As we discussed in Entering the Bitcoin Renaissance, our last edition, Lightning Labs CEO and Co-Founder Elizabeth Stark told The Block, “a major narrative of the next cycle will be the bitcoin renaissance, and it has already begun in full swing.” Only a few months later, and that is proving to be quite prescient!

Lightning Labs, a developer of Bitcoin's second-layer infrastructure, has released the Taproot Assets protocol on the main network, supporting the issuance of stablecoins and other assets on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Ryan Gentry, the development director of Lightning Labs, wrote in a blog post that Taproot Assets will provide developers with the tools needed to make Bitcoin a multi-asset network, while maintaining the core value of Bitcoin in a scalable way. Gentry added that this release marks the arrival of a new era for Bitcoin.