Apr 21, 2025: Our weekly Institutional Insights explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

 explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

Weekly highlight — Trump wants to fire Powell? 

US president Donald Trump is actively considering firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, following Trump's public criticism of Powell for not moving quickly enough to reduce interest rates. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett confirmed that the administration is examining this option, suggesting that Powell's actions have politically favored Democrats. Hassett argued that the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates shortly after Trump took office was intended to undermine the economic impact of the tax cuts implemented during his administration, which were deemed inflationary. He further criticized the Fed for not addressing inflation concerns stemming from federal spending under President Biden, implying a lack of accountability.

During a recent press conference, Trump conveyed his dissatisfaction with Powell, asserting that if he wanted to remove him, it could happen "real fast." While he did not explicitly state his intention to dismiss Powell, his remarks highlighted the growing tensions between the White House and the Federal Reserve regarding monetary policy. Hassett defended Trump's frustrations, advocating for a focus on economic policy rather than interpersonal conflicts. This situation underscores the complex dynamics between the executive branch and the central bank, as Trump navigates economic challenges leading up to the next election.

Weekly crypto highlight — XRP ETF coming

HashKey Capital has officially launched the HashKey XRP Tracker Fund, marking the first investment fund in Asia designed specifically to track the performance of XRP, the digital asset integral to Ripple's global payment ecosystem. This fund is aimed at professional investors and offers a unique opportunity to gain exposure to XRP without the complexities of direct asset management. Investors can subscribe through cash and in-kind options, with the fund providing monthly liquidity.

Ripple, as an early backer of the fund, is looking to enhance its strategic partnership with HashKey Capital, which already manages Hong Kong–listed spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum. This collaboration not only solidifies Ripple's presence in the Asian market, but also opens avenues for future financial products, such as the potential tokenization of a money market fund on the XRP Ledger. Fiona Murray, Ripple's Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific region, highlighted that this partnership is part of a broader strategy to introduce more regulated cryptocurrency products for institutional investors in the region, aiming to foster a more robust crypto landscape in Asia.

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Trump’s desire to fire Powell might induce volatility; XRP ETF coming

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has approved a new Ethereum ETF with staking capabilities, allowing institutional investors to earn staking rewards.

Daily top performer — Pyth Network (PYTH)

The S&P 500 dropped 1.5% to 5,282.70 this week, down 5.9% in April and 10% year-to-date, led by tech losses. Real estate and energy outperformed, while political pressure on Fed Chair Powell and inflation concerns weighed on sentiment. Gold dipped 0.6% to $3,319 after a record high, as Powell’s stagflation warning tempered its rally. Despite the pullback, the uptrend remains intact. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, are up by 0.77%, with Bitcoin and Ether rising 0.64% and 0.72%, respectively, over the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is PYTH, up 10.1%, following the launch of Pyth Entropy for secure on-chain random number generation by Soneium.

Pyth Network (PYTH),  is a blockchain oracle system that delivers real-time crypto price data to blockchains, enabling smart contracts to react to market changes. Soneium 

 Pyth Entropy, a tool for securely generating random numbers on-chain. Two apps, HandsNFT AI and 2p2e, are already utilizing Pyth Entropy to create unpredictable and engaging experiences.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has approved a new Ethereum ETF with staking capabilities, allowing institutional investors to earn staking rewards. This approval follows recent changes to local laws, with China Asset Management (ChinaAMC) partnering with OSL Digital Securities to launch the ETF by May 15. The ETF will offer exposure to Ethereum staking, transforming it from a passive investment into an active participant in the Ethereum network. The staking process is powered by Kiln, with OSL providing custody and insurance services. The rewards will contribute to the ETF's net asset value, benefiting shareholders.

Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $25.9M in inflows, all from non-GBTC funds, while GBTC recorded no flow.

" and a points campaign called Drops, where users can earn points—potentially leading to an airdrop—by engaging with Linera content on X. To join, sign up on 

, complete tasks like joining Discord and interacting on X, then enter the campaign. Keep engaging to earn more points, but avoid spamming.

