If we think of infrastructure as the organ of public blockchains, then DeFi is their lifeblood — the success of a blockchain’s DeFi ecosystem often indicates its true vitality. Currently, the development of DeFi in the BTC ecosystem lags significantly behind infrastructure growth, with a critical shortage of functional modules and an ecosystem that has yet to establish a robust internal cycle. Among all components, stablecoins play an essential role, serving as the foundation for payments and liquidity while also driving the growth of other DeFi applications like lending, derivatives trading, and on-chain settlements.

Stablecoins are vital in the DeFi ecosystem because they offer a stable value alternative, reducing the risks and barriers for users engaging with DeFi. Whether for on-chain transactions or cross-border payments, stablecoins allow users to avoid the direct impact of Bitcoin price fluctuations. However, the Bitcoin ecosystem currently lacks a native and comprehensive stablecoin issuance protocol, which not only hampers the overall progress of DeFi but also limits the potential of the BTC ecosystem as a financial network.

With advancements in smart contract solutions under the UTXO model, the RGB++ ecosystem has opened up new possibilities for issuing stablecoins. These protocols not only provide native support for BTC but also allow for connectivity with multi-chain ecosystems through innovative cross-chain mechanisms, laying the groundwork for a truly native financial ecosystem for BTCFi.

This is where the Interstellar Payment Network (IPN) comes into play — an innovative payment solution based on Bitcoin, aimed at transforming Bitcoin from a mere store of value into a global payment network through technological advancements and product innovations.

A key highlight of IPN is USDI, a programmable stablecoin that operates on the Bitcoin network. USDI not only enhances Bitcoin’s payment capabilities but also serves as a crucial support for the development of decentralized finance (BTCFi).

USDI is the first programmable stablecoin issued on the Bitcoin mainnet, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and backed by 100% high-quality, highly liquid asset reserves. This design ensures its value remains stable and reliable, allowing it to replace traditional fiat currency in various payment and financial contexts.

Moreover, USDI’s technical structure utilizes the UTXO model, which is highly compatible with Bitcoin’s native design. This compatibility boosts transaction efficiency and significantly enhances security. Unlike account-based models, the point-to-point nature of UTXO allows each transaction to be independently verified, minimizing systemic risks and providing users with a more stable transaction experience.

Technically, USDI relies heavily on the RGB++ protocol. This protocol introduces smart contract functionality to the Bitcoin ecosystem, allowing USDI to function not just as a payment tool but also to incorporate complex financial logic, supporting advanced features like conditional payments and automated settlements. Additionally, the design of RGB++ greatly improves USDI’s scalability, enabling it to maintain high performance and privacy while ensuring decentralization and security. This framework revitalizes Bitcoin’s payment functionality, making stablecoin programmability feasible on the Bitcoin mainnet.

USDI has a wide range of applications, particularly excelling in cross-border payments. Traditional cross-border payment methods often involve high fees and lengthy settlement times, whereas USDI can facilitate near-instant transactions at low costs, thanks to the Lightning Network. As a second-layer scaling solution for Bitcoin, the Lightning Network significantly boosts transaction speed and network capacity by creating off-chain payment channels. Users can settle transactions instantly in these channels without waiting for on-chain confirmations, thereby reducing transaction costs and enhancing USDI’s competitiveness in real-world payment scenarios.

This efficiency and convenience establish USDI as a key tool for global payments. Furthermore, USDI holds great promise in promoting financial inclusion. With a simple Bitcoin wallet, anyone can use USDI to engage with the decentralized finance ecosystem without relying on traditional banking systems. Additionally, USDI can provide stable and efficient payment experiences in high-frequency payment contexts such as e-commerce, gaming, decentralized exchanges (DEX), and lending.

The support from the RGB++ protocol positions USDI as a central force driving the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem. While Bitcoin’s value storage function is widely acknowledged, its limitations in payment applications hinder broader adoption. USDI offers Bitcoin a low-volatility, easily transferable payment solution, making its global application feasible. Through USDI, Bitcoin’s role expands from merely a store of value to a comprehensive financial network that integrates value storage, payment, and smart contract functionalities.

The significance of USDI extends beyond the Bitcoin network; it also supports other UTXO-based blockchain systems such as CKB, DOGE, and BCH through RGB++’s extensibility. This provides these ecosystems with native stablecoin support and achieves cross-chain payments and interoperability across multiple ecosystems. This diversity and flexibility enable USDI to be widely applicable across various blockchain networks, effectively advancing the collaborative development of the decentralized finance ecosystem.

As a vital part of IPN, USDI not only offers users a secure and stable payment tool but also bridges traditional finance with the blockchain economy through technological innovation. IPN envisions creating a powerful payment network that lowers barriers to global payments, fosters financial innovation, and achieves genuine financial inclusion and convenient cross-border payments. By combining USDI and RGB++, IPN is revitalizing the Bitcoin ecosystem and paving the way for the future of decentralized payments.

In addition to IPN, the Stable++ protocol based on RGB++ also introduces a native stablecoin solution to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Stable++ is a decentralized, permissionless, over-collateralized stablecoin protocol that has launched on the mainnet, issuing the US dollar stablecoin RUSD. Unlike USDI, which is backed by 100% high-quality, highly liquid asset reserves (such as STBT from Matrixdock), RUSD is collateralized by cryptocurrencies (currently BTC and CKB). If USDI is considered the “USDT (Tether)” of the Bitcoin ecosystem, then RUSD can be likened to the “Dai (MakerDAO)” of the ecosystem.

Despite differences in collateral and design mechanisms, both IPN and Stable++ provide native stablecoin solutions for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Thanks to the RGB++ protocol, these stablecoins can also interconnect with multi-chain ecosystems through innovative cross-chain mechanisms, establishing a foundation for a truly native financial ecosystem for BTCFi.

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