Cryptocurrency
Unlocking Bitcoin’s Potential: Introducing Merlin Chain, a Native L2 Solution
[PRESS RELEASE – NewYork, United States, January 31st, 2024]
This week, the much-anticipated Bitcoin L2 solution Merlin Chain went live on its testnet, while its mainnet is scheduled to be launching within a month as well.
Bitcoin’s Network Congestion Dilemma and Scaling Solutions
The evolution of Ordinals over the past year has brought the attention back to the Bitcoin ecosystem after a long period. While enhancing the excitement of the bitcoin ecosystem, it has also increased the exhaustion of network resources. The increasingly high cost of transactions, coupled with the rising price of Bitcoin itself, has added further congestion to the network and discouraged new users from becoming interested in Bitcoin.
(Bitcoin Daily Average Transaction Fee $: YCharts)
The idea of developing an EVM-compatible L2 network has been recognized as the one that would deliver the results first due to the simpleness of its implementation path.
Merlin Chain is also one of the EVM-compatible L2 chains, being developed by Bitmap Tech (formerly Recursiverse) , the team that built BRC-420 protocols and Bitmap.game, and is highly valued by the community due to the team’s past successes.
BRC-420
The BRC-420 protocol supports the combination/recursion of any file format to form a more complex inscription. Whether it’s a character image, a game script, a virtual machine or an AI model, it can become an asset on Bitcoin.
Its core asset, the Blue Box, has risen from an inscription cost of $0.15 to an ATH floor price of $26,000, and other assets such as Mineral and This Song About NFTs are among the most actively traded assets on the OKX market. It now has 1000+ developers and 600+ collections, and has been an excellent performer even during the bear market, the price only going up and never falling.
Bitmap.Game
Bitmap.Game is a fully on-chain, fully decentralized, fair-launch metaverse project. It is based on the Digital Matter Theory that underlies Bitcoin, and is open-sourced so that it can be run or verified by any client, reflecting the concept of “client agnosticism” in fully onchain games.
During this time, Bitmap’s market capitalization has risen from $3 million to a ATH of $290 million. With more than 30,000 holders, Bitmap has surpassed the Sandbox as the metaverse asset with the highest number of holders across all blockchains.
Unlocking Bitcoin’s Potential Through Innovative Magic
Merlin Chain believes that L2 of Bitcoin should not just be about transferring money inexpensively, or just about being able to have the DApps, but should be about further innovating to unlock the potential of Bitcoin through its native assets, users and protocols.
For example, as Bitmap is a completely decentralized asset, how to make games based on it, so that Bitmap users can enter various meta-universes at a low cost; or for the DeFi protocols based on BRC-420, how to give two-way empowerment to NFT and FT; and for minting inscriptions, how to mint L1 assets on L2 in a more cost-effective and flexible way. Only these “Bitcoin-native” innovations can continue to empower the ecosystem, rather than replicating the way Ethereum works.
So far, Merlin Chain has built a powerful DApp ecosystem, the liquidity concerns have been effectively addressed, and is planning for further expansion.
Leveraging ZK-Rollup for Efficient and Secure Scaling
The diverse ecosystem and assets also imply higher throughput requirements and some safety risks. To solve this problem, Merlin Chain has adopted ZK-Rollup which enables the compression of a large number of transaction proofs into a simple check-sum to improve transaction efficiency and scalability.
The sequencer nodes on Merlin Chain are responsible for collecting and batching transactions, generating compressed transaction data, ZK state roots, and proofs via zkEVM. The compressed transaction data and ZK Proofs are then uploaded via the decentralized Oracle network to the taproot on Bitcoin L1, which is available to the entire network to ensure transparency and security.
The decentralized Oracle network nodes will be required to stake $BTC to prevent improper activities. Users can initiate challenges to the ZK-Rollup based on compressed data, ZK state roots, and ZK Proof. Successful challenges result in a rollback to the last verified state, and the forfeiture of the Oracle node’s locked $BTC, ensuring the system’s security and trustworthiness.
Through the integration of these technologies, Merlin Chain has shown its superior technical capabilities and is on track to build an efficient, secure, and native Bitcoin L2 solution.
Native Integration – Merlin Chain’s Bitcoin-Centric Approach
Compared to other Bitcoin L2s that are making attempts at the moment, one of the key features of Merlin Chain is that it is “Bitcoin Native”.
As a strong believer in Bitcoin for many years, Merlin Chain is extremely committed to the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, and seeks to bring more users and assets to Bitcoin through their work, rather than serving other ecosystems in the name of Bitcoin. As such, Merlin Chain places a high value on the native bitcoin nature of its ecosystem’s projects and users.
Merlin Chain supports bitcoin-native wallets. Empowered by the Particle Network’s account abstraction, users can use their bitcoin wallets to seamlessly switch between L1 and L2 . Users can also experience $BTC swaps with other tokens, such as stablecoins, at any time without having to switch to an EVM wallet.
