Landslide x Babylon: Bitcoin on Avalanche
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Landslide x Babylon: Bitcoin on Avalanche
Bringing Bitcoin Staking to Users
Landslide is excited to announce our next strategic alliance with Babylon. This collaboration will enable users to earn $SLIDE while staking Bitcoin through the Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol. For the first time, Landslide will link the Avalanche, Bitcoin, and Cosmos ecosystems by utilizing the connection between IBC and Avalance Warp Messaging (AWM). Thanks to the enablement of cross-chain communication, asset transfers, interoperability, and enhanced liquidity, users will benefit from features such as Avalanche's sub-second finality and Cosmos' cross-chain capabilities, all while creating a more unified and efficient blockchain environment.
This integration allows for Bitcoin staking and restaking to be used to secure Avalanche L1s and for greater interoperability between Avalanche, Bitcoin, and Cosmos. Different protocols will be able to issue liquid staking tokens to represent this staked Bitcoin to be used in DeFi applications.
Key Features of the Landslide x Babylon Integration
Babylon Overview
The Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol is a novel approach that allows Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC to secure Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains and earn staking rewards, without the need for third-party custody, bridges, or wrapping. Key features of the protocol include:
- Trustless staking: Bitcoin holders can lock their BTC in a self-custodial vault on the Bitcoin blockchain. No bridging to other chains or trusting third parties is required.
- Fully slashable PoS security: If a staker behaves maliciously, such as participating in double-spending attacks on the PoS chain, their staked BTC is guaranteed to be slashed using extractable one-time signatures (EOTS). This exposes the staker's secret key, allowing anyone to submit a slashing transaction and burn the staked BTC.
- Fast unbonding and liquidity: Stakers can unbond their BTC by either waiting for the timelock to expire or submitting an unbonding transaction. This provides stakers flexibility and liquidity compared to many other PoS staking models.
- Modular design: The protocol is designed as a plug-in that is compatible with various PoS consensus algorithms, making it adaptable to different PoS blockchains like Landslide and Avalanche.
- Scalable restaking: Stakers can stake their BTC once and potentially earn yields from multiple PoS chains.
The protocol aims to use idle Bitcoins, enhancing the security of PoS chains while providing Bitcoin holders with a way to trustlessly earn staking rewards denominated in altcoins.
Babylon leverages Bitcoin's robust security model to bolster the economic security of smaller PoS networks.
Enhanced Security on Landslide
Landslide can leverage the robust security of Bitcoin through Babylon's Bitcoin staking protocol. By having Bitcoin stakers secure the Landslide blockchain, Landslide can further enhance the overall security and economic stability of its network. Bitcoin's proven security model and large market capitalization provide a strong foundation for securing PoS chains like Landslide.
To ensure Proof-of-Staking security, the Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol uses preventative safeguards to protect users' assets from possible threats and vulnerabilities.
Bridge-Free Staking
Babylon's protocol enables Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC for Landslide without the need for bridging or wrapping their assets. This bridge-free staking mechanism eliminates the risks associated with cross-chain bridges, such as potential vulnerabilities or loss of funds. Users can stake their Bitcoin directly from their wallets, maintaining full custody and control over their assets. This revolutionary process eliminates the common risks associated with typical transfers while maintaining the security and integrity of users’ staked assets.
Secure Stake Unbonding
Babylon Bitcoin Timestamping Protocol supports users’ flexibility for unbonding staked Bitcoin when they want, maximizing liquidity and providing more control over their assets. Stakers can unbond their BTC by either waiting for the timelock to expire or submitting an unbonding transaction. This flexibility provides stakers with liquidity compared to other staking models
Earn SLIDE While Staking Bitcoin
By integrating with Babylon, Landslide Network allows Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC and earn $SLIDE, the native token of Landslide, as staking rewards. This opens up a new yield-generating opportunity for Bitcoin holders without the need to sell or trade their BTC.
Expanding the AVAX and Cosmos Communities
The integration of Landslide Network with Babylon brings together the Avalanche and Cosmos communities. Landslide can attract AVAX users and developers to participate in staking and building on the network. Additionally, since both Landslide and Babylon are built using the Cosmos SDK, they can tap into the broader Cosmos ecosystem. This collaboration fosters cross-pollination of ideas, users, and liquidity between the AVAX and Cosmos communities.
