Thesis, an investment studio launched in 2014, today announced a second Bitcoin layer called Mezo, which the company describes as “Bitcoin’s economic layer.” The launch follows a $21 million Series A raise led by Pantera Capital and with participation from Multicoin, Hack VC, Draper Associates and others.
The thesis argues that Mezo stands out from other L2 languages because it enables users to access applications that facilitate the use of Bitcoin tokens, promoting Bitcoin's circular economy — it can be more than just a “savings technology.”
“I think what sets the economic layer apart from any other chain is that it is beneficial to Bitcoin — both the money and the network. And then, it is beneficial to individual Bitcoin holders,” said Matt Longo, CEO of Thesis and founder of Mezo. luck.
Mezo takes HODLers' idle Bitcoin holdings and “puts them to work,” in a points program called “Proof of HODL,” the company said. The longer they store their Bitcoin deposits, the higher the “HODL Points Multiplier” for the shareholder.
“We want to make sure that people who have bitcoin can actually manage this chain,” Longo said, and the longer customers use their tokens with Mezo, the more “aligned” they become with the chain.
For the user's role in securing the network, Mezo provides the payout – giving Bitcoin users something to do what they would otherwise be doing: HODLing Bitcoin.
“Whatever happens on the chain is good for the people who own Bitcoin, and it's good for the people who use Bitcoin on the chain — I think that's the key,” he explained. “Anyone who really touches the asset should be able to make a profit from their bitcoin. It shouldn't just be something like a pet rock or something sitting on a shelf, you know?
Mezo is designed to deepen the capabilities of Bitcoin's infrastructure by helping to conduct cheaper and faster transactions without deviating from the basic principles of the network, the company said in a statement. The permissionless layer — that is, a public blockchain with no restrictions and no central administrator — leverages neutral smart contract infrastructure to deliver a broader range of applications on the Bitcoin network, the company said.
The second layer will be powered by the thesis-based tBTC ecosystem, which allows for a “trust-reduced” bridge with different ecosystems. Mezo “highlights the enormous potential that tBTC has in making Bitcoin a productive asset,” Anjan Vinod, director at ParaFi Capital, said in a statement.
“This feels like a breakthrough moment for Bitcoin as a technology, not just an asset,” added Dan Moorhead, founder and managing partner of Pantera Capital. “The Bitcoin community has been great about holding their Bitcoin for a long time, but they are also willing to put their assets to work.”