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Hong Kong approves Ethereum ETF with staking rewards, boosting institutional participation

Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report delves into macro events; the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume; and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

US president Donald Trump’s tariff policies are influencing both crypto and US equities. Last week, BTC and the S&P 500 rallied due to a 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs (excluding China). Equities are slightly below their April 9 highs, while BTC is holding above $83K. Its implied volatility term structure has normalized, and the volatility skew has improved from last week’s bias toward out-of-the-money puts, though it hasn't fully shifted toward calls.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Tariff pause briefly brings back trading volume

Since our last report, open interest surged on Apr 9, 2025, as crypto spot prices rose after President Trump’s temporary tariff pause, accompanied by a nearly $10B increase in trade volumes. However, trade volumes have since returned to mid-March levels, and open interest has declined from the April 9 highs. The initial price spike indicates the tariff pause surprised the markets, but the subsequent pullback reflects concerns over remaining tariffs.

After being inverted for much of April due to trade policy shocks and macro headwinds, BTC’s term structure has disinverted, with front-end volatility dropping significantly this week. Call and put volumes have been balanced, with calls slightly exceeding puts most days. Apr 9, 2025, reflected mixed market sentiment, as both call and put volumes rose, but puts were higher overall. Open interest remains greater in calls, and has increased slightly since last week, reaching its highest level for the month (more than double from the beginning of April).

Despite a rally on Apr 9, 2025 that brought ETH close to $1.7K, traders sought downside protection, leading to higher volumes in put contracts as compared to calls. Since then, ETHUSDT options volumes have declined, but open interest remains strongly weighted toward calls with later expirations, which have increased since last week. After being inverted for much of April, ETH’s term structure of volatility has flattened, with volatility compressing around the 70% mark across tenors.

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 16, 2025): Bitcoin put bias has moderated, but not yet shifted to calls

KiloEx (KILO) is a user-friendly DEX for perpetuals trading, offering high leverage, rewards, LSTfi integration and a robust multi-chain ecosystem.

 trading is one of the most lucrative areas for cryptocurrency enthusiasts if you know how to navigate the sometimes complex world of these contracts. Unlike standard futures, perpetual futures contracts have no expiration date, allowing traders to hold onto their positions as long as they prefer. You only exit a crypto perpetual (or “perp”) contract when you feel it’s the best time to execute your long or short trade. The lack of an expiration period makes these contracts attractive for traders.

Unfortunately, many crypto perpetual contract trading platforms are far from user-friendly. It seems like many perpetual crypto exchanges assume that only professional traders dabble in these contracts, and along with that assumption goes a second one — that these pros can navigate even the most complex user interfaces. As a result, finding a user-friendly perps platform is a challenge in the world of crypto trading.

 (DEX) that aims to change the status quo by providing a user-friendly environment for traders. Its platform also offers high leverage ratios, integration into the wider liquid staking token finance (LSTfi) ecosystem and generous reward programs for referrers and affiliates.

Thanks to its numerous benefits, this DEX caters to the needs of traders at all levels of expertise who are interested in crypto perpetuals. Operational since mid-2023, KiloEx launched its native token, KILO, in March 2025 to further enhance its platform's reward, staking and governance mechanisms.

 (BNB) that specializes in crypto perpetual futures trading.

 The platform prides itself on offering a user-friendly interface, high 

 ratios of up to 100x, multi-token vaults with generous APYs and a number of reward programs for referrers and affiliates.

Co-founded by Joey Ni (CEO) and Charles Gong (COO), KiloEx was originally launched on BNB Chain's mainnet in June 2023. As of mid-April 2025, the platform has additionally expanded its service coverage to five 

 (B2). This coverage allows KiloEx to access the ecosystems of three leading blockchain platforms — 

Manta, Base and Taiko are Ethereum-focused Layer 2 solutions, while opBNB is an efficient and low-cost optimistic rollup for the BNB Chain, while B

 is a platform linked to Bitcoin that acts as a major Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) enabler.

Because it’s a BNB-native platform, KiloEx's industry footprint is most notable within this blockchain's broader ecosystem. In fact, as Apr 17, 2025, KiloEx is the top DEX on the opBNB network by 

Using Layer 2 chains allows KiloEx to offer its users fast and low-cost transactions, which isn't always possible on a typical Layer 1 network. It's true that BNB Chain, the primary Layer 1 used by KiloEx, generally has much lower gas fees than Ethereum, the industry's leading 

 chain that’s notorious for its exorbitant costs. However, KiloEx's partner Layer 2 networks help drive costs and transaction times even lower. BNB Chain's current average gas fee is slightly over $0.10, while the opBNB Layer 2 rollup's comparable fee is only about $0.005.

