The developers of the Bitcoin liquid staking protocol Stroom announced the launch of an alpha version of the testnet.
The launch of the Stroom testnet paves the way for further development of the Lightning Network, the developers believe.
When staking their first cryptocurrency through Stroom, users receive a proportionate amount of stBTC tokens. They can be used as wrapped bitcoins on the Ethereum blockchain in addition to routing fees on the Lightning Network.
“Today marks a critical milestone in our nearly two-year journey to increase the utility of Bitcoin. The world needs better payments infrastructure, and we firmly believe that the Lightning Network offers the most promising path forward. With the support of strong partners, we strive to make it reliable and ready to receive millions of users,” said Stroom Network CEO Rostislav Shvets.
At the same time, the developers have presented a guide for those who are ready to join the project at this stage. The team announced further changes to the network, including new features.
The launch of the Stroom mainnet is scheduled for the second quarter of 2024.
