PANews reported on October 21st that, according to The Block, Ark Labs, backed by investors including Draper Associates, Axiom, and Fulgur Ventures, has officially launched the public beta of Arkade, the most advanced native Layer 2 solution for Bitcoin since the advent of the Lightning Network nearly a decade ago. Arkade is built upon the Ark protocol specification, first proposed in 2023, and this release marks the first mainnet implementation of this vision. It virtualizes Bitcoin's transaction layer through virtual transaction outputs (VTXOs)—off-chain representations of Bitcoin's native unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs). Importantly, Arkade requires no changes to Bitcoin's consensus rules and operates entirely within its existing security framework. This public beta marks the beginning of Arkade's broader rollout, with Ark Labs planning to add enhanced scripting tools, additional security features, and support for more advanced financial applications in the coming months. In addition to the mainnet launch, Ark Labs on Tuesday also launched Arkade Assets, a new framework that expands Arkade’s virtualization model to support multiple asset types, including stablecoins and other tokens.