Bitcoin's First Major L2 Since Lightning Launches After Two Years of Development

LUGANO, Switzerland, Oct. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Arkade Brings Ark Protocol to Mainnet and Announces Native Asset Framework, Marking a Pivotal Moment in Bitcoin's Evolution as Programmable Money.

Ark Labs today launched Arkade to public beta, introducing Bitcoin's first scaling layer for programmable finance since Lightning Network's debut nearly a decade ago. Alongside the mainnet launch, the company announced Arkade Assets, a native asset framework designed to bring stablecoins and other tokens to Bitcoin's execution layer, with planned Tether USDT support.

Two years after the Ark protocol announcement captured developers' imagination, the launch represents a milestone in Bitcoin scaling innovation. While numerous layer-2 proposals emerged in recent years, most remain in research and development phases. Arkade, built on Ark's foundation, becomes the first major initiative from this wave to deliver working mainnet infrastructure without security tradeoffs.

"The Bitcoin L2 landscape has been full of promises but light on shipping," said Marco Argentieri, CEO of Ark Labs. "Today's release marks the beginning of Bitcoin's evolution as programmable money."

Introducing Arkade Assets: Bringing Stablecoins Home to Bitcoin

In a significant expansion of Arkade's capabilities, Ark Labs today unveiled Arkade Assets, a framework that extends Arkade's virtualization architecture to support multiple asset types.

Arkade Assets represents an important milestone for Bitcoin's evolution as a programmable financial platform. While stablecoins have become essential infrastructure for digital finance, with over $200 billion in circulation, most activity has migrated to alternative chains due to Bitcoin's limited programmability. Ark Lab intends to reverse this trend.

"Tether pioneered stablecoins on Bitcoin over a decade ago, but the ecosystem lacked the infrastructure to support the sophisticated applications users demand," said Argentieri. "Arkade finally provides that foundation. We're building the rails to bring stablecoins back to the world's most secure blockchain, where they belong."

From Lightning Alternative to Application Platform

Originally positioned as an alternative to popular Bitcoin scaling solution Lightning, Ark's virtualization approach revealed potential beyond simple offchain payments. Arkade, the protocol's first implementation, shows how this architecture can unlock advanced financial applications with no changes to Bitcoin.

"We realized we weren't just building another payment rail," explained Alex Bergeron, Ecosystem Lead. "Arkade supports lending protocols, trading platforms, and smart wallets directly on Bitcoin. These are applications that were previously impossible without wrapped tokens or custodial compromises."

Virtualizing Bitcoin to Unlock Programmable Money

Bitcoin's $2 trillion market cap cements its status as digital gold, yet its financial services potential remains untapped. Inherent constraints at the base layer have limited the asset to a narrow set of use cases and left the financial application market open to Ethereum and other competitors.

"Arkade unlocks Bitcoin's full potential without compromising what makes it valuable" said Argentieri. "By virtualizing Bitcoin's transaction layer, we're enabling developers to build directly on Bitcoin, not around it."

Instead of changing Bitcoin's consensus rules or creating separate chains, Arkade abstracts its fundamental building block, the UTXO, into a virtual environment where it retains Bitcoin's security properties but gains new capabilities. All user assets are secured by presigned transactions allowing control of their funds at all times and removing the need for risky bridge infrastructure. Developers can build sophisticated financial primitives in a modern development environment: structured yield products, credit markets, and advanced derivatives systems.

Roadmap

Arkade's public beta delivers core protocol functionality. Virtual Transaction Outputs (VTXOs) enable instant offchain execution while maintaining unilateral exit paths to Bitcoin. Batch settlement compresses thousands of operations into single Bitcoin transactions, dramatically reducing costs. Lightning Network integration through Boltz enables seamless swaps between Arkade and Lightning liquidity. 

Launch partners include Breez, BTCPayServer, Boltz, BullBitcoin, Lendasat and LayerZ Wallet.

The public beta represents the beginning of a broader rollout. Ark Labs will expand Arkade's capabilities over the coming months, adding enhanced scripting environments, additional security mechanisms, and support for more complex financial primitives.

"We're not just launching a product. We're establishing infrastructure for the next decade of Bitcoin development," said Bergeron. "Every major financial application needs a programmable foundation. That's what we're building."

Developers can explore Arkade at arkadeos.com and access integration documentation at docs.arkadeos.com.

For media inquiries, contact 21M Communications at [email protected].

About Arkade

Arkade, developed by Ark Labs, is a Bitcoin-native operating system designed to unlock trillions in idle capital and enable Bitcoin as a programmable financial platform. Combining off-chain speed with on-chain security, Arkade allows developers to build decentralized applications for payments, trading, and capital markets—such as Bitcoin-backed loans, margin trading, and derivatives like options and structured products—while preserving Bitcoin's core principles of decentralization and user control. By eliminating the need for bridges, wrapped tokens, or custodial risks, Arkade provides instant, low-cost tools to power diverse financial interactions with native Bitcoin liquidity. Backed by investors including Draper Associates, Axiom, Fulgur Ventures, and top angel investors, Ark Labs is positioning Arkade as the decentralized backend for institutional liquidity, enabling Bitcoin to power diverse financial interactions.

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SOURCE Ark Labs