Dear Investors,
It’s an exciting time at DLC.Link as we gear up for our inaugural launch on Arbitrum. We aim to have dlcBTC on mainchain by April 14 latest.
Our sales and product teams will then fly to Dubai on April 15 for Token 2049, to get live feedback on the product.
In this month’s update, I’ll Walk through our immediate launch milestones.
We are currently testing dlcBTC’s minting support with Amber’s in-house wallet solution.
This turned out to be the only technology implementation step that we must do when onboarding a merchant.
Building a DLC requires Schnorr signatures, which today are only supported in a limited set of wallets.
Though Amber has an in-house device, we’ve also identified Ledger, Cobo and BitGo as other wallets/custody providers that merchants can use to hold the BTC used for minting.
We are also reaching out to other wallet providers and are exploring engineering optimizations that could broaden the set of options.
To ensure the integrity and stability of our systems from day one, we will start with a low deposit limit of 1 BTC per DLC, maximum.
This cautious approach allows us to thoroughly test the bridge and underlying systems, mitigating the risks of unexpected scale-up challenges.
Following a successful integration with Amber, we are poised to extend dlcBTC minting capabilities to a broader array of merchants.
We've already secured soft commitments from a diverse group, including exchanges, miners, and prominent financial institutions.
On Arbitrum, our first step will be to set up a wBTC-dlcBTC pool on Curve. Following that, we’ll be working to list dlcBTC in lending pools and other DeFi protocols.
The Arbitrum Foundation will provide us with an initial grant and oversight to support our growth.
Shortly after launch, we’ll implement Chainlink Proof of Reserves. One of the safety features of DLCs is that they come with an inherent Proof of Reserve, which can be verified by any third-party.
However, we’ve chosen Chainlink as our preferred verifier, due to their deep experience in this area. Chainlink PoR will also support our first bridging solution, CCIP, which we will be implementing in early Q2.
CCIP will help us bridge from Arbitrum to Ethereum L1, Polygon, OP and Base.
We are organizing an AMA session on April 10 at 9am ET. We’d love it if you could join, ask us questions and provide feedback.
Details will follow in an email later this week.
Overview
Our security audit with MetaTrust, a leading security audit firm and fellow ABCDE portfolio company, has been going well. To date, no Critical or High issues have been found. Great job Engineering team!
We’ve redesigned our product to be compatible with a majority of Bitcoin wallets that already support Taproot. Via an engineering innovation, we’re removing PSBT as a requirement for our Bitcoin wallets. Only Taproot will be required to sign Schnorr signatures
We are getting ready for our launch to Arbitrum in 2 weeks. Amber Group will be our first customer (dlcBTC merchant), as well as our first liquidity provider (using BTC on their balance sheets) and the first market maker for $dlcBTC
Sales and Business Development
We are signing up our initial set of dlcBTC Merchants. We’ve received verbal commitments from trading heads at Galaxy, FalconX and several other funds. Several BTC mining funds, OTC desks and exchanges have also given verbal commitments
On the demand side, we are pursuing partnerships with hedge funds, exchanges and OTC desks that can benefit from using dlcBTC. We are also in discussions with DeFi protocols that wish to list dlcBTC as collateral
We’ve identified two types of customers: wBTC trading firms that are interested in dlcBTC as an asset as well as trading firms that have chosen not to use wBTC due to its inherent counterparty risk. We’re excited at the market opportunity to expand the market for wrapped Bitcoin
We’ve begun conversations for listing $dlcBTC and $DLC with leading centralized exchanges, including Coinbase, OKX, Binance and Kraken
Marketing and PR
OKX Ventures announced their lead investment! Please read it here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/okx-ventures-announces-investment-in-dlclink-the-first-native-bitcoin-defi-protocol-302088934.html
A few months ago, I was interviewed on Epicenter, one of the longest-running crypto podcasts. Although it’s an hour long, I highly recommend listening to it: https://youtu.be/lp-AW11vHQ4
Check out the Media section on our website! This section contains blog posts, case studies, videos and a newsroom where we highlight PR features. See: https://www.dlcbtc.com/media
We invite all investors to join our Telegram community at English: https://t.me/dlcbtc
For native Mandarin speakers, you can join our Chinese community at https://t.me/dlcbtc_cn
Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/dlcBTC
Testimonials
A few quotes from our fans:
“You’re a better, faster, cheaper version of wBTC” – Head of Trading at a leading prime brokerage
"We see DLC.Link as a foundational building block in DeFi, with the potential to become a multi-billion-dollar business. " — Nicole Liu, Comma 3 Ventures
"DLC.Link is making Bitcoin more composable & usable in DeFi" – Oliver Birch, Global Head, Chainlink BUILD Program
"You're sovereign Bitcoin for everything else” – Leading Bitcoin Investment Fund
Product
We are investigating which custodians and hardware wallets can support DLC creation, for the dlcBTC mint process. Currently, we are focusing on Ledger, Cobo and BitGo. We’re also in talks with GK8, Utila and others
We are launching our initial DLC Attestor Network to production! Our initial attestors include HashKey Cloud, Republic, OKX, P2P, Stakin and Dextrac. We will be expanding the Attestor network as we grow
We’ve begun implementing Chainlink Proof of Reserves. Also, we’ve chosen Chainlink CCIP as the bridging technology that we’ll use to bridge from Arbitrum to Ethereum L1, as well as to L2s including Polygon, OP and Base
We’re making good progress on our $DLC tokenomics development. We’re on track to launch $DLC in Q3, or even as early as July. The core purpose of $DLC will be to help decentralize our DLC Attestation network
Finance and Fundraising
This Q2, we are gearing up to raise a seed round of 150 BTC. We’ve begun speaking to potential anchor investors (with a preference for the lead to be US-based).
For our upcoming seed round, we are looking to raise strategic capital from our customers. So, for each 1 BTC invested, we will require that the investor also self-wrap 5 BTC into dlcBTC, to use in DeFi as they see fit. (Note that the investor will retain custody of both their BTC and dlcBTC.)
This funding will be instrumental in scaling our operations, enhancing our product offerings, and solidifying our position as a leader in the DeFi space, offering a secure way for Bitcoin holders to engage with DeFi.
How You Can Help
We are actively looking to form partnerships with a wide variety of financial institutions, including hedge funds, OTC trading desks, prime brokerages, custodians and other financial institutions that hold or trade Bitcoin.
If you are in contact with any institutions that hold BTC or wBTC, please introduce me directly.
Best,
Aki
PS – Missed any of our previous Investor Updates? Read past editions here: https://bit.ly/dlc-link-investor-updates
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