Bitlayer Testnet is a Bitcoin-secured Layer 2 where BTC (testnet BTC) is the native gas and execution is EVM-equivalent, letting teams deploy Solidity dApps that settle to Bitcoin. It’s used to trial BTC-native DeFi, payments, NFTs/gaming, and bridge flows with low-cost, fast confirmations—typical testnet behavior shows seconds-level block times, sub-cent average gas, and burst throughput in the hundreds of TPS during load tests.
Bitlayer Testnet is unique in combining BTC-as-gas with full EVM equivalence and a trust-minimized Bitcoin peg, enabling native BTC liquidity without wrapping while preserving Ethereum-grade developer tooling. This delivers Bitcoin-backed security with high performance—seconds-level block speed, low-gas transactions, and high TPS—making it stand out from ETH L2s (which use ETH for gas) and non-EVM BTC L2s (which lack easy Solidity portability).
Bitlayer Testnet uses BTC as the gas token for transaction fees. You can obtain BTC by bridging from other chains or purchasing using thirdweb Bridge, or through faucets (for testnet).
To bridge BTC to Bitlayer Testnet, connect your wallet to thirdweb bridge, select your source chain, choose the token you want to bridge, select Bitlayer Testnet as the destination, enter the amount, and confirm the transaction. The bridge will handle the cross-chain transfer instantly.
To build on Bitlayer Testnet you can use thirdweb, which provides an easy way to build, monetize and scale your apps, games or agents. You can find detailed guides and documentation on https://portal.thirdweb.com to get started quickly.
To add Bitlayer Testnet to your wallet, you can connect your wallet and click on [Add to Wallet] button at the top of the page. Alternatively, you can add the network manually using the RPC URL and chain details and add it to your wallet's network settings.
To send BTC on Bitlayer Testnet, ensure your wallet is connected to the Bitlayer Testnet network, enter the recipient's address, specify the amount of BTC to send, review the gas fee, and confirm the transaction in your wallet.