Merlin is a Bitcoin Layer-2 mainnet with EVM compatibility that uses BTC as the native gas token, letting BTC holders access DeFi, DEXs, lending, gaming, and Ordinals/BRC-20 markets without wrapping assets. Core use cases include swapping and yield with BTC collateral, bridging and trading inscriptions/BRC‑20, on-chain payments, and building BTC‑native dApps. As of Sep 2025, public dashboards show ~2s block times, sub-$0.01 average gas for simple transfers, observed peaks above 1,000 TPS, and sustained activity in the hundreds of thousands of daily transactions.
Merlin stands out by combining BTC-as-gas with native BRC‑20/Ordinals interoperability inside an EVM environment, delivering a BTC-native UX that most Ethereum-focused L2s lack. It targets high performance—~2s blocks, <$0.01 fees, and 1k+ TPS peaks—while aligning with Bitcoin to bring its liquidity directly into EVM DeFi. This mix of BTC-native payments, inscriptions support, and L2-scale throughput differentiates Merlin from general-purpose chains.
Merlin uses BTC as the gas token for transaction fees. You can obtain BTC by bridging from other chains or purchasing using thirdweb Bridge.
To bridge BTC to Merlin, connect your wallet to thirdweb bridge, select your source chain, choose the token you want to bridge, select Merlin as the destination, enter the amount, and confirm the transaction. The bridge will handle the cross-chain transfer instantly.
To build on Merlin 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 Merlin 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 Merlin, ensure your wallet is connected to the Merlin network, enter the recipient's address, specify the amount of BTC to send, review the gas fee, and confirm the transaction in your wallet.