Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina）
Author | Golem (@web3_golem）
In recent days, Bitcoin has broken through $120,000 and hit a new high, but the more Bitcoin's price rises, the more the Bitcoin ecosystem appears to be languishing in the corner. "If you don't break out in silence, you'll perish in silence," and although the Bitcoin ecosystem is gradually disappearing from public view, some people are still holding on, with BTCFi pioneer Merlin being one of them.
At a time when Bitcoin continues to reach new highs and the Altcoin market is warming up, Odaily had the privilege of having a dialogue with Merlin's founder Jeff. In the conversation, Jeff elaborated on the details of Merlin's BTCFi and AI Agent products and disclosed subsequent plans, while also announcing the launch of an RWA project in the Bitcoin ecosystem in early August.
Additionally, Jeff shared his inner thoughts and insights from founding Merlin to now, from being "in the spotlight" to "backstage". To present it clearly, Odaily has simplified the interview Q&A, enjoy~
How Merlin "Reshapes BTC"
[The rest of the translation follows the same professional and accurate approach, maintaining the original meaning while translating to fluent English.]Odaily: Previously, Merlin officially announced a strategic cooperation with wBTC DAO, but Merlin also has its own wrapped BTC. In what aspects do MBTC and wBTC complement each other? Are there any specific liquidity sharing plans?
Jeff: wBTC is one of the earliest wrapped BTC with strong consensus, with liquidity of over tens of billions of dollars distributed across various chains. As MBTC is a newly born asset just a year old, we also hope it can expand to more chains and protocols.
Now as one of the nine members of wBTC DAO, on one hand, we can learn from their experience in regulation and security; on the other hand, MBTC and wBTC will coexist on more chains in the future, with the two tokens being almost 1:1 interchangeable, providing users with lower friction and opening up different DeFi application scenarios, allowing users to trade, arbitrage, and earn interest better in both MBTC and wBTC active DeFi scenarios.
Crypto Trading Entry for Bitcoin Holders: Merlin Wizard
Odaily: Besides Bitcoin staking, Merlin's another important product is the AI assistant Merlin Wizard, and it recently released version 0.3. What are its core functions and pain points it solves?
Jeff: Wizard currently has two main functions. The first is trading decision assistance, where we now have on-chain data from four mainstream chains (Ethereum, Solana, Base, and BSC), as well as off-chain data for the top few hundred projects on CMC. With this data, AI can help users answer doubts or complete trading decisions.
The second function is trade execution. For new users, learning how to use wallets from four or five different chains and DeFi protocols can be quite challenging. Wizard can help users directly complete some trades, such as buying TRUMP at a certain price and then selling at another price, or directly participating in token launches and IDOs on BSC with a specified amount.
These operations can be completed by an AI, but the premise is obtaining user authorization. So the final signature control remains in the user's hands, but all intermediate processes are helped by AI, eliminating the need for users to learn complex procedures or follow step-by-step tutorials.
Around early August, we will directly launch Wizard 1.0 version, where users can directly dialogue with this AI Agent and use BTC to complete various trades, providing a better experience than the current version.
Odaily: What large model is used behind Merlin Wizard? How high are the maintenance costs?
Jeff: Currently, most Agents use hybrid large models. For language-based tasks, we might use Claude, and for data-based tasks, we might use ChatGPT. Maintenance costs are manageable because the crypto user base isn't large. If maintaining daily active users in the thousands, monthly costs would be between a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, which can be covered by Merlin chain's own income.
Odaily: The AI Agent trend in crypto has somewhat subsided. Why does Merlin, as a BTC ecosystem project, continue to focus on this sector?
Jeff: Everyone can see that in the near future, AI will help users complete complex operations. As the crypto industry has developed, with numerous chains, protocols, wallets, and assets, it often creates information overload for users. For younger generations, understanding this "history" is too complicated, and many newcomers aren't even familiar with Metamask.
