Merlin Chain

• Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin Layer 2 offering EVM compatibility for Bitcoin-based assets.

• It supports Bitcoin-native token standards alongside conventional smart contracts.

• MERL is the network token.

• Supply allocated across community, ecosystem and contributors.

• Used for gas, staking and governance.

Pros:

• Attracted very large deposits during its launch campaign.

• Supports Bitcoin-native asset standards that other Layer 2s ignore.

• EVM compatibility lets existing applications deploy.

Cons:

• Deposits fell sharply once launch incentives ended, following the pattern across incentivised launches.

• Bitcoin assets must be bridged, which is the trust assumption the design cannot remove.

• Bitcoin Layer 2 is a crowded field with no established winner.

• Exposure to Bitcoin Layer 2 with EVM compatibility.

• Native Bitcoin asset support is genuinely differentiated.

• Weigh the post-incentive decline and the bridging requirement.

• Support for Bitcoin-native token standards alongside EVM contracts, serving assets that Ethereum-derived Layer 2s cannot handle.

• Bitcoin-native assets have no smart contract environment to use.

• An EVM chain that understands those standards gives them one, provided the bridge holds.

• Developed by Bitmap Tech, associated with the Bitmap and BRC-20 ecosystem.

• Core contributor identities are partially public.

• No public ICO. Distributed through airdrop and ecosystem allocations in 2024.

• Deposits proved highly incentive-dependent.

• Bridged Bitcoin carries custody and bridge risk.

• Crowded Bitcoin Layer 2 field.

• Bitcoin DeFi demand remains unproven at scale.