Bitflow, a decentralized exchange (DEX), and Pontis, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, have introduced the first-ever Bitcoin Runes Automated Market Maker (AMM) on Stacks, a Bitcoin (BTC) Layer-2 (L2) scaling solution, as reported to Finbold on Wednesday, December 18.
The launch illustrates new applications of Runes, fungible BTC tokens traditionally known for slow transaction speeds, high fees, and sniping.
As part of the initiative, Bitflow prioritizes security with audits from Coinfabrik and Clarity Alliance and offers a $100,000 Immunefi bounty program to promote community engagement.
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More speed and security in Bitcoin DeFi
Activated at Bitcoin Block #867,867, the recent Stacks Nakamoto upgrade reduced Stacks’ block times from 10 minutes to a few seconds while offering BTC-tier finality.
The new system relies on just one Bitcoin block and one Stacks block (5–10 seconds) to finalize trades, a drastic contrast compared to 3–6 block confirmations often required by other BTC bridges.
In addition, all Runes AMM transactions have become as secure and irreversible as Bitcoin itself.
The Runes AMM relies on the Pontis Bridge, a federated multi-signature system supported by industry leaders like Xverse, Asigna, OrdinalsBot, and Liquidium.
Filip S, Core Contributor at Pontis, commented on the interoperability ensured by the new decentralized model:
“At Pontis, our mission is to create a secure and seamless bridging experience for Runes and other metaprotocol assets by harnessing a consortium of trusted projects as node operators. In partnership with Bitflow, we are enhancing the user experience for BTC traders, enabling them to interact with Runes through liquidity pools on Stacks effortlessly.”
Runes AMM comes with a liquidity pool structure inspired by Uniswap.
As such, it offers deep liquidity, minimal slippage, and instant price discovery for Bitcoin assets.
Users can trade directly through wallets like Xverse and Leather without navigating marketplace listings or manual pricing.
sBTC integration
Having launched alongside sBTC, a non-custodial, programmable 1:1 BTC-backed asset, the Runes enable swaps between native BTC, STX, and Runes with additional incentives like a 5% BTC yield on sBTC deposits.
The integration of the Pontis Bridge into Bitflow’s app will further streamline asset transfers and trading on Stacks.
The platform will initially support popular Runes like BILLION•DOLLAR•CAT, DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON, LIQUIDIUM•TOKEN, BASED•INTERNET•PANDA, SHORT•THE•DOLLAR, PUPS•WORLD•PEACE, POOKA•CANNOT•BE•STOPPED, ROOOOOOOOOONS, and USDh, the first Bitcoin-backed synthetic dollar on Runes.
If the demand is high enough, additional BRC-20 tokens and native BTC assets like ORDI and TRIO will be added in the future.