In 2024, the platform introduced one of its most innovative features — the 

, which allows liquidity providers to stake multiple assets to earn high yields. That same year, KiloEx significantly expanded its partnership network, becoming an active player in the LSTFi ecosystem. LSTFi is a new stream within the DeFi industry that allows you to use 

 (LSTs) on various protocols for additional yield.

Having solidified its market presence in 2024, the project launched its native token, KILO, in March 2025. However, in mid-April 2025, KiloEx 

 and halted trading on April 15 as a risk management measure, pending investigation of the damage.

The Hybrid Vault is among the most innovative features offered by KiloEx. Essentially, it acts similarly to liquidity pools on other exchanges. Liquidity providers can contribute their crypto funds to the vault to support trading activity on the DEX and earn interest on their contributions, based on the fees earned by the protocol.

You can contribute a mix of coins to a KiloEx vault. Supported assets include 

Depending upon trading activity and the mix of coins contributed, you can earn APYs as high as 30%, making KiloEx one of the most lucrative choices for liquidity providers in this niche.

KiloEx uses a health factor calculation for this type of vault to keep your funds and the entire ecosystem safe. Based on the health factor score of your contribution to the vault, your funds could be liquidated if their value drops dangerously low.

Discounts are also offered for fixed-term deposits for established assets, such as USDT and USDC. Withdrawals for the fixed deposits are processed upon maturity, while all other withdrawals are processed within one to three "epochs," with each epoch on the platform lasting about three days. Thus, depending upon your contributed funds, you’ll wait anywhere from three to nine days to receive your crypto back.

The KiloEx platform also runs a generous referral program under which you can earn rewards for referring your friends to the platform. The amount you earn depends upon the trading volumes generated by the people whom you’ve referred. Additionally, your referees to the DEX can also benefit from fee rebates, again depending upon the volume of trade they generate.

There’s a tiered system, comprising nine levels, based on which you and your friends earn commissions and rebates. Under this system, even those referred traders whose monthly volume is at the lowest level (below $5,000) can still benefit from 5% rebates, while you also earn a 10% commission.

The table below shows the structure of this referral system with percentages for commission and rebates based on monthly trading volumes.

KiloEx offers an affiliate program for key opinion leaders (KOLs) with a certain level of social media following and influence in the crypto market. KOLs may apply to join the program by filling out an application, which is then considered by the project team within 48 hours.

To qualify for affiliate status, a KOL must have: 

Approved affiliates are provided a link to the platform, and are encouraged to invite their followers to trade on the KiloEx. If they invite at least five followers who trade at sufficient levels, the affiliates can start earning their commission. KOLs can earn up to 55% commission, depending upon the referred followers' trading activity.

KiloEx’s native utility token, KILO, is a 

 asset launched on BNB Chain. It’s used on the platform for governance, fee discounts on trades, rewards via 

, liquidity provision incentives and staking.

KILO is a supply-capped asset, with a maximum and total supply of 1 billion. The token’s supply allocation shares are shown in the chart below.

xKILO is an escrowed version of the KILO token. You can convert KILO to xKILO at a fixed rate of 1:1. The primary utility of xKILO is to provide boosted liquidity provision, which makes it possible to receive staking rewards. By locking xKILO on the platform, you can access special discounts and other benefits reserved for VIP-level users. Holding xKILO also grants you governance power to vote and influence the platform's future direction.

Unlike KILO, xKILO is nontransferable and isn’t tradable on the secondary market. The only ways to obtain xKILO are either to buy it with KILO or receive it via airdrops.

Platform users can earn points to qualify for KILO airdrops. Typically, you accumulate points by trading, depositing funds, referring others to the DEX, checking in to the platform and completing other specified eligible activities.

The project’s initial airdrop, Genesis Season, had an eligibility snapshot taken back in July 2024. Under the currently running airdrop campaign, Pioneer Season, users can earn points to receive KILO tokens for 180 days past the token generation event (TGE) in late March 2025 (i.e., until late September 2025).