In addition, Merlin Chain will support most of the major protocols on Bitcoin L1, including, but not limited to, BRC-20, Bitmap, BRC-420, Atomicals, SRC20, and Pipe. All inscriptions on L1 will be automatically whitelisted by Merlin Chain, allowing users to safely and affordably trade on it.
In line with its pursuit of “Bitcoin Native”, Merlin Chain plans to adopt BRC-20 as its governance token. This makes a lot more sense than other Bitcoin L2s that are currently using Ethereum standard tokens as governance tokens. The token will be released through a fair launch, with the exception of a small portion that will be distributed to VCs and the team, which will be given a 48-month release period that will not start within two years, demonstrating the team’s and investors’ confidence in Merlin Chain.
Bridging the Gap – Simplifying Bitcoin Adoption and Fuel Growth
Another tricky issue for the builders in the Bitcoin ecosystem is the lack of new users and new money coming in. While the Ordinals things have continued to be on fire, the number of active address has not seen significant growth. It is just the same group of people involved in different projects. A very fundamental reason for this is the complexity of Bitcoin. As well as the need to download a Bitcoin wallet, inscribing is also not very easy to understand, and users will need to spend at least two blocks of their time inscribing, as well as three blocks of their time for confirmation, which is complicated and time-consuming.
(Daily Active Bitcoin Address: Glassnode)
Merlin Chain will solve this problem. Currently, Merlin Chain has been connected to 40 Ethereum chains, so for those users who are not familiar with Bitcoin, they can use their familiar wallets, such as MetaMask, and their familiar assets, such as stablecoins, $ETH, $BNB, etc. to interact on Merlin Chain. Users don’t need to know the principles behind Bitcoin, or even what BRC-20 and Atomicals are, before they can experience Bitcoin in its native manner in their familiar way.
For this purpose, Merlin Chain is going to integrate the first multi-chain inscription DApp, which will allow users to inscribe assets on other layers, including Bitcoin L1, on Merlin Chain. It will only take one block to wait for. At the same time, a launchpad will also be available on Merlin Chain, with a mechanism that allows every inscription launched on it to be valued at 100,000 FDV, allowing more users to easily purchase assets such as the BRC-20/ BRC-420/ Atomicals/ Runes at a very low price. Additionally, as part of its commitment to decentralization, Merlin Chain is going to release most of its governance tokens to the community.
Users can stay tuned for the upcoming mainnet launch – the future of Bitcoin is about to unfold with Merlin Chain at the helm.
About Merlin Chain
Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin Layer2 that integrates ZK-Rollup network, decentralized oracle network, and on-chain BTC fraud proof modules. Merlin Chain is committed to empowering Bitcoin’s native assets, protocols, and products on Layer1 through its Layer2 network, to Make Bitcoin Fun Again. Merlin Chainis a subsidiary product line of Bitmap Tech, a premier OG team boasting an overall market cap exceeding $500 million. The BRC-420 “Blue Box” collection under Bitmap Tech has become one of the hottest assets on Ordinals.
Users can start following Merlin Chain’s Twitter for more updates.
Contact
Jeff
Merlin Chain
bitmap@bitmap.tech
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In an effort to curb the misuse of cryptocurrency ATMs, Australian authorities have identified 90 individuals, many of them scam victims or unwitting money mules, following a months-long investigation led by AUSTRAC’s cryptocurrency taskforce.
The operation was conducted in collaboration with federal and state law enforcement agencies and marks a significant step in understanding how crypto ATMs are being co-opted to facilitate fraud and the laundering of illicit funds.
Widow Scammed Out of $281K in Crypto ATM Scam
According to the official press release, the investigation targeted users with unusually high volumes of transactions, drawing from ATM data across all Australian states. Analysts found that many of the top users were not orchestrating criminal schemes, but rather had been manipulated into them.
In a particularly distressing case, a woman in her 70s lost over $281,000 after falling prey to romance and investment scams, and repeatedly deposited cash into crypto ATMs under false promises. Another victim, also a woman in her 70s, was conned out of more than $130,000 after engaging with what she believed was a legitimate investment platform.
AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said the findings were more alarming than expected. He added:
“It’s hard to hear these stories, but now we have a better picture of the harms being perpetrated through crypto ATMs, we are better placed to take action, including working with the industry to harden the sector against criminal misuse.”
In response, AUSTRAC recently introduced minimum operational standards for crypto ATM providers. This includes a $5,000 limit on cash transactions, mandatory scam alerts, and improved customer verification and transaction monitoring protocols. These regulatory changes aim to tackle the exploitation of the machines by fraudsters and reduce opportunities for laundering proceeds from criminal activity.
