May 2nd, 2016, Brooklyn, NY - ConsenSys is proud to announce the live launch of BTC Relay. BTC Relay is an open source project enabling Ethereum-based networks to interoperate programmatically with the Bitcoin network and eventually other Ethereum and Bitcoin-based systems. BTC Relay is a fully decentralized smart contract for the community that does not grant special privileges to any party.
Using BTC Relay, Ethereum developers can implement a “Pay with Bitcoin” button in their Ethereum-based decentralized applications, allowing Bitcoin holders to interact with smart contracts and decentralized applications on the Ethereum platform. Moreover, BTC Relay has been added to EtherEx, a decentralized exchange, as a mechanism whereby Bitcoin can be exchanged with Ether, without any counterparty risk. Another potential use case is the issuance of an Ethereum-based “BTC” token (ETHBTC) based on locking actual BTC tokens in a multisig on the Bitcoin protocol. This bidirectional bridge between BTC and ETHBTC is planned.
Using BTC Relay, Ethereum developers can implement a “Pay with Bitcoin” button in their Ethereum-based decentralized applications, allowing Bitcoin holders to interact with smart contracts and decentralized applications on the Ethereum platform. Moreover, BTC Relay has been added to EtherEx, a decentralized exchange, as a mechanism whereby Bitcoin can be exchanged with Ether, without any counterparty risk. Another potential use case is the issuance of an Ethereum-based “BTC” token (ETHBTC) based on locking actual BTC tokens in a multisig on the Bitcoin protocol. This bidirectional bridge between BTC and ETHBTC is planned.
