Bitcoin, the first functioning blockchain that popularized the underlying technology, was designed to be a “pure peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” that “allows online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.” So far, Bitcoin has shown to be remarkably robust, and with the advent of the Lightning Network, it is also beginning to grow in order to become feasible for micro-transactions. However, payments are just the beginning, and there are many more trade-fi verticals to be conquered in the future. Smart contracts, notably on Ethereum, have opened up a whole new world of decentralized finance, enabling crypto users to access various financial service verticals directly on-chain, in a permissionless and trustless manner, the same way Bitcoin payments are processed. Despite the fact that other chains may have gained the lead in DeFi development, the Bitcoin community has not rested on its laurels and has continued to push forward with the implementation of DeFi dApps on the blockchain. We dug deep into this emerging ecosystem, and here are some significant findings that not many might be aware of. Bitcoin dApps are being implemented on the second layer Peer-to-peer payments have been the sole focus of the Bitcoin network since its creation. During the first stages of Bitcoin’s development, the focus was on making the network more secure, reliable, and scalable. T...