Additionally, you can earn KILO tokens on Bybit simply by participating in the 

 event and holding BNB in your account. Every day at various random times, Bybit will take snapshots of your BNB holdings in your Funding and Unified Trading Accounts to calculate the number of KILO tokens you’re eligible for. The campaign will run through Apr 25, 2025, 11:59PM UTC, and you’ll have your share of KILO airdropped seven days after this date.

 market as a swap pair with USDT. If you don't have a Bybit account, you can easily 

, and access opportunities across hundreds of trading pairs and crypto products on the exchange's Spot and Derivatives markets.

As of Apr 17, 2025, the KILO token is trading at $0.039, which is 76.2% lower than its ATH of $0.1648 on Mar 27, 2025, and 17.3% higher than its ATL of $0.03344 on Apr 12, 2025.

Long-term price forecasts for KILO are mostly bullish. CoinCodex 

 at $0.0387 in 2027 and then rise to $0.135 in 2030 while PricePredictions 

When it comes to perpetuals trading, both traditional 

 (CEXs) and DEXs have often struggled to offer an intuitive trading experience. In contrast, KiloEx has made user-friendliness a cornerstone of its operations. With KiloEx, you can enjoy a streamlined trading process, access market trends info for thorough research, get an overview of the cryptocurrency market and conduct other activities via an interface that’s designed for anyone, irrespective of their familiarity with decentralized trading.

The platform also boasts a diverse range of other benefits not easily found in the world of perpetuals-based cryptocurrency trading — generous leveraged trading options, trading fee discounts, lightning-fast trades, low trading fees and an innovative Hybrid Vault system. Many of these benefits are thanks to KiloEx's collaboration with several Layer 2 decentralized platforms, which provide the technical infrastructure to enable low costs and fast order processing.

If you’re a crypto perpetuals enthusiast, KiloEx is definitely a platform to peruse.

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KiloEx (KILO): More than a DEX — a rewarding ecosystem

Crypto Insights

Bitcoin’s outperformance and popularity heighten the development of Bitcoin Layer 2. Learn how it works.

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Bitcoin Outperformance Leads to the Popularity of Bitcoin Layer 2

Bitcoin trading volume as percentage of total trading volume on Bybit.Source: Bybit

There’s no denying that Bitcoin has been in the driver’s seat of the broader market rally since late September 2023, as evidenced by its ever-growing dominance. The Bitcoin dominance ratio was steady at approximately 40% in 2022, but began to climb in 2023 to a level of 51.1% (as of this writing on May 7, 2024). 

The outperformance of Bitcoin, propelled by the approval of Bitcoin Spot ETFs in the U.S., has led to the popularity of Bitcoin trading as evidenced by the trading volume on Bybit, whose data suggests that BTC held by users increased by 18% on a month-on-month basis from March 2024 to April 2024. Moreover, the average trading volume percentage of Bitcoin as of total trading volume on Bybit has increased from 25.6% to approximately 31.8% as of the time of this writing. In our view, the popularity of Bitcoin trading has fueled the popularity of Bitcoin Layer 2s.

There is no consensus over the definition of a Bitcoin Layer 2. The term generally refers to a network that has a close connection with Bitcoin, aiming to improve Bitcoin's scalability, reduce transaction costs and add 

 programmability to the oldest blockchain network. In this article, we define Bitcoin Layer 2 as a separate blockchain network that connects to Bitcoin, either through bridges or other designs. Such platforms directly built on the mainnet of Bitcoin are referred to as Bitcoin protocols, including 

For detailed information on Bitcoin Layer 2 definitions, please refer to 

Bitcoin Layer 2 is still at an early stage of development. Only a few projects worked on Layer 2 solutions for Bitcoin before they became popular in early 2024. Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions have come to the spotlight since the popularity of Ordinals and Stacks in Q4 2023. 

The shift of focus into Bitcoin also comes as Bitcoin continues to outperform Ethereum and other alternative 

 as of September 2023, when the industry started to see hopes of Bitcoin Spot ETF approvals. The approval of these Spot ETFs reduces regulatory risks facing the Bitcoin blockchain, which adds to its competitive advantage against Ethereum, whose own Spot ETF approvals are uncertain as of May 2024.

