BTC <> ADA Cross-Chain Swaps - Botty bot

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Elevators labs

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Botty is the all-encompassing UTXO Trading Bot. We will start by integrating the 2 largest UTXO chains: Cardano and Bitcoin, enabling seamless trading on both ecosystems, and eventually cross-chain.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Link on Github

[METADATA] Horizons

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Cardano lacks interoperability, with no support from major bridges and stablecoins, we must build our own solutions. The main issue Botty solves is the lack of capital flows between UTXO ecosystems, especially between the two largest: Bitcoin and Cardano. On Bitcoin, the Runes ecosystem has been gaining adoption. Runes are a UTXO-based fungible token protocol with good user experience proposed by Casey Rodarmor, aiming to integrate seamlessly with Bitcoin's infrastructure. On Cardano, there are a plethora of Native Assets from projects from RealFi, cloud computing, DEPIN, DeFi, AI and more. 

Botty is a trading bot that leverages Telegram - an app with more than 900 million users - to enable the vision of interconnecting UTXO ecosystems. You may try the current Botty bot with limited capabilities in this link. Telegram bots have gained adoption across crypto due to their simplicity. Upon opening the bot, users get automated addresses (such as for Cardano and Bitcoin). Typically, they will deposit a small amount of funds. Right now we support deposit and withdrawal of $ADA and $SNEK on Cardano and $BTC and $DOG on Bitcoin. We only support depositing and withdrawing now, but this Proposals aims to empower Botty features in the following way:

1) Swaps: we will integrate the main DEXs for Trading on Bitcoin Runes and Cardano. Users will be able to seamlessly swap $BTC for Runes as well as $ADA for CNTs.

2) Token Creation: users will be able to create tokens with a single command on Bitcoin and Cardano. Unleashing easy token creation in both ecosystems will empower project creators and give them the tools needed to better reach their communities and implement their desired token strategies.

3) Cross-chain swapping: this ultimate feature will enable capital from the Bitcoin ecosystem to flow into the Cardano ecosystem and the other way around. This is a unique offering that could potentially vastly increase liquidity and volumes on Cardano and that isn't offered by anyone as of today. 

Apart from the technical capabilities from Botty, we would like to expand on another aspect that Botty solves: democratizing financial opportunities to those in need. We argue that especially $ADA and $BTC are exceptional store of value assets due to properties such as limited supply and decentralization. They represent a better method to safeguard savings than hyperinflating national currencies. 

There is a reason the top emerging economies adopting cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are developing countries like Nigeria (Africa) and India. Over 29 Million users have been onboarded to crypto via Telegram, and we see Botty as a solution to harness these newly onboarded users into Cardano. With Botty, users don’t need seed phrases to create a wallet as their Telegram accounts would be their primary access, this eliminates friction caused by the steep learning curve of using numerous web3 wallets.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Botty will provide a seamless onboarding tool for exploring the ecosystems forming behind the largest UTXO blockchains. We are a Cardano-native product and we want Botty to result in more usage of Cardano, more capital inflow and better interoperability. 

Let's have a look at the numbers. Runes has had today a 24hr volume of $3.47mn, a total market cap of $959.73mn and circa 950,000 holders. It is large and active, attracting many users. Cardano Native Tokens have similar adoption metrics. Our aim is to interconnect those two ecosystems, and grow them together.  

Botty is special when compared to other Telegram-based bots, because it specifically focuses on UTXO chains and in particular Bitcoin and Cardano at the start. There is a lack of methods for bridging of funds between these 2 large ecosystems that share similar philosophies, values and communities. We are bridging that gap with a seamless experience through our Telegram bot. 

Botty has the ability to onboard over millions of users due to Telegrams demonstrated low user friction, its user friendliness and its crypto integrated environment. Telegram has successfully onboarded millions for other projects on TON and Solana. Botty will act as a single go-to platform to enable crosschain movement of liquidity from other UTXO blockchains to Cardano without having to go through the steep learning curve of different bridges.

We aim to regularly share the learnings of developing Bptty to increase interoperability between UTXO chains. We have already seen several Cardano projects embrace the emerging Bitcoin system, Botty will synthesize both ecosystems into one single platform with one-click actions. 

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

The team behind Botty has been on Cardano since 2021. We started Elevators Labs officially in the year 2022 and having studied the ecosystem on Cardano and outside Cardano, we decided to launch Botty in July 2023.

The first iteration of Botty launched in 2023 and gathered considerable usage during the times of high trading activity in Cardano (summer 2023). Shortly after, usage dropped and we had a lack of direction. In 2024, we discovered the Bitcoin ecosystem. We saw Botty as the clear tool to unite both major UTXO ecosystems into one platform to strengthen them and bring them to the masses. 

