• Marathon Digital introduces Anduro, a multi-chain Layer 2 network aimed at enhancing Bitcoin scalability and development.
  • Through Anduro, Marathon seeks to foster innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem by enabling the creation of multiple sidechains.
  • The project utilises merged mining and decentralised governance to support its ecosystem, while Marathon plans to recruit influential partners to further advance Bitcoin adoption.

Cryptocurrency mining giant Marathon Digital is venturing into the Bitcoin scalability realm with its newly released multi-chain Layer 2 network called Anduro. The company revealed in a blog post on February 28th that it has been incubating expansion platforms aimed at accelerating Bitcoin’s development and adoption. Anduro is designed to act as an application layer and encourages innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem by allowing the creation of multiple sidechains.

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It is designed to “systematically integrate decentralised governance

The programmable Layer 2 aims to systematically integrate decentralised governance, with a focus on being the most reliable, developer-centric Bitcoin Layer 2. While Marathon has helped incubate Anduro, it states that its purpose is community-led and driven. The mining giant also states that it is developing the first two sidechains on Anduro, Coordinate and Alys. Coordinate provides an economically efficient UTXO stack for the Ordinals community, while Alys is an Ethereum-compatible sidechain for institutional asset tokenisation.

Anduro adopts a novel system called merge-mining

Anduro adopts a novel system called merge-mining, allowing miners like Marathon to earn income from Anduro sidechain transactions while continuing to mine Bitcoin. Governance is conducted through a diversified alliance of Bitcoin forward entities known as the Collective, according to the Litepaper. However, this will be gradually phased out once trustless alternatives reach production readiness.

Marathon Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel states that the company has a vested interest in supporting innovation within the Bitcoin ecosystem, including projects like Anduro. “We believe in testing, iterating, and letting the market decide which ideas will succeed,” he adds, “Anduro is one of the ideas providing value to Bitcoin holders and application developers, while enhancing the long-term sustainability of Bitcoin.”

The next step for the company, according to Litepaper, is to recruit “influential and consistent partners” to invest in cutting-edge Bitcoin adoption. Earlier this month, Marathon launched a new direct Bitcoin transaction submission service called “Slipstream.” With the narrative around Bitcoin Layer 2 gaining momentum after the hype surrounding Ordinals and BRC-20 in 2023, projects aimed at scaling Bitcoin or providing functionalities like smart contracts have seen their tokens surge in recent weeks as BTC hits multi-year highs.