, over 10k. Its community scale is similar to $sats already surpassing a market value of one billion dollars. It is important to note that in the TOP4 brc20 communities, $LSGS has the widest community, with members distributed in Japan, Korea, France, Spain, Greater China, and other regions. Given that $LSGS has just completed inscription less than a week ago, it is currently in whipsaw. A wide holder base is a strong guarantee for institution participation and continuous market value growth.

*For more information, you can read: https://medium.com/@Less_Gas/why-you-should-get-involved-in-lessgas-1aa2d1d9464c

Other ecosystem projects are not introduced here due to space limitations. Interested parties can conduct research through MAP Protocol’s official channels.

Summary: Don’t Miss Out the Trillion-Dollar Bitcoin L2 Ecosystem Opportunity

$BTC is no longer suitable for individual investors due to its high unit price, making it a battleground for Wall Street institutions. In contrast, BRC20, as a ‘small Bitcoin,’ has a low price and high potential for appreciation, offering unmistakable wealth opportunities.

With the vast number of individuals and the plethora of brc20 assets, the Bitcoin L1 network obviously cannot bear such pressure, and individuals cannot afford the high gas fees of Bitcoin L1. Under these circumstances,the growth of Bitcoin L2 is for certain. Some EVM chains have also started inscriptions, but this bull market belongs to Bitcoin, not inscriptions. Brc20 belongs to the Bitcoin ecosystem, while inscriptions can be made on any chain. The core logic of the industry is Bitcoin, not inscription itself. As mentioned earlier, the approval of Bitcoin ETFs and the anticipation of Bitcoin halving are the engines and fuel of the Bitcoin bull market.

Among all Bitcoin L2s, MAP Protocol surpasses its competitors in terms of technical mechanisms, community, and ecosystem; this is closely related to its four years of preparation and accumulation. In the Ethereum ecosystem, five L2s have a market value of over $10 billion each. In the Bitcoin ecosystem, there will be at least three projects surpassing the highest market value of Ethereum’s L2s.

Ethereum’s market value is only a quarter of Bitcoin’s, but Ethereum’s L2s have created a market value of over $200 billion at its peak. The next stage of the Bitcoin ecosystem will be even larger. Based on the past scale of $200 billion for Ethereum’s L2s, in this bull, Bitcoin L2 ecosystem should have at least a trillion dollars in market value. Currently, it’s under $1 billion, so there is still a 1000-fold growth potential awaiting for individual investors to grasp.

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WorldOfMercek

Written by WorldOfMercek

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