BitScaler Unveiled

Lead Engineer, BitScaler and Portal “We didn’t invent Bitcoin. We just asked: what if it could do more?” — Casey Bowman

This isn’t a sidechain LARPing as an L2. It’s not a rollup, ZK or not.

And it’s not another wrapped asset scheme masquerading as a “cross chain infra”.

It’s BitScaler, a channel factory‑based framework built directly on Bitcoin’s base layer. It enables multi‑party liquidity pools, atomic swaps, and programmable DeFi, while preserving Bitcoin’s core properties: security, decentralisation, and trustlessness.

And it’s the outcome of years of careful engineering, driven by Casey Bowman and Manoj Duggirala's obsession with sound money, modular design, and first‑principles thinking.

This article unpacks:

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  What BitScaler really is
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  The technical innovations that make it possible
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  How it extends Lightning Network’s limits
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  Why it could be the missing link for Bitcoin‑native DeFi

Bitscaler: The Birth of True Defi on Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the most secure, globally seamless, immutable and decentralised network in existence. But in DeFi, it trails far behind Ethereum, Solana, and even newer chains.

Lightning Network (LN) pushed Bitcoin beyond base‑layer payments, but the usage of Bitcoin for payments is far in the future, not now. And it comes with trade‑offs:

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  Most importantly, it requires every pair of users to have a channel between them, and that requires an on chain footprint, and fees.
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  Moreover, Liquidity remains siloed in channels. Funds can get “stuck” on one side of a channel in the non‑cooperative case.
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  Channels require active monitoring; users must be online to protect funds.
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  Scaling is limited, no shared pools, no AMMs, no composable contracts.

Other attempts at Bitcoin DeFi often rely on custodial bridges, bridged sidechains, wrapped derivatives or the most insecure of them all: or federated sidechains, introducing risks Bitcoin was designed to avoid.

Bitscaler changes that and extends Lightning instead of replacing it.

What the Unveiling Actually Entails

BitScaler won’t be launched as a white paper or a slide deck. At TabConf (Oct, 13 2025), Portal will present:

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  A live demo of the BitScaler service, featuring the most IN DEMAND (by volumes traded) real‑world use case that demonstrates how it seamlessly integrates into atomic swaps.
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  Delegated liveness in action, showing how liquidity providers stay in control without 24/7 uptime.
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  Policy‑based scripting workflows, with real code examples in Miniscript.
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  Developer docs and an open‑source repo, available immediately after the talk.

This isn’t “someday.” Developers will walk out of TabConf able to clone the repo, spin up a factory, and start experimenting.

Bitscaler: Bitcoin’s Financial Layer

At its core, BitScaler is a multi‑party channel factory with critical upgrades.

Unlike standard LN channels, which need separate open and close transactions for every channel, BitScaler allows thousands of channels to exist off‑chain, secured by just one anchor transaction and one closing settlement.

This shrinks Bitcoin’s on‑chain footprint by orders of magnitude and makes shared liquidity viable.

And it’s not just a white‑paper idea. BitScaler is coded in Rust, live in demo form, and designed with real‑world DeFi use cases from day one starting with a Bitcoin‑native AMM.

The Minds Behind BitScaler

BitScaler’s architecture is the product of two complementary forces at Portal. Manoj, CTO, brings the strategic vision: how Bitcoin can evolve from “digital gold” into a full financial layer, and how to extend Lightning’s primitives without breaking Bitcoin’s trust model.

Casey Bowman, Lead Engineer, translates that vision into code. With a Stanford background in engineering economic systems, Casey has long explored monetary theory and modular software design, even experimenting with e‑cash systems in the late ’90s.

Together, Manoj’s systems‑level thinking and Casey’s engineering rigour created BitScaler’s design: simple at the component level, powerful in aggregate, and firmly rooted in Bitcoin’s first principles.

How BitScaler Works

1. Hook Transaction (Layer 1) A single Taproot transaction anchors the channel factory. Uses an (n+1)-of-(n+1) multisig with timelocked branches. Only one on‑chain commitment is required to launch.
2. Allocation Transactions (Layer 2) Off‑chain transactions allocate liquidity between participants. Channels can be rebalanced without touching the blockchain.
3. Hub‑and‑Spoke Liquidity (Key Innovation) Liquidity flows through a hub but it’s non‑custodial. The hub coordinates swaps, while funds remain trustlessly controlled. “It’s like an exchange where every trade is a non‑custodial atomic swap.”
4. Atomic Swaps via HTLCs (Layer 3) Three HTLCs ensure every trade is atomic, trustless, and final: Trader → Router Router → Hub Hub → Liquidity Provider
5. Delegated Liveness (UX breakthrough) LPs can delegate signing to operators (e.g. watchtowers). If the delegate fails, LPs reclaim funds via timelocked escape routes. Removes the burden of 24/7 online presence.
6. Policy Language + Miniscript (Security) Smart contract logic is written in auditable policy language. Compiled into Miniscript, then into Bitcoin Scripts. Errors are caught at compile‑time, not on‑chain.
7. Hexagonal Architecture (Modularity) Core logic is isolated from dependencies. Components (wallet, signer, state manager) are plug‑and‑play. Enables upgrades like PTLCs without breaking the system.

BitScaler is a platform, not a product.

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  Built with Rust, BDK, and Taproot outputs.
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  Uses PSBTs for persistence, WebSockets + STOMP for coordination.
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  Chain‑agnostic on the other side: any chain with HTLCs can interoperate.

“As long as the other chain supports HTLCs, it works EVM, non‑EVM, doesn’t matter.”

Manoj Duggirala – Portal CTO

Now (Live):

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  AMM demo with atomic swaps
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  Hub‑and‑spoke channel factory
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  Delegated liveness
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  Policy‑based scripting

Next:

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  Public unveiling at TABConf 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia October 13th‑16th
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  Open‑source repo + documentation

The Bigger Picture

Portal’s bet is clear: Bitcoin doesn’t need to imitate Ethereum. It can build its own DeFi rails, rooted in Bitcoin’s strengths security, simplicity, and decentralisation.

When BitScaler succeeds, the implications are huge; a few examples include:

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  Treasuries could earn yield natively on Bitcoin.
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  Insurance and derivatives could run without custodians.
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  Prediction markets and stable balance tokens could live on the most secure chain.

As Manoj Duggirala puts it:

“Bitcoin doesn’t generate yield. But Lightning does through fees. BitScaler expands that.”

Ecosystem Grants

Selected developers will receive funding, mentorship, and early access to integrations. To accelerate adoption, Portal will also launch a grant programme from its ecosystem fund.

Initial focus areas include:

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  Tooling for liquidity providers
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  New AMM and swap designs
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  DLC‑based derivatives and prediction markets

Details will drop very soon.