In a partnership aimed at revolutionizing the financial landscape, Elastos, the SmartWeb ecosystem provider, has joined forces with Layer 2 (L2) provider BEVM to develop a peer-to-peer Bitcoin-denominated loan offering based on Elastos' BeL2 protocol. This innovative collaboration seeks to unlock up to $1.3 trillion of dormant Layer 1 Bitcoin value, supported by data from Elastos' BIT (Bitcoin; Innovation & Trust) Index, which indicates that over two-thirds of tech-savvy U.S. consumers are comfortable using Bitcoin.

The partnership enables users to collateralize up to 80% of their assets in exchange for L2 credit, such as stablecoins, based on terms defined in Bitcoin-assured smart contracts. Elastos' BeL2 protocol ensures the integrity of the currency by employing a unique ZK-proof process, allowing transactions to be completed without bridging, wrapping, or interfering with the Bitcoin Layer. This approach maintains the currency's integrity and avoids network congestion and additional fees.

"The BeL2 protocol perfectly reflects what BEVM is all about; developing and supporting EVM-compatible DApps which can run in the Ethereum ecosystem to operate on Bitcoin L2. The loan offering is the perfect illustration of how such services could revolutionize the finance sector," said Hakan Sezikli, Co-founder of the BEVM Foundation.

Elastos' BeL2 protocol, launched in December 2023, is a Layer 2 solution for Bitcoin, enabling functionalities such as staking and smart contracts to be denominated directly in the world's most popular digital currency. BEVM will collaborate with Elastos to deliver a Bitcoin Oracle to monitor and analyze all Bitcoin-based activity in real time. As the BeL2 protocol enables Bitcoin users to manage any relationship through the currency, the BTC Oracle will become a vital source of insight into how the currency is being used.

The partnership comes as new data from Elastos' BIT Index indicates growing excitement among U.S. tech-savvy consumers for Bitcoin. The survey revealed that 63% of respondents feel either "perfectly comfortable" or "excited" about transacting in Bitcoin, with over half using it at least once a month. The most common use cases include storing savings (44%), purchasing online (42%), sending/receiving money from abroad (34%), mitigating the effects of inflation (23%), and reducing banking costs (15%).

Respondents also expressed a high level of trust in Bitcoin, with 24% placing most trust in the digital currency compared to 25% who place most trust in online banks and 23% who place their trust in cash.

"What this data shows is that we're reaching an inflection point in the understanding and embrace of cryptocurrencies among early adopters in the U.S. that reflects the global trend towards the Third Age of Bitcoin," said Rong Chen, co-founder of Elastos. "We are on the verge of Bitcoin delivering a new era of commerce, where users are in charge of their data and are no longer beholden to the Web 2 tech giants."

The BIT Barometer also revealed that a significant portion of respondents (31%) described themselves as "uneasy" or "completely uncomfortable" about the requirement to share personal information to message or transact on Web 2 social media.

By partnering, Elastos and BEVM represent the latest joint-effort to unlock value for Bitcoin users.