Dear XLink Believers,

As we approach the end of another remarkable year in the ever-evolving landscape of decentralized finance, we find ourselves reflecting on the incredible journey we've shared.

The year 2023 has been a brief one for us - XLink came to life only in November - and yet it was packed with new developments and groundbreaking news!

As we stand on the brink of a new chapter, we're thrilled to bring you our year-end newsletter. This edition serves as a testament to the strides we've made as a community, the technological advancements we've embraced, and the milestones that have propelled XLink to the forefront of the Bitcoin space.

Join us in celebrating our successes, acknowledging the challenges, and setting our sights on a promising future ahead.

Thank you for being an integral part of the XLink journey – your trust and support continue to fuel our passion for pioneering innovation in the decentralized realm!

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Getting Ninjas on board

The week before Christmas, the XLink team launched a program to recruit permanent ambassadors to help step up XLink’s presence in every corner of the web. With over 100 applications to join as content makers, copy editors, and shillers, we were surprised ourselves and are absolutely grateful to our community for their keen interest.

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BitGet Wallet integration

On December 15, XLink integrated BitGet Wallet, one of the leading crypto wallets and currently our partner. The integration, following that of UniSat - see below - is one of many we plan to implement as we grow our community across different spaces and strive to provide all users with easy access to the BTC world, no matter where they choose to store their assets.

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aBTC implementation

XLink implemented aBTC, a revolutionary concept from AlexLab’s tech team.

As the Bitcoin ecosystem grows and advances, onboarding the next wave of users seamlessly and with an intuitive UX/UI is essential. This has motivated the XLink Bridge to implement aBTC, a SIP010 token on the Stacks blockchain that represents a practical approach to Bitcoin DeFi.

Each aBTC serves as a synthetic asset pegged 1:1 to BTC, so that users can utilize BTC seamlessly on a smart contract L2.

With aBTC, XLink is unleashing a “native-like” Bitcoin DeFi experience by efficiently handling the conversion process and mitigating vulnerabilities typically associated with cross-chain bridges. The token functions akin to on and off ramps of a highway, with the Bitcoin Bridge enabling multichain users to easily enter and exit the Bitcoin ecosystem.

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Joining efforts to test the Bitcoin Oracle

Jointly developed by ALEX, Domo, BIS, Hiro, UniSat, Xverse, and XLink, the alpha version of the upcoming Bitcoin Oracle is now being tested.

This is a much-needed piece of infrastructure to secure the growing BTC defi ecosystem, marking a significant milestone in terms of transparency, security, and decentralization for the whole ecosystem.

The Bitcoin Oracle is currently undergoing several developments, ranging from an expansion of indexer nodes to a release of its core client API. XLink is proud of having joined as a key testing partner.

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Unisat Wallet integration

XLink integrated and became partners with UniSat, the open-source Chrome extension for Bitcoin ordinals & brc-20, onboarding new users. Over the long run, we aim to make it as easy as possible for new community members to utilize our platform, and offer them a chance to join upcoming projects without hassle.

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The transition from AlexLab and launch

In November, XLink officially launched following an overwhelmingly positive vote from Alex Lab.

The launch was without question a pivotal moment for the bridge which began operating under the management of its own dedicated team, with the goal of creating a smooth, intuitive, and frictionless user experience while boosting the project’s growth.

XLink is committed to making native defi built on Bitcoin, connecting the BTC ecosystem to outside chains, and onboarding new liquidity to the ecosystem.