There is a new development in the crypto space – Babylon Chain. A groundbreaking project built on the Cosmos SDK enables the unthinkable: Bitcoin staking. This isn’t just a game-changer but a paradigm shift allowing you to transform your BTC from a passive asset into a dynamic tool for earning rewards.
Read on to explore the crypto revolution and discover the roadmap to a future dominated by DeFi and secure PoS. Find out how Babylon Chain stakes its claim on the future, showing you how to earn, secure, and dominate in the new crypto era.
What Is Babylon?
Babylon is a Layer-1 blockchain founded by Professor David Tse from Stanford University in 2022. The project aims to bring the unparalleled security of Bitcoin to all PoS blockchains without any extra energy costs. The team comprises Stanford researchers, experienced developers, and seasoned business advisors.
The project is led by a team of consensus protocol researchers from Stanford and experienced Layer-1 engineers from around the world. Babylon’s mission is to scale Bitcoin to secure the decentralized world.
For this, Babylon uses Bitcoin’s three primary facets: Bitcoin as an asset, its reliable timestamping service, and its most censorship-resistant blockspace in the world. To leverage these facets, Babylon is developing three innovative security-sharing protocols:
-
Bitcoin Staking Protocol
-
Bitcoin Timestamping Protocol
-
Bitcoin Data Availability Protocol
Overview of Babylon Chain’s Core Proposition
Through innovative checkpoint anchoring, Babylon Chain combines Bitcoin’s strong security with the dynamic validation of PoS networks. This creates a new synergy between the two ecosystems, resulting in innovative solutions for both.
-
BTC staking: Babylon Chain allows users to participate in staking by anchoring checkpoints from PoS networks onto the Bitcoin network.
-
Dual-layer security: By anchoring PoS checkpoints onto the Bitcoin network, Babylon Chain creates a security synergy enhancing Bitcoin’s censorship resistance.
-
Interoperability and ecosystem expansion: Babylon Chain bridges Bitcoin to PoS ecosystems for cross-chain transactions, enabling yield from DeFi lending and security staking.
Why Does This Matter?
From enhancing PoS security to fueling DeFi innovation, Babylon Chain’s Bitcoin Staking Protocol impacts Bitcoin holders, PoS networks, and the DeFi community.
-
For Bitcoin holders, this is an opportunity to generate passive income and support the PoS ecosystem without having to sell their Bitcoin.
-
For PoS networks, this presents a chance to enhance security and attract more validators by leveraging Bitcoin’s trusted infrastructure.
-
For the DeFi community, various emerging applications, such as cross-chain lending and yield farming, are combining the strengths of PoS and Bitcoin ecosystems.
The Everstake team believes that Babylon is a groundbreaking project that is pushing boundaries. Babylon’s PoS chain acts as a central hub of the Bitcoin network, enabling other PoS chains to access the innovative Bitcoin Staking Protocol.
Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol
Babylon is leading the way in innovation by developing a pioneering Bitcoin Staking Protocol that promises to take the world by storm!
This protocol will unlock the $600B capital of Bitcoin to strengthen PoS chains and DApps.
It will create a two-sided market where Bitcoin holders can stake their Bitcoins to secure PoS chains and DApps and earn staking yields. At the same time, PoS chains and DApps can choose Bitcoin-backed economic security, resulting in more capital-efficient tokenomics and higher adoptions.
The BTC staking protocol is remarkable as it achieves complete reliability without bridging, pegging, or transferring the Bitcoins to a third-party custodian. Moreover, it functions seamlessly with the existing Bitcoin network and doesn’t require any soft or hard forks.
During an interview with Cointelegraph, Babylon’s co-founder David Tse shed light on the method Babylon employs to make this possible. Essentially, advanced cryptography is used to translate the slashing conditions of a PoS chain into a spendable Bitcoin transaction. This process enables direct interaction between staked Bitcoin and the PoS chain, eliminating the need for a bridge.
A Bitcoin staking protocol, when used with a consumer PoS chain, has three significant security properties:
-
Fully slashable PoS security. In case of a safety violation, 1/3 Bitcoin stake gets slashed, but as long as 2/3 of the stake follows the PoS protocol honestly, the chain remains live.
-
Staker security. Bitcoin stakers can withdraw their funds or unbond by following the PoS protocol.
-
Staker liquidity. Babylon Chain supports BTC stake unbonding, which is guaranteed to be secure and fast without the need for social consensus.
Babylon’s Milestones
In July of 2023, the Babylon team attended several events where they shared information about their current project.
Babylon’s co-founder David Tse spoke on a panel with EigenLayer’s founder Sreeram Kannan about the future of shared security at an event hosted by SCB 10X.
During the discussion, they brought up the concept of shared security, where multiple applications rely on a decentralized trust pool. They also talked about borrowing security from one blockchain to another. EigenLayer, for instance, does this by using Ethereum’s shared security model, while Babylon taps into Bitcoin’s security.
Also, Babylon’s co-founders David Tse and Fisher Yu spoke on Axelar Network’s Tech Talks about the urgent need to strengthen blockchain security.
Babylon’s Chief Engineer, Vitalis Salis, spoke at the recent Gateway to Cosmos 2023 conference on the topic of ‘Securing Blockchains’. During the conference, he discussed the current security landscape in Cosmos, recent hacking incidents and governance challenges.
Babylon plans to scale Bitcoin and create a more decentralized and open financial system by using its infrastructure.
Bitcoin Timestamping
Babylon plans to expand beyond Cosmos, integrating its crypto-security blockchain with Proof-of-Stake chains using Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work security.
Babylon uses a Bitcoin timestamping protocol to communicate with Bitcoin. This means that it interacts with the Bitcoin chain by sending events onto it.
In the original Bitcoin white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto mentioned their intention to create a timestamping server using Bitcoin.
“In his case, he was interested in timestamping Bitcoin transactions,” Tse said. “It turns out that you can also put arbitrary data onto the Bitcoin chain, so this allows you to timestamp not only Bitcoin transactions but also events happening outside of the Bitcoin chain.”
Babylon uses this knowledge to timestamp events happening on different Proof-of-Stake chains.
How Does It Contribute to Blockchain Security?
Using Bitcoin timestamps, Babylon brings in a second-level committee to verify transactions.
For smaller transactions of $1000 or less, the Proof-of-Stake committee is enough as they approve transactions quickly. However, transactions that have a high value or affect the security of the Proof-of-Stake chain require extra protection from Bitcoin.
For example, in unbinding transactions, the security of validators will be affected by the transaction itself. Although Bitcoin is slower, it provides a higher level of security.
Babylon is currently integrated with 16 app chains on testnets worth $1.4 billion, secured by Bitcoin’s $600 billion.
The Takeaway
Soon, you’ll be able to earn passive income by staking your Bitcoin directly while contributing to the security of PoS networks. This will become available thanks to Babylon Chain’s innovative checkpoint anchoring, which is a secure bridge between two previously siloed ecosystems.
Stake with Everstake | Follow us on X | Connect with us on Discord
