A Beginner's Guide to Playing Merlin Chain and Earning Tokens

On February 8, the Bitcoin second-layer network Merlin Chain launched a total of 6 phases of mainnet staking activities and announced that 20% of the tokens would be released for airdrops. As the price of Bitcoin breaks through 51,000 USDT after the year, the popularity of the second-layer narrative continues. As a popular leading BTC L2 project, how to participate and maximize profits? The author compiled this nanny-level graphic tutorial to teach you how to play Merlin step by step.

Project Description
Merlin Chain is a second-layer Bitcoin network that integrates key modules such as the ZK-Rollup network, decentralized oracle network, and fraud proof on the Bitcoin chain. It is committed to empowering native users on BTC Layer 1 through Layer 2. The ecosystem of assets, protocols and applications allows it to continue to innovate and amplify asset potential on the second-layer network, making Bitcoin interesting again.

Merlin Chain is participated by 24 institutions including OKX Ventures, ABCDE, Foresight Ventures, Arkstream Capital, etc. It can be said that the lineup is luxurious. The team background is also very OG, launched by Bitmap Tech, the team behind the previously skyrocketing Blue Box, with a total market value of more than $500 million. From the interview with founder Jeff, we can see that the team has great ambitions and has been deeply involved in the Bitcoin industry.

Token distribution
Total number of MERL tokens: 2, 100, 000, 000

Launch price: 0.00004762 USDT

Merlin officials have made it clear that 20% of the tokens will be used for airdrops in staking activities. You must know that the regular L2 airdrop ratio is 5%, which can be said to be very generous!



What are the ways to obtain Merlin Tokens?
What can be earned now are M points, which can be mapped and exchanged for tokens in the future.

Currently, the main way to obtain points is to participate in the mainnet staking activity - Merlin's Seal.

It is broken down into the following three types of interactions in detail, which can be superimposed:

Pledge BTC native assets: BTC, BRC-420 assets, BTC-20 assets;

Staking EVM assets: If you do not have BTC native assets, you can also get exclusive native staking income by depositing them on the Ethereum mainnet or Arbitrum;

Provide liquidity: Provide liquidity for Merlin Chain's native Dex - Merlin Swap.

For detailed points redemption values, please check the official announcement . The rules and tutorials for each interaction are explained in detail below.

Detailed explanation of pledge rules
Pledge assets on BTC or EVM and accumulate M points. The points can be exchanged for token MERL in the future, and staking income can be increased by forming a team.

Among them, BTC and BRC-420 assets can be pledged directly. BRC-20 tokens such as RATS need to be inscribed first and then transferred in. Assets on Ethereum are pledged through another official bridge link.

have to be aware of is:

Daily settlement: At 8 a.m. Beijing time every day, the M points earned from staking the previous day will be settled.

Timeline: Start staking in February → Support asset mapping at the end of February → Exchange points for $MERL in March → Unlock in April, and you can retrieve your pledged assets at the first level.

Staking does not affect the swap of tokens: if you pledge your assets now, you can choose to map the assets to interact on the second layer at the end of February, but you have to wait until April to unlock from the first layer.

Team formation: increase profits

You can earn more points by forming a team to maximize your profits.

There are a total of 5 teams in a team (1 captain + 4 team members). The total pledge value of the team determines how many more points the captain and team members can earn.

When staking for the first time, you need to choose to create a team or join another team. Once chosen, you cannot change it.

After staking, users can choose to become a team leader or join an existing team. The team leader has the right to invite team members.

Example: Maximum calculation, if your team pledges assets worth 100 BTC and obtains 10,000 Merlin coins, the total amount of Merlin coins obtained by the captain is 10,120 Merlin coins.

Please refer to the official announcement for detailed bonus values.

Interaction 1: Pledge BTC native assets
1. Enter the official website: https://merlinchain.io/bridge/staking

2. Select the assets you want to stake and confirm.



3. Form a team and choose to be the captain or a member. If you are a member, please enter the team invitation code.



4. Click Staking and then sign. Staking Successful will pop up to prove that the pledge is successful.



5. Note: BTC-20 tokens, such as RATS, need to be converted into inscriptions using a wallet such as Unisat before staking.



Interaction 2: Pledge EVM assets
The websites for staking EVM assets and BTC assets are separate and currently support the Ethereum mainnet and Arbitrum.

1. Enter the official website: https://merlinchain.io/bridge/staking

2. Click to switch Network to Ethereum/Arb and jump to another webpage: https://merlin.meson.fi/



3. Connect to the wallet, select ETH or Arbitrum, and select USDC/USDT/ETH for staking.

4. Choose whether you want to be the captain or a team member. If you are a team member, please enter the team invitation code!

5. Metamask Wallet signature authorization consumes ETH on the corresponding chain as Gas, usually around 0.7 USDT.



Interaction 3: Providing liquidity in Merlin Swap
Step One: Cross-chain Obtain BTC on Merlin

1. Enter the website: https://meson.fi/

2. Connect to the wallet, select the ARB chain, and exchange USDC for BTC on the Merlin chain. Consume the ETH on ARB as GAS, which is about 0.7 USDT.

3. Usually, the cross-chain can be completed within 2 minutes.



Step 2: Go to Merlin Swap to exchange tokens

1. Enter the website: https://merlinswap.org/trade/swap

2. Exchange BTC to the token you want to add liquidity to, usually IUSD as stablecoins have less wear and tear.

3. Click Swap and pull up the wallet to sign. The BTC on the Merlin chain is consumed as GAS, which is about 0.5 USDT.



Step 3: Provide liquidity on Merlin Swap

1. Click Pools, or link: https://merlinswap.org/trade/pools

2. Select a trading pair pool to add liquidity and click Add Liquidity. Select IUSD/WBTC here because I just exchanged BTC for IUSD and I have it in my wallet.



3. Enter the amount of IUSD and click Approve. Pull up the wallet signature. The BTC on the Merlin chain is consumed as Gas, which is about 0.7 USDT.



Conclusion
That’s it for this nanny-level tutorial. The official also emphasized that these are just appetizers, giving everyone some time to get familiar with it, and more gameplay will be unlocked later.