Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) has integrated Anduro, a multi-chain layer 2 network, with Portal to Bitcoin, a decentralized exchange network. This integration aims to improve the usability of the Bitcoin network by enabling atomic swaps that enable peer-to-peer trading of cryptocurrencies across different blockchains.
Marathon, a publicly traded Bitcoin mining company, began incubating Anduro in February, describing it as “a platform built on the Bitcoin network that allows for the creation of multiple sidechains.” The integration with the San Francisco-based fintech provider and subsequent name change to Portal to Bitcoin was announced on Wednesday in an email shared with CoinDesk.
The company, formerly known as Portal, raised $34 million in a seed round last March. It leverages the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Lightning to facilitate atomic exchanges, allowing users to convert assets such as Ethereum (ETH) into Bitcoin (BTC).
This development brings greater utility to Bitcoin, a feature commonly used across Ethereum-based assets and other blockchains but relatively new to Bitcoin. Anduro’s integration with Portal to Bitcoin could also provide miners with a new revenue stream. Merged mining allows participating miners to earn Bitcoin-denominated profits from transactions on these sidechains while continuing to mine Bitcoin on the base layer.
“Integrating Portal into Bitcoin improves Bitcoin’s usability and provides miners with new opportunities for monetization,” a Marathon spokesperson said.
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