Crypto mining giant Marathon Digital is venturing into Bitcoin scaling with a newly announced multichain layer-2 network called Anduro.

The company revealed that it has been incubating the scaling platform, designed to accelerate Bitcoin development and adoption, in a blog post on Feb. 28.

Anduro is intended to serve as an application layer and encourage innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem by allowing the creation of multiple sidechains.

The programable layer-2 is designed to “systematically integrate decentralized governance, with a focus on becoming the most reliable, developer-centric Bitcoin layer-two,” the firm stated.

While Marathon has helped incubate Anduro, it is intended to be community-led and driven, it added.

The mining giant said it is also working on the first two sidechains on Anduro, Coordinate and Alys. Coordinate offers a cost-effective UTXO (unspent transaction output) stack for the Ordinals community, and Alys is an Ethereum-compatible sidechain for institutional asset tokenization.

Anduro utilizes a novel system called merge-mining, which could allow miners like Marathon to earn revenue from Anduro sidechain transactions while continuing to mine Bitcoin.

According to the Litepaper , governance happens via a “diverse consortium of Bitcoin-forward entities known as the Collective.” However, this will be phased out once trustless alternatives reach production readiness.

Crypto miner Marathon Digital unveils Bitcoin layer 2 network Anduro image 0 Anduro network design. Source: Marathon Digital

Marathon Chairman and CEO, Fred Thiel, said the firm has a vested interest in supporting innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which includes projects like Anduro.

“We believe in testing, iterating, and letting the market decide what ideas succeed,” he said before adding, “Anduro is one of those ideas that provides value to Bitcoin holders and application developers, all while reinforcing the long-run sustainability of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work.”

The next step for the firm is to recruit “influential and aligned partners” to invest at the forefront of Bitcoin adoption, read the Litepaper.

Related: Bitcoin layer-2 staking offers a superior alternative to interest rates

Earlier this month, Marathon unveiled a new direct Bitcoin transaction submission service called “Slipstream.”

Bitcoin layer-2 narratives are gaining momentum following the Ordinals and BRC-20 hype of 2023. As a result, tokens for projects scaling Bitcoin or providing functionality such as smart contracts have skyrocketed in recent weeks following BTC’s surge to new multi-year highs.

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