Rootstocklabs officially launched Atlas on April 15, 2026, a unified bridging interface designed to simplify the movement of bitcoin and other assets onto the Rootstock Bitcoin Layer 2 network. The interface consolidates multiple bridge options and ten supported assets, allowing users to select an asset and destination while the system surfaces routing options ranked by speed and cost before handing off to the appropriate bridge or swap mechanism.
From Developer Tool to End-User Experience
Previously, users had to independently compare bridge options, assess routing tradeoffs, and manage multi-step wallet interactions. Atlas encapsulates these decisions behind a single interface, significantly lowering the barrier for everyday users to engage with Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi). Rootstock, which has been operating since 2018 as a Bitcoin Layer 2 network, is secured by over 80% of Bitcoin's hashrate through merge-mining. It is EVM-compatible, supports Solidity, and currently holds over $269 million in total value locked across more than 200 deployed applications, including Sushiswap, Layerzero, Oku, and Money on Chain.
BTCFi Market at $4.7B Targeting Mass Adoption
According to the announcement, the Bitcoin-native finance (BTCFi) market was valued at $4.7 billion as of Q1 2026. However, most bridging infrastructure on Rootstock was originally built for developers. Atlas is the first layer designed with general users in mind. Adrian Eidelman, co-founder of Rootstocklabs, stated: 'For too long, Bitcoin's role in decentralized finance has been defined by its limitations rather than its potential. Atlas gives anyone—from a first-time user to a major institution—an easy, trusted way to put bitcoin to work without compromising the security and self-custody principles core to Bitcoin's ethos.'
Supported Assets and Integration Roadmap
Atlas launches with support for BTC (via Bitcoin mainnet and Lightning Network), ETH, USDC, USDT, and other assets. The interface is designed to remain consistent as the underlying infrastructure evolves. The upcoming Union Bridge—a trust-minimized BTC bridge powered by BitVMX—will integrate into Atlas without changing the user-facing workflow once public testing begins.
For institutional users, Atlas's initial custody integrations include Fordefi and Utila, with Cobo and Fireblocks listed as 'coming soon.' A wallet-agnostic SDK for developers is also in progress, intended to let Atlas function as an onboarding layer inside third-party applications.
Future Expansion: Arbitrum and Polygon
Rootstock's roadmap includes support for EVM-compatible chains Arbitrum and Polygon in the near term. Once integrated, Atlas will route users across a broader set of networks from the same interface. Rootstock's two core tokens are rBTC (a bitcoin-pegged asset used for gas and transactions) and RIF (for broader ecosystem access). Atlas is now live at atlas.rootstock.io.