Lightning Labs Rolls Out ‘Taproot Assets,’ to Make Bitcoin ‘Multi-Asset’ Network

Bitcoin layer-2 infrastructure developer Lightning Labs has released its Taproot Assets protocol on the main network, enabling the issuance of stablecoins and other assets on Bitcoin and Lightning.

Taproot Assets will give developers “the tools needed to make Bitcoin a multi-asset network, but in a scalable manner that upholds Bitcoin’s core values,” Ryan Gentry, director of development at Lightning Labs, wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

“The release marks the dawn of a new era for Bitcoin,” Gentry added.

Lightning Labs’ aim is to see foreign exchange transactions settled over the Lightning network. The firm claims that the ability to add stablecoins to their applications is one of the major requests they get from developers.

The challenge for Taproot Assets will lie in meeting this demand, while avoiding congestion on the Bitcoin network of the like caused by minting BRC-20 tokens via the Ordinals protocol earlier this year.