BlocksInform
Lightning labs, The company behind the lightning array, has announced the release of the alpha version of the taro demon that will allow Bitcoin mint devs, send, and take assets from the blockchain.
Taro, the taproot-powered protocol, was first unveiled by the company in April to issue a large volume of assets that can be transferred to bitcoin instantaneously with low-cost transactions. Unlocking is presented as the first step in the process of "bitcoinisation of the dollar" by permitting the issue of assets, like stablecoins, on bitcoin while at the same time allowing users to deal with these assets on lightning.
New possibilities of lightning.
Lightning Labs revealed that additional enhanced features will be implemented to the Taro daemon, including universe functionality to enable users and asset issuers to offer proofs about asset provenance and supply issuance. Features allowing easy interaction with data from taro assets will also be added.
Upon completion of the functionality on the chain, the company plans to work on integrating the taro protocol into ln, thereby introducing the taro assets into the Tier 2 payment protocol.
The company stated,
“We’re releasing this initial version of the daemon to continue to solicit feedback from the community and build this open source protocol in public. Taking into account the alpha, the devil's unique nature, Developers are encouraged to explore how taro will integrate with their products, understand that it will continue to be revised and enhanced as we move towards dissemination on the main network.”
In the future, Taro plans to activate apps like Strike, Ibex Mercado, Paxful, Breez, and Bitnob to provide their users with access to Bitcoin- and Lightning natively stablecoins. Devs can build balances denominated in USD and BTC (or other assets) in the same portfolios for users interested in sending value through ln.
Lightning Network Trajectory
The Total Value Locked (TVL) in the Lightning Network fell below $100 million following the turbulent price action of Bitcoin. According to the defillama data, the numbers have maintained an upward trajectory since the start of the year, finally peaking in 2022 at over $172 million in April.
However, the stock market crash that followed hampered the dynamics of TVL, resulting in a drop of almost $70 million two months later. Despite the small upturn, TVL was $95.13 million at September 29.
