Babylon v0.7.1 Goes Live With Smart Contract Capabilities and Bitcoin Security for dApps

Equipping developers with the tools to build decentralized applications whilst tapping into unmatched Bitcoin security

Palo Alto, 19 June 2023 –  Bitcoin security sharing protocol Babylon has successfully deployed a major upgrade to its testnet. V0.7.1 of the network introduces comprehensive smart contract capabilities built using the popular CosmoWasm and Wasmd framework. It allows developers to extract security from Bitcoin to secure their applications and blockchains by deploying Babylon smart contracts.

The community has been eagerly anticipating this upgrade ever since Babylon's initial testnet launch four months ago. During this period, Babylon's testnet has drawn significant interest and integrated with 28 of the top Cosmos SDK chains, including Osmosis, Akash, Sei Network, Injective, Evmos, and Stride, thereby demonstrating traction for its technology. The integration arguably makes these Cosmos chains the most secure PoS chains in the world, as the solution combines the best of both worlds, Proof of Stake (PoS) & Proof of Work (PoW) security mechanisms. Additionally, channeling the value of PoS ecosystems into the Bitcoin network.

This upgrade extends Babylon's capabilities beyond the Cosmos ecosystem, enabling it to cater to a broader range of applications. It positions Babylon as a robust platform for developing decentralized applications for all verticals, especially DeFi, NFTs, and GameFi, where security is top priority.

David Tse, Co-Founder of Babylon, said: “We are thrilled to announce the launch of Babylon v0.7.1, introducing the integration of smart contracts. This marks a crucial milestone for Babylon, turning it into a powerful platform for deploying a wide range of protocols, thereby facilitating the development of decentralized applications secured by the strength of the  Bitcoin network.

This upgrade also paves the path to a spectacular Bitcoin-centric ecosystem. Babylon is leading the R&D of advanced scaling and security sharing protocols to fully unleash the potential of Bitcoin. Through Babylon smart contracts, the mighty power of Bitcoin will be readily at the disposal of the applications built on Babylon.

Babylon recently announced  the pioneering Bitcoin Staking Protocol, which enables Bitcoin the asset to be staked and used to secure Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chains. This is achieved without altering the Bitcoin blockchain nor any bridging. In return, participating Bitcoin holders can earn rewards for contributing to the security of PoS networks.

About Babylon

Babylon is a project that designs security protocols for the decentralized world. Babylon’s origins come from a research paper about Bitcoin security co-authored by co-founder of Babylon , a professor at Stanford and Ethereum 2.0 researcher, and the founder of EigenLayer Sreeram Kannan, and their colleagues. The project is led by a team of consensus protocol researchers from Stanford and experienced layer 1 engineers from around the world.

Babylon's mission is to scale Bitcoin to secure the decentralized world. To achieve this, Babylon utilizes the three primary facets of Bitcoin: Bitcoin as an asset, its reliable timestamping service, its most censorship-resistant blockspace in the world,. To leverage these facets, Babylon is developing three innovative security-sharing protocols: Bitcoin Staking Protocol, Bitcoin Timestamping Protocol, and Bitcoin Data Availability Protocol. Through these pioneering protocols, Babylon envisions a more secure and decentralized future.

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Media contact: Shalini Wood,