In order to determine whether our approach is feasible, we will actively monitor the trading activity inside of Botty. While at the start, Botty will only offer the possibility to users to interact with the Bitcoin and Cardano ecosystems in their respective silos, the mission of Botty is to enhance interoperability between both of them. This will be our biggest focus in our marketing campaign. We will highlight the opportunities in both Runes and Cardano Native Tokens and how anyone can use botty to access them at the same time. Our final aim is to have our cross-chain swaps be the main bridge between both ecosystems. 

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Introducing Swaps: the Botty bot now allows for depositing, sending and receiving different tokens on the Bitcoin, Cardano and Doge networks. By introducing swaps on DEXs, we extend the functionality and use cases of the Bot. We democratize access to financial opportunities on those ecosystems by lowering the barriers of entry. Anyone with a phone, Telegram and Botty can now participate.  

Milestone Output:

• Botty users can swap tokens through commands on DEXs on at least 2 UTXO ecosystems (e.g. Bitcoin and Cardano).

Acceptance Criteria:

• Anyone can perform a swap on at least 2 UTXO ecosystems through the Botty bot. 

Evidence:

• A link to the Botty bot with swap functionality enabled

Introducing Token Creation: we will enable anyone to create a token in a matter of minutes. This will be especially helpful for projects that want to have a token in various ecosystems simultaneously.

Milestone Output:

• Botty users can create tokens through commands on at least 2 UTXO ecosystems (e.g. Bitcoin and Cardano).

Acceptance Criteria:

• Anyone can create a token on at least 2 UTXO ecosystems through the Botty bot. 

Evidence:

• A link to the Botty bot with create token functionality enabled

Introducing Cross-chain Swaps: we will extend the swap functionality to enable cross-chain swaps. Users with $ADA will seamlessly be able to swap it for $BTC and Bitcoin ecosystem tokens. Users with $BTC will seamlessly be able to swap it for $ADA and Cardano ecosystem tokens. This cross chain capability will build new bridges between the aligned communities and vision of Bitcoin and Cardano. 

Milestone Output:

• Botty users can do cross chain swaps swaps through commands between at least 2 UTXO ecosystems (e.g. Bitcoin and Cardano).

Acceptance Criteria:

• Anyone can perform a cross chain swap between at least 2 UTXO ecosystems through the Botty bot. 

Evidence:

• A link to the Botty bot with cross chain swap functionality enabled

Final Close-Out report

Final Close-Out video

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

This team is headed by Elevators labs team of developers and marketers.

Austine Tobe (Co-founder)

Tobe is passionate about Cardano because of its security and decentralization. He is a Marketing expert who believes onboarding will only be done with reduced friction and is pioneering this path with his company Elevators Labs. He shares his insights and thoughts on Cardano marketing regularly on X.

Elevators Labs Team

A Nigerian-headquartered Cardano-focused business and development agency. We have a group of developers, marketers and researcher working on a set of products such as Botty. We also have members located in the US and Asia. This is the first time we are doing a Catalyst Proposal, despite being on Cardano for almost 3 years. 

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Milestone 1 - Introducing Swaps: It includes the development, marketing and operations to integrate with the most popular DEXs on Cardano and Bitcoin. Cost: 40,000 $ADA.

Milestone 2 - Introducing Token Creation: It includes the development, marketing and operations to implement the ability for anyone to mint tokens on Cardano and Bitcoin through Botty. Cost: 35,000 $ADA.

Milestone 3 - Introducing Cross-chain Swaps: This is the most intensive Milestone in terms of workload. It includes the development, marketing and operations to implement the ability for anyone to do cross swaps between Cardano and Bitcoin through Botty. Cost: 50,000 $ADA.

Final Milestone - this includes working on a Close out video and a Close-out report for accountability with the community of the work we will perform. Cost: 10,000 $ADA.

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Botty bot has the potential to hugely improve the interoperability of Cardano. We aim to bring an inflow of users and liquidity into Cardano as a result of this enhanced interoperability, focusing on the Bitcoin ecosystem at the start. At least 50 million people own Bitcoin, Botty offers them a tool to easily convert that Bitcoin into ADA without KYC and to participate in the Cardano ecosystem and its promising Cardano native assets. 

Botty aims to improve the onboarding process and foster stronger community interactions to boost adoption and engagement within the Cardano ecosystem. With the cross-chain swaps being the end goal, we will support the ecosystem's overall growth and sustainability, delivering a meaningful return on investment for the Cardano community.