Bitcoin has long been used mainly to store and transfer value, but its base-layer limits in scalability and programmability constrained use cases like high-frequency payments and smart contracts. The Lightning Network, launched in 2018, improved scalability by moving many transactions off-chain into payment channels, enabling faster, lower-fee transfers and practical daily payments. Programmability has advanced via secondary protocols such as RGB, which enables client-side smart contracts and token issuance on Bitcoin through private, off-chain state.
CTDG Dev Hub has added Utexo, a project exploring how stablecoin transfers—specifically USDT—can be conducted natively on Bitcoin by combining Lightning’s payment channels with RGB’s client-side asset model. Instead of wrapping or bridging tokens (which introduce intermediaries and added trust risks), Utexo issues and moves USDT using RGB for asset logic and client-side validation while Lightning handles execution. Bitcoin’s layer-1 acts as the security anchor for final settlement and double-spend protection.
This architecture decouples most activity from base-layer congestion, so costs and throughput can be less sensitive to mempool conditions because final settlement, rather than every transfer, touches Bitcoin’s blockchain. However, using Lightning and RGB typically requires technical setup—running nodes, managing channels and liquidity, handling routing failures, and exchanging data for RGB state tracking.
Utexo addresses that friction by offering a single integration flow via an SDK and REST API. The interface exposes programmatic access to Lightning execution, routing and failure handling alongside RGB issuance, transfers and state transitions, enabling developers to interact with both layers through one toolset.
CTDG Dev Hub, part of Cointelegraph Decentralization Guardians, provides a public developer-focused space for reviewing and coordinating projects. Utexo’s inclusion places the project within a shared environment where its approach can be examined and discussed by contributors building Bitcoin-based infrastructure and tooling.
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