{"id":5248,"date":"2025-07-21T07:57:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T07:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/zkbtc-bridge-mainnet-goes-live-unlocking-bitcoin-cross-chain-liquidity\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T07:58:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T07:58:02","slug":"zkbtc-bridge-mainnet-goes-live-unlocking-bitcoin-cross-chain-liquidity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/zkbtc-bridge-mainnet-goes-live-unlocking-bitcoin-cross-chain-liquidity\/","title":{"rendered":"zkBTC bridge mainnet goes live, unlocking Bitcoin cross-chain liquidity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Lightec\u2019s zkBTC bridge goes live on mainnet, marking a new phase for Bitcoin as it enters the cross-chain liquidity era.<\/p>\n<p>The zkBTC Bridge has officially launched on mainnet, marking a major milestone for the Lightec team after more than two years of development. The <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LightecXYZ\/status\/1947126880718733742?t=FrO3IaTcBh1PDgFKbMWNcA&amp;s=19\" target=\"_blank\">announcement<\/a> follows the successful conclusion of the testnet phase, which <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LightecXYZ\/status\/1939637050317390270\" target=\"_blank\">ended<\/a> on July 1,. during which users could earn points by participating in testnet interactions. The testnet, in turn, built on earlier community testing efforts, including the Beta V3 \u201cOdyssey\u201d campaign <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LightecXYZ\/status\/1863499670305325384\" target=\"_blank\">launched<\/a> in December last year, in which users earned zkBTC points convertible into airdrops.<\/p>\n<p>Now live, the zkBTC Bridge enables Bitcoin (BTC) holders to unlock DeFi yields by bridging BTC to Ethereum (ETH) securely and without intermediaries.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the team announced it\u2019s currently developing ZenKeeper, a new protocol that eliminates off-chain verification in BTC asset issuance using zero-knowledge proofs. Work also continues on OPZKP, a Bitcoin-native Layer 2 protocol leveraging ZKPs and the OP_ZKP opcode to boost scalability and security across the ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>The zkBTC Bridge is the first fully zero-knowledge proof-based bridge between Bitcoin and Ethereum. It allows users to deposit BTC into a ZKP-managed address. Once confirmed on the Bitcoin network, an off-chain proof is generated and verified by an Ethereum smart contract, which then mints zkBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-pegged ERC-20 token. The same process works in reverse for redemptions, allowing users to convert zkBTC back to BTC at any time.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><picture decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14398284\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" ><\/source><\/p>\n<\/picture><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: zkBTC bridge interface | <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apps.zkbtc.money\/\" target=\"_blank\">apps.zkbtc.money<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Built to be fully decentralized and secure, the bridge relies on trusted multisig custody, minimal fees, and a user-friendly interface. It integrates with DeFi protocols and is backed by partnerships across leading crypto infrastructure providers.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lightec\u2019s zkBTC bridge goes live on mainnet, marking a new phase for Bitcoin as it enters the cross-chain liquidity era. The zkBTC Bridge has officially launched on mainnet, marking a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5250,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions\/5250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}