What’s more, against the backdrop of the successful implementation of Ethereum’s latest road map and the popularity of Ethereum Layer 2s, the Bitcoin community has begun to explore the possibility of more utility for Bitcoin with the help of rollups and sidechains, the Layer 2 solutions that have been battle-tested in the past few years of development with other Layer 1s such as Ethreum and Avalanche.

As Bitcoin continues to gain attention, let’s explore the existing landscape of Bitcoin Layer 2.

Who are the existing players in Bitcoin Layer 2?

, there are currently 74 Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions, most of which have come into being in the past two quarters. Despite such a competitive sector, Bitcoin Layer 2s can generally be categorized based on the technology that each player adopts. In short, there are 

: state channels, sidechains and rollups. We’ll also cover Bitcoin-related protocols.

Bitcoin Layer 2 landscape. Source: Compiled by Bybit

A state channel provides a solution for enhancing scalability and efficiency in cryptocurrency transactions. These networks establish separate channels between transacting parties, enabling off-chain communication and state updates. A new channel is created between the parties involved in a transaction, serving as a communication layer that allows the parties to exchange information and update the state of their wallets off the main blockchain. State changes such as balance variations are recorded within the channel itself.

Once the communication session is complete, the channel is closed, and the final state, including the updated wallet balances, is submitted to the Bitcoin mainnet as a single transaction. Bitcoin miners then verify and incorporate this transaction, updating the network's state accordingly.

, which has been around since 2016 and endorsed by reputable Web 2.0 players, including Block’s Jack Dorsey. Major CEXs have also adopted the Lightning Network to reduce the transaction costs for users. 

State Channel Advantages and Disadvantages.Source: Compiled by Bybit

State channels offer several advantages. They enable faster transactions, since parties don’t need to wait for block confirmations on the main blockchain. Additionally, by batching multiple transactions into a single submission, users can save on transaction fees, especially when conducting multiple transactions within a single session. 

As highlighted in the above chart, in addition to the inherent security risk, Lightning Network’s capacity limitation prevents its mass adoption. Its capacity stands at 

 as of the time of writing, which is a minuscule fraction of Bitcoin’s daily transactions on centralized exchanges. 

Furthermore, the state channel is used for token exchange, which (due to the lack of a virtual machine) doesn’t have 

, a project that tries to add smart contract ability to Bitcoin by working with Lightning Network. Its team calls it a “partial-state smart-contract system” and offers the novel promise of addressing the inherent limitations of state channels. Yet, at the moment, we haven't seen the adoption of RGB's solution by major crypto primitives. That said, we’re excited to see how RGB might transform the state channel solution and provide a novel alternative to the more popular sidechains or rollup solutions. 

On a separate note, both Lightning Network and RGB don’t have their own native tokens, and thus, retail users likely won't invest in these two solutions in the near future.

A sidechain is an independent network that operates its own consensus algorithm while maintaining communication with the main network. 

To establish connectivity with the main network, sidechains employ bridges that facilitate asset transfers between the two networks. Smart contracts play a crucial role in governing the locking and minting of assets, ensuring proper asset movement between the sidechain and the mainnet. The design of sidechains can vary significantly, with some operating their own security systems separate from the mainnet while others integrate the security features of the main network.

The more established players in this field include Stacks, Liquid Network and Rootstock for Bitcoin’s sidechain solutions, while BEVM, Bouncebit, ANVM and Map Protocol, among others, are rising stars.

Bitcoin sidechain solutions.Source: Compiled by Bybit via DefiLlama and BTCL2.INFO

There are variations among these sidechains. Generally speaking, new solutions offer more comprehensive solutions, such as more advanced and Ethereum-compatible virtual machines, while the old players, such as Liquid Network, don’t own virtual machines. What’s more, some solutions introduce native tokens such as Stacks, while some adopt Bitcoin as gas tokens, such as Rootstock and 

. The adoption of a solution that’s more closely linked with Bitcoin is considered to provide greater security. 

It’s interesting to note that the new project AILayer currently sits with the highest TVL among all sidechain solutions, possibly due to anticipation around its airdrop and excitement regarding artificial intelligence (AI).

