Bitcoin Layer 2โs are the talk of the town. At least some towns. Depends where you are, such is the fragmented maximalism of blockchain. Anyway, Intrigued, I set out on an exploration to discover these new platforms for myself. My expedition led me to Merlin Chain, BOB andโฆ well, then I ran out of money.
First, a disclaimer: This is not financial advice (and if you need proof, I aped into a YT pool on Pendleโฆ those returns are so highโฆ I wonder whyโฆand THEN worked out what YT meant.)
Where was I? Oh yes, Merlin. Merlin is a โ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ 2 ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ก๐-๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ, ๐๐ข๐ต๐ข ๐๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ-๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ1 ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ 2 ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ.โ
And besides, I like a challenge.
As it happens, I could have used BOB (Build On Bitcoin - more on that tomorrow) during season 1 of their spice mining airdrop. I had the opportunity to stake ETH, then bridge it to the BOB mainnet upon launch, then used a thrid-party bridge like Orbiter to bridge to Merlinโฆbut that ship had sailedโฆ and besides... somebody said something about putting the fun back into Bitcoin...
In the end I stumbled upon a solution:
The only thing more frustrating than trying to bridge ETH from Arbitrum to Merlin is using Metamask to do it. My god... Thankfully, I recently switched to Rabby Wallet and saved myself all manner of ticks and mental anguish. If the Metamask experience is like taking the London Underground at rush hour, Rabby is like going on meditation retreat.
What saved me was the Gas Top Up feature. For a hefty fee, I could get BTC on Merlin and pay via any token I wished, on any chain. Yes, it was expensive, but what? Exploration has a price...
Doctor Livingstone, I presumeโฆ
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Tune in tomorrow for what the dApp and DeFi experience is like on Merlin.
Mark Fielding