The operation was coordinated by NSW Police and supported by the Australia-New Zealand Crypto Practitioners Working Group (ANZCPWG). Meanwhile, the Australian Federal Police’s cybercrime coordination unit (JPC3) is also launching a national awareness campaign to educate the public about the risks of using crypto ATMs under coercion or misleading advice.
Older Australians Most Affected by Crypto Scams
Crypto scams in Australia have been increasing at a disturbing rate. More precisely, crypto ATMs, which are now more than 1,600 nationwide, are increasingly being misused by fraudsters who target vulnerable citizens.
Over $3 million was lost to cryptocurrency ATM scams in the country between January 2024 and January 2025. Experts are warning that the real figure could be far higher. According to a report cited by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), 150 scam cases were reported, mostly involving investment fraud, extortion, and romance scams, with victims losing over $20,000 on average. Nearly half of those affected were aged over 51.
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TL;DR
- The meme coin mania seems to have faded despite a few brief moments of hope, and the niche’s leader has failed to recapture its momentum and investors’ attention.
- However, there’s a chance for a massive double-digit surge, but only under certain conditions, according to popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez.
If Dogecoin $DOGE can reclaim $0.17 — and with the TD Sequential buy signal now present on the 3-day chart — it could unlock a rebound toward $0.21. pic.twitter.com/BkVgxNdihW
— Ali (@ali_charts) June 28, 2025
To embark on its 30% journey north, the largest meme coin by market cap first needs to reclaim the $0.17 resistance. This doesn’t sound like such a major hurdle, given its current price tag of $0.164.
The second part of the equation involves the TD Sequential, which is a metric often used to determine the underlying asset’s market exhaustion in either direction.
The indicator has presented a buy signal on DOGE’s 3-Day chart. Consequently, Martinez concluded that both of these factors could result in a price pump to $0.21.
This would be a breath of fresh air for Dogecoin, which has struggled quite a lot since early 2025. In the past month alone, its price has tumbled by over 21%.
Despite this rather unfavorable market movement lately, some industry participants have remained highly bullish on DOGE’s future price trajectory. JAVON MARKS, known for his bullish statements on several crypto assets, believes the OG meme coin still has a chance to post a mind-blowing surge that can take it to the stratosphere, based on historic performance.
All we’re saying is that if $DOGE continues to follow its trend as it did consecutively in the past two cycles with its runs growing in size, then we are looking at Dogecoin’s prices doing a more than 120X from here into the $20 levels.
Take a look… pic.twitter.com/OkxGfzUeBp
— JAVON⚡️MARKS (@JavonTM1) June 26, 2025
Such a price tag sounds just a bit far-fetched at the moment. History is no indication for future price movements, and $20 per DOGE would mean a whopping market cap of roughly $3 trillion, which would make it a lot bigger than BTC.
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Ripple has just announced that it will drop its cross-appeal against the SEC, signaling the end of a years-long legal siege.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse declared: “We’re closing this chapter once and for all.” With the SEC expected to reciprocate, XRP surged by 5% at one point to $2.2.
But beneath the modest green candle lies a tidal wave of speculation. The question everyone’s whispering, tweeting, and meme-posting about: Could XRP really hit $10,000?
The $10K Obsession
There have been more modest predictions, such as those of social media personality Jake Gagain, who recently calculated that a 50x surge, as touted by Carl Moon, would catapult XRP to $106.50.
Influencers like Lucy Bear have called such projections “conservative,” with Casi Trades boldly stating:
“If you think XRP can’t reach double digits, you don’t understand crypto!”
What about the $10,000 promised land? If the XRP Army is to be believed, this number isn’t plucked from some random crypto casino. Apparently, it traces back to elusive Ripple co-founder and XRPL architect Arthur Britto, who is said to have envisioned a future where XRP would serve as the global liquidity backbone for all payments.
According to enthusiasts, Britto believed that for XRP to fulfil its destiny, it would need to hit a staggering $10,000 per token. And while many have scoffed at such moonshot valuations, diehards seem to be doubling down.
In a recent episode of The Rollup podcast, former NEAR engineer Altan Tutar described the XRP fraternity’s $10,000 conviction as almost religious, saying, “I’ve never seen anything like this in any other community.”
While not directly adding his name to the believers’ list, Tutar acknowledged the rationale behind the conviction, comparing XRP’s potential rise to Bitcoin’s own journey to an all-time high price of $111,814.
“If Bitcoin went to $100K, then why not XRP to $10,000?” he asked.
But Here’s the Reality Check
A $10,000 XRP price implies a market cap of $590 trillion, dwarfing the entire global economy. Even Gagain’s $106 price means a $6.28 trillion valuation, more than double Bitcoin’s peak market cap.
It’s probably why Rollup host Andy bluntly dismissed $10,000 as pure fantasy, stating, “XRP is not going to $10,000… $10 is already a stretch.”
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