Appetite for Bitcoin on Avalanche
The appetite for Bitcoin on Avalanche has been rapidly growing, demonstrating the increasing demand for cross-chain interoperability and the expansion of Bitcoin's utility beyond its native blockchain. As of July 16, 2024, BTC.b, the bridged Bitcoin token on Avalanche using LayerZero, boasts a market capitalization of $253,705,548. This substantial figure underscores the strong interest from users and investors in accessing Bitcoin's value within the high-performance Avalanche ecosystem.
To put this in perspective, let's compare it to the Bitcoin Lightning Network, a layer-2 scaling solution built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain designed to enable faster and cheaper transactions. As of July 16, 2024, the Lightning Network currently holds Bitcoin with a total market capitalization of $328,852,090. The fact that BTC.b on Avalanche has reached over 77% of the Lightning Network's market cap in a relatively short time speaks volumes about the growing appetite for Bitcoin in diverse blockchain environments. This trend suggests that users are increasingly seeking ways to utilize their Bitcoin across different platforms, taking advantage of the unique benefits offered by networks like Avalanche, including its high speed and low transaction costs.
Total Cost to Attack Bitcoin
The security of Bitcoin's network is paramount to its success, and recent research published by **Lucas Nuzzi, Kyle Waters,** and Matias Andrade, has quantified just how secure it truly is. A comprehensive study on the cost to attack Bitcoin revealed that mounting a successful 51% attack would be prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging.
The Total Cost to Attack (TCA) Bitcoin, which includes both the capital expenditure for acquiring the necessary hardware and the operational costs like electricity, is estimated to range from $20 billion to over $40 billion for just a one-hour attack. This astronomical figure takes into account various scenarios, including purchasing existing ASICs or manufacturing new ones.
Such a high cost of attack not only demonstrates Bitcoin's robust security but also highlights the potential value that can be unlocked by integrating Bitcoin's security model with other blockchain ecosystems. The Landslide x Babylon integration capitalizes on this strength by enabling Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC to secure Proof-of-Stake chains like Landslide, effectively extending Bitcoin's security to new networks without compromising the integrity of Bitcoin itself.
This integration allows us to leverage Bitcoin's unparalleled security in innovative ways, creating new opportunities for cross-chain interactions and enhanced blockchain security across multiple ecosystems.
Mark Your Calendar and Join the Landslide Community
The strategic alliance between Landslide and Babylon is scheduled to launch in Q3. Be among the first to know when the Landslide testnet launches by signing up now.
While you wait for our testnet to go live, you’re invited to join our active Discord community to stay informed of important announcements and new parternships, as well as engage in lively discussions about the latest developments in the Landslide ecosystem.
About Landslide
Landslide is the Avalanche-powered Interchain Hub connecting all blockchains to IBC, expanding user bases and unlocking cross-chain potential. It ushers in a new era of cross-chain DeFi operations enabled over IBC, scalability, and streamlined user experience by enabling any CosmWasm-based dApp to run natively on the Avalanche network. Through Landslide, we're fostering a more interconnected, robust blockchain ecosystem, enhancing liquidity, diversifying applications and assets, and attracting a broader user base to blockchain.
About Babylon
Babylon is a project that designs Bitcoin security-sharing protocols with a vision of building a Bitcoin-secured decentralized world. Its latest development is the world’s first trustless and self-custodial Bitcoin staking protocol, which enables Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) systems such as PoS chains, L2s, Data Availability (DA) layers, etc, enabling them to earn yield without the need for third-party custody, bridge solutions, or wrapping services. Babylon's approach combines the high security and wide adoption of Bitcoin with the efficiency and scalability of PoS systems, increasing Bitcoin's utility. Babylon was founded in 2022 by Stanford Professor David Tse and Dr. Fisher Yu. Professor Tse is a member of the U.S. Academy of Engineering and is renowned as the inventor of the legendary proportional-fair scheduling algorithm for wireless communications. Babylon is led by a team of consensus protocol researchers and experienced layer 1 engineers from around the world.
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