Rollups serve as an execution layer that works in conjunction with the Bitcoin network's consensus layer. Their main purpose is to enhance transaction processing. Rollup Layer 2 networks create an environment in which users can perform various operations. Transactions are organized into batches and sent to the mainnet's consensus layer for final settlement. A rollup batch can include up to 10,000 transactions, which are submitted as a single transaction to the mainnet's consensus layer for settlement. This bundling of transactions allows Layer 2 rollup networks to achieve faster speeds and reduced fees.

: optimistic rollups and zero-knowledge rollups. Optimistic rollups batch transactions without initial validation. However, there is a challenge period of approximately seven days to address security concerns. During this period, anyone can raise suspicions and provide proof of fraud to contest the rollup transaction. Once the challenge period expires, the batch is considered valid and is accepted on the Layer 1 chain.

Zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups) conduct preliminary validations on each transaction using zero-knowledge validity proofs, eliminating the need for a challenge period. Consequently, transactions from ZK-rollups are instantly hashed onto the mainnet.

Bitcoin Layer 2 rollup solutions. Source: compiled by Bybit 

Ethereum’s ecosystem has been implementing both optimistic rollups and zero-knowledge rollups (ZK rollups) for a few years. Bitcoin’s Layer 2s benefit from the development, and there’s been a migration of those advanced Layer 2 technologies to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

It’s clear that ZK-rollups are more popular on BItcoin Layer 2s at the moment, likely due to their lower cost per transaction since there’s less data stored in each batch. Merlin Chain is so far the leader in this league with $1.1 billion TVL, staying ahead of its competitors following the launch of its mainnet and native token, MERL. Merlin Chain has the first-mover advantage, as a dozen DApps within the vibrant community have been up and running.

Network owns the second-largest TVL for Bitcoin’s ZK-rollup solutions, although as of May 2024, it’s only launched a testnet. We might see further inflows into the network as its airdrop plan and mainnet launch send the project buzzling.

Tuna Chain boasts dual architecture and a hybrid infrastructure of optimistic and ZK-rollups, setting itself apart from its competitors. As the first modular Layer 2 for Bitcoin, it has adopted Celestia’s data availability solution and plans to launch its own stablecoin in the second half of 2024. We haven't seen such a dual structure in the Ethereum ecosystem, so it’s interesting to observe how it pushes the limit of the two mainstream rollup solutions.

As mentioned, Bitcoin-related protocols, including Mirror, Runes and Ordinals, don’t have their own blockchain networks. Instead, they’re 

 to the Layer 1 network, i.e., the Bitcoin mainnet. 

 L2 staking protocol offers BTC staking solutions to other Layer 2s with its Mirrored Bitcoin (mBTC). 

 the centralized BTC staking that wBTC offers by decentralizing its overlapping multisig mechanism. 

 is a unique system of ordering satoshis, the smallest units of Bitcoin, allowing the creation of Bitcoin NFTs. Users can inscribe data, such as text or images, as a digital artifact onto an individual satoshi. This process creates Bitcoin-native digital artifacts (also known as Bitcoin NFTs) that can be stored, transferred and traded on the Bitcoin blockchain. 

 created by the same team that developed Ordinals, addresses the issue of congestion resulting from the inefficiency of the BRC-20 token standard within Ordinals using Bitcoin’s native UTXO transaction model.

All three of the solutions above aim to enhance the throughput of Bitcoin, while sidechains and rollups can help add smart contract ability to the Bitcoin ecosystem. As observed from the Ethereum Layer 2 evolution, rollups are a more advanced technology than sidechains, since we don’t see new projects using sidechain architecture. Essentially, sidechains are separate blockchains — and, technically speaking, all alternative Layer 1s can become sidechains as long as they enable the transfer of assets in and out of Bitcoin.

Nonetheless, a few innovative solutions for Bitcoin sidechains aim to address the inherent security risks facing the seemingly outdated Layer 2 solutions, including the merge mining concept from Rootstock. 

Frankly speaking, all risks and limitations facing Ethereum Layer 2s in their early stages of development will arise for Bitcoin Layer 2s.

Bitcoin Layer 2 Report: Bitcoin Layer 2s Set to Boom as Bitcoin Continues to Outperform

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