Core, the largest Bitcoin sidechain, launched permissionless cross-chain swaps. On Oct. 22, Core launched a platform facilitating atomic swaps, allowing users to exchange assets peer-to-peer between Core and both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Core's atomic swaps currently support several assets, including Core on Core Chain, ETH, USDT, USDC and CORE on Ethereum, and BTC on Bitcoin. Core plans to launch support for additional networks and assets in the future, including ERC-20 tokens, BTC-20 tokens, Ordinals, and NFTs. Atomic swaps are trustless and decentralized, with Core leveraging cryptographic hash functions in conjunction with Hashed Time Lock Contracts to facilitate trade execution. “This product is a huge leap forward in enabling a fully decentralized BTCfi ecosystem, and it’s exciting to see Core leading the charge in building the future of blockchain interoperability,” said Wayne Hsu, a contributor to Core DAO. “We’re making cross-chain trading faster, simpler, and most importantly, trustless.” Core also plans to roll out orderbook and market maker features for atomic swaps at a later date. Core describes itself as a Proof of Stake layer built on top of Bitcoin that supports Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts. The network is secured by Bitcoin’s Proof of Work mining network, with 47% of Bitcoin's hash rate currently delegated to simultaneously securing Core. Core’s growth Core has enjoyed meteoric growth in recent months, with the chain’s total value locked (TVL) growing 3,605% to $480.5 million from $13 million on April 1. Core ranks as Bitcoin’s largest sidechain, followed by Bitlayer with $395.8 million, Stacks with $214.3 million, and Rootstock with $171.8 million. Core’s growth has been propelled by lending and Bitcoin staking protocols. Colend, a money market protocol, is the largest dApp on Core with $185.9 million in TVL, followed by Pell Network, a Bitcoin staking protocol, with $128.5 million, and Avalan Finance, a lending protocol, with $119.4 million. Last month, Core launched LstBTC, a Bitcoin liquid staking token. The price of CORE is down 3.7% over the past 24 hours, according to The Defiant’s crypto price feeds.