Arkade Launches Public Beta for Bitcoin Layer 2 Solution

Ark Labs launches Arkade public beta for Bitcoin payments.

Ark Labs has unveiled the public beta of Arkade, a Layer 2 protocol built on the Bitcoin network, designed for payments. 

The future of money is here. Finance needs infrastructure that matches.

Today, Ark Labs launches Arkade in public beta on Bitcoin mainnet. Open financial infrastructure designed for the era of programmable money.

Open by default. Secure by design. Scaled for the world. pic.twitter.com/hRON7lYlZa

— Ark Labs (@ArkLabsHQ) October 21, 2025

The technology virtualizes Bitcoin’s operational layer using VTXO, which are off-chain representations of UTXO on the main network. Arkade’s mechanism operates entirely within the existing security framework without altering consensus rules.

By virtualizing outputs, Arkade enables users to instantly move, lend, or trade assets, leveraging Bitcoin’s security model and the ability to exit the network unilaterally. 

Each VTXO represents an off-chain claim by a user derived from UTXO, with its state tracked in real-time by Ark Service Providers (ASP). This concept is similar to the Lightning Network. 

ASPs coordinate thousands of off-chain transactions, consolidating them into large unified clusters on the mainnet (batch transactions), reducing overall costs. Users do not directly transfer their funds to operators. 

Project Objective

The Arkade team aims to build a comprehensive financial stack based on the Bitcoin ecosystem.

“Over the past decade, financial innovations have shifted to other blockchains. Credit protocols, automated market makers, exchanges, and prediction markets were all developed elsewhere because Bitcoin lacked the infrastructure to support them,” noted Ark Labs.

The company stated that the protocol will be key to programming based on the first cryptocurrency without any changes to the base layer. All interested developers are invited to participate in the open beta testing.

Teams are offered accessible SDKs in TypeScript, Golang, and Rust, enabling the creation of wallets, payment applications, or financial services with seamless integration into the existing stack. 

Arkade also features additional plugins for connecting and exchanging liquidity with the Lightning Network.

Back in March, developers of the Ethereum-based L2 network Starknet proposed making the protocol an execution layer for Bitcoin, merging the ecosystems of the two largest blockchains. Later, the rollup launched staking for the first cryptocurrency.