I believe that as this trend develops, the crypto trading entry will inevitably evolve into an AI agent approach. For example, users will open a browser or mobile device and have an AI Agent working as a full-time assistant to help complete various trades, without needing to open Metamask or OKX wallet.
Regardless of who ultimately achieves this goal, I believe the industry will attract more new users because of it.
Odaily: Does Merlin have more product plans focused on individual investors with stronger applications?
Jeff: We expect to launch a new project in early August that will introduce RWA into the BTC ecosystem, specifically tokenizing real-world assets like collectibles, anime, and IPs, enabling on-chain transfer, trading, and lottery.
This plan is consistent with Merlin's core goal of giving BTC more utility. It also satisfies investors' desires to hold BTC to outperform the market while seeking high-risk, high-return speculative opportunities, and providing these "speculative channels" is our long-term direction.
(Translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text)Moreover, Merlin is not just an application in a specific track, but a public chain. Frankly speaking, as a public chain, we must capture market trends. When Pump.fun was popular, whether it was Ethereum, BSC, Base, or Tron, everyone was doing pump, and this is the same reasoning.
As a public chain, Merlin's more important task is to support developers. When a concept or product becomes popular, developers naturally want to create similar things, but we can't stop developers just because it doesn't align with our ideas. Therefore, I believe that building an ecosystem and building applications are different. Public chains are often pushed forward by the entire ecosystem's community users.
But I still believe that no one can succeed by simply chasing trends. For example, during the inscription boom, the teams that ultimately emerged were those that persisted through the most desolate period of the inscription ecosystem. From the end of last year to now, AI has been scoffed at by most Web3 users, who think the track has already peaked, but Merlin continues to persist.
So what you chase is not important, the key is whether you can persist, and deliver what users truly care about. The BTCFi concept was also first proposed by Merlin, but the market ultimately became hot about a year after we introduced it.
There are moments of wanting to give up every day
Odaily: Bitcoin recently broke through $120,000, setting a new high. How do you view the Bitcoin trend in this cycle? Will the bull market continue? Will it bring more attention to the Bitcoin ecosystem?
Jeff: I'm still very optimistic about the upcoming market trends because we are currently in an institutional bull market. For the Bitcoin ecosystem, everyone has an optimistic expectation that after Bitcoin rises, sector rotation will bring more attention to the Bitcoin ecosystem, and I think this logic is reasonable. But ultimately, what the market will choose - whether it's BTCFi, inscriptions, or RWA - is hard to predict.
Odaily: Since creating Merlin, which period was the most stressful? What supported Merlin in persisting?
Jeff: I feel the pressure has been relatively even, but the period when Merlin was listed was definitely the most stressful. Because we gave users a 20% airdrop, facing selling pressure from the airdrop and market price expectations, the stress was quite significant.
The reason for persisting is first and foremost the belief in the Bitcoin ecosystem, believing this is a long-term track. Additionally, we've been building the Bitcoin ecosystem for quite some time. You'll find that now, hardly any new Bitcoin ecosystem projects can take off, and the difficulty of building from 0 to 1 has increased. So we believe that since Merlin has established certain thresholds and barriers, and we firmly believe this track has long-term value, we persisted.
To be honest, I have moments every day of thinking "maybe I should give up", but when I see the entire industry recovering, and imagine the project returning to everyone's view and being able to do better, we, like all dedicated Bitcoin ecosystem builders, chose to continue.
Odaily: Regardless, Merlin is a BTC Layer 2 project that has traversed cycles. What insights do you most want to share from the entire construction period?
Jeff: My personal biggest realization is that doing projects in this cycle is hellishly difficult. The challenges faced in this cycle have actually far exceeded the challenges of previous cycles.
Most developers now might be more willing to do short-term investment and speculative projects, which, while Bitcoin doesn't care about these, is not good for the entire Web3 ecosystem.
I still hope more builders and users can join together to build Web3.
