Liquid Network

Liquid is a federated sidechain pegged to Bitcoin, developed by Blockstