Bitcoin once again reached a historical high at 3 AM today, hitting 77199. It has broken historical highs for three consecutive days. Ethereum also rose to a new three-month high of 2995 today. Currently, while Bitcoin continues to rise, the momentum is not very strong, and a correction is expected. However, Ethereum is different; Ethereum whales have added 4000 ETH before the annual Ethereum Developer Conference on November 12. All of this is positive news for Ethereum. When Bitcoin approaches 80,000, it is expected that Ethereum will catch up with Bitcoin's trend, potentially reaching around 4000.
Recently, Bitcoin broke new highs, Trump's re-election, and the Federal Reserve's rate cut. All are very favorable news for digital currencies. It is a great opportunity to position in promising digital currencies at this stage, like the upcoming first-level project Babylon in the Bitcoin staking track.
What is Babylon?
Babylon is a staking protocol, with the core component being a POS public chain compatible with Cosmos IBC, capable of locking Bitcoin on the Bitcoin mainnet to provide security for other POS consumer chains, while obtaining staking returns on the Babylon mainnet or POS consumer chains. It allows users to lock Bitcoin on the Bitcoin network to provide security for other POS consumer chains while earning staking returns. Babylon allows Bitcoin to leverage its unique security and decentralization features to provide economic security for other POS chains, facilitating the rapid initiation of other projects.
Babylon is positioned in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Bitcoin programmability, Bitcoin Layer 2, Bitcoin staking, restaking, shared security, modularity, Cosmos ecosystem, etc. It aligns with the current mainstream narrative and is highly narrative-driven.
The project logic of Babylon
Babylon's goal is to create a Bitcoin staking protocol that utilizes the security of the Bitcoin network to provide economic safety for POS networks while reducing the time and cost of building a trusted network from scratch for POS chains.
A credible Bitcoin staking protocol should have several characteristics:
1. Secure, decentralized, and resistant to censorship. The protocol should provide 'trustless' staking, should allow delegated staking, and should support restaking.
2. Slashing. If a staker engages in improper behavior, their locked Bitcoin will be slashed.
3. Freely redeemable. As long as the staker adheres to the staking agreement, they will be able to freely redeem (withdraw) Bitcoin, even if all other stakers on the POS chain are dishonest. There should be no censorship during redemption.
Babylon's staking mechanism
Staking refers to the act or process of locking a certain amount of tokens as a validation node in a POS and its variant blockchain network, participating in activities such as transaction verification, block production, consensus, and maintaining network security, ultimately receiving rewards. Staking also generally refers to the act or process of locking a certain amount of tokens to obtain rewards, which is synonymous with 'liquidity mining' in Defi. The 'staking' mentioned in this article in the POS network refers to the former; while the consensus mechanism of the Bitcoin network is POW, there is no staking mechanism, so the 'staking' involved in the Bitcoin network refers to the latter. Since ordinary users cannot operate POS blockchain network validation nodes themselves, they often participate in network maintenance and rewards through liquidity staking or delegated staking.
Babylon's slashing mechanism
To ensure security, the shared security technical solution must allow punishment for improper behavior in the underlying chain or consumer chain, usually slashing the staked tokens of the underlying chain that provides security. Slashing is a penalty mechanism in POS blockchains or protocols, which means that when a validation node or token staker engages in improper behavior, their staked tokens will be penalized. Common improper behaviors include double spending, downtime, and invalid block production. Slashing is an important step to maintain the security of the network or protocol, ensuring that validators act in the best interests to maintain the security of the protocol rather than acting maliciously. An overlaid consensus protocol on top of the Bitcoin consensus protocol can provide additional security assurances. When a staker engages in improper behavior (such as double spending), Babylon will send a proof, which may lead to the staker's private key being leaked, and part or all of the staker's Bitcoin will be slashed and confiscated by the Babylon protocol, a process known as 'automatic slashing.'
Babylon financing situation
The Babylon project was established in February 2023
On May 22, 2023, Babylon announced the completion of $8 million in seed round financing, led by IDG and Breyer Capital.
On December 7, 2023, Babylon announced the completion of $18 million in Series A financing, led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC.
On February 27, 2024, Binance Labs announced an investment in Babylon, with the amount not disclosed.
On May 30, 2024, it was announced that $70 million in financing was completed, led by Paradigm, with a total of 30 institutions participating.
As of June 1, 2024, Babylon has disclosed multiple rounds of financing, with a total amount exceeding $96 million.
Babylon project development team and major investors
Summary
Babylon aims to establish a Bitcoin staking protocol, unlocking new use cases for Bitcoin, allowing Bitcoin to provide economic security for other POS chains, similar to ETH, leveraging its unique security and decentralization features, thereby replicating the success of EigenLayer. Once successful, the project will create an aerial garden or even a metropolis on the Bitcoin network, just as its name 'Babylon' suggests.
Babylon is positioned in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Bitcoin programmability, Bitcoin Layer 2, Bitcoin staking, restaking, shared security, modularity, Cosmos ecosystem, etc. The team has a strong background, high financing amounts, and numerous partnerships. Although it is currently in the testing phase, the ecosystem already has a good scale.
Babylon is launching, with limited quotas!
Project name: Babylon
Track: Bitcoin staking track
Expected launch date: December 2024
Expected launch exchanges: Binance, Ouyi, HTX, Sesame Open Door, and other major exchanges
Release mechanism: a one-month lock-up upon launch, followed by full release.
Expected launch price: 15-50U
Subscription price: w84857279
Investment is always accompanied by risks. If you want to reduce risks, follow the blogger's WeChat public account/Weibo with the same name to discuss and explore together! I am Brother Lei, code name 'Stable'! Focusing on the crypto space for seven years. In-depth research on first-level projects and secondary markets. Learn more about quality first-level project information and secondary trading recommendations. Just to safeguard your investment in the crypto space!
