Taro is a new protocol for issuing assets on the bitcoin blockchain, which can be then transferred over the Lightning Network. It is based on the newest addition to Bitcoins protocol “Taproot” and is currently being developed by Lightning Labs, the team behind the Lightning Network Daemon (LND). Together with Lightning Labs, Starbackr is going to supercharge the creator economy with digital assets on Lightning and Bitcoin.
What are Taro assets and why are they important?
According to Cambridge Dictionary, an asset is something having value, such as a possession or property, that is owned by a person, business, or organization. This definitely would be a valid definition for Taro-assets as well, although here we focus on digital ones.
Bitcoin and Lightning only have a single native asset, which is Bitcoin (or to be precise Satoshis). And this might be perfectly fine for many users, but after Lightning’s expansion in 2021, it was quite obvious that a lot of people actually desired other assets (like stablecoins) as well. This is absolutely aligned with the feedback we have gotten from our creators and users. Taro will enable users all around the world to hold and transfer assets like a USD stablecoin directly in their Bitcoin wallet, without having to interact with different chains or projects.
How Taro will empower creators
Stablecoins
This has to be one of the most controversial topics in the Bitcoin space currently… Do we need stablecoins? But that most definitely is a topic for another blog post. What is most important is that stablecoins that can be transferred over the Lightning Network, are one of the most requested features from users and developers alike. Starbackr is built for creators from all around the world. That is why we wanted to design the whole flow as intuitive as possible, for Bitcoiners and Pre-Coiners alike (which is why most things are denominated in USD currently). After all it is not the Bitcoin payout itself that empowers creators, but instead the permissionless nature of the network. With Taro users and creators can benefit from this superior and open payment network, without having to be exposed to Bitcoin’s (currently) very volatile price.
Creator assets
If you are a frequent traveler you will probably know programs like Miles and More or Americans Express’ Membership Rewards. Those programs reward a customer for being loyal to the airline or using their credit card regularly.
Creators will be able to mint their own creator-asset straight from their Starbackr Wallet. Users can earn creator assets by interacting with a creator on Starbackr, unlocking special perks like badges, or discounts. But wait, there is more! The perks that fans can unlock will be highly customizable. Creators for example can create exclusive content that will be accessible to fans that already stacked a minimum amount of the creator’s assets. Some examples of such would be static on-demand content as well as interactive content, like live streams and chat messages
Platform-wide assets
Another great use-case for Taro is a platform-wide asset, that is given to creators and users in exchange for engagement and attention. Creators will receive the Starbackr asset in exchange for the value they provide to the platform as well as their fans, while users will receive the asset in exchange for engagement and attention.
The use cases for such a platform-wide token are endless. An obvious one would be on-platform benefits as well as swag, but if you think further then a platform-wide asset could unlock much more serious things than just in-game items. A very high-level concept we are working on is a more decentralized approach to monetization through ads. With this approach, we reward users for their engagement and attention.
When will Taro be implemented into Starbackr Wallet?
As you can see, the possibilities that Taro unlocks for Starbackr users are many more than just stablecoins on Bitcoin. But how long will it take until it is available?
It will take more time until a user-friendly public release of a Taro implementation is available to end users. But we are working closely with Lightning Labs to bring Taro to Starbackr Wallet, as soon as an alpha release of the protocol is available, which will most likely be a lot sooner than you would expect 😉
