What is Mintlayer?

Mintlayer is described as a layer 2 solution focused on enabling decentralized finance using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. The protocol is positioned to support smart contracts on Bitcoin, with the stated goal of enabling features that can lead to a decentralized exchange. The description emphasizes atomic swaps between native Bitcoin and tokenized assets minted on Mintlayer, presented as direct 1:1 swaps without intermediaries, peg-in, wrapped, or federated tokens. It also mentions support for NFTs and dapps.

The description states that users can choose any token to pay transaction fees, and that the system uses “turing incomplete” smart contracts to reduce contract failure risk. It includes an access control list for address whitelisting and blacklisting, supports multi-token transfers in a single transaction, and integrates the Lightning Network for higher transaction throughput. It further mentions programmable pools and an aim to reduce UTXO pollution. The supply cap, governance model, and founding details are not provided.