Lightning Labs co-founder Elizabeth Stark announced in a blog post on the company’s website a new protocol called Taro. Powered by Taproot, it allows stablecoins to be transferred quickly and almost free of charge from the Bitcoin (BTC) network to the Lightning network, a decentralized Layer 2 payment protocol operating on the Bitcoin (BTC) network. It provides a solution to scalability problems.
According to Lightning Labs, transactions will be instantaneous, high-volume and low-cost.
“This announcement marks a big shift to a multi-asset Lightning Network with the ability for currencies around the world to move through bitcoin liquidity on the network. Taro leverages the security and stability of the bitcoin network, as well as the speed, scalability and low cost of the Lightning Network.”
Lightning Labs press release.
At the same time, the company announces its Series B round of financing, which will aim to continue its growth by changing scale. A clear objective, turned towards the development of Lightning and Bitcoin technologies. In total, the financing operation will have allowed Lightning Labs to raise more than 70 million.
Today we’re announcing Taro, a new protocol to issue assets on Bitcoin and Lightning, and our $70M Series B fundraise! 🍠
— Lightning Labs⚡️🍠 (@lightning) April 5, 2022
One small step for bringing bitcoin to billions. 🌍
One giant leap for powering the world’s financial system with #bitcoin. 💱https://t.co/dpzdrwDMTZ
The goal in developing the Taro protocol was twofold (1) to be able to issue stablecoins on the Bitcoin blockchain (2) and to allow users to make transactions on the Lightning global payment network at low cost.
The release explains:
Taro enables bitcoin to serve as a value protocol by allowing application developers to embed assets alongside BTC in applications, both on the blockchain and on Lightning. This extends the reach of the Lightning network as a whole, bringing more users onto the network, which will increase the volume and liquidity of bitcoin, and allowing people to easily transfer fiat for bitcoin in their applications. More volume on the network means more routing fees for node operators, who will enjoy the benefits of a multi-asset Lightning Network without the need to support additional assets.
Lightning Labs press release
To view the technical details, the data is shared on GitHub. Lightning Labs has solicited the developer community to gather feedback on how to improve Taro Bitcoin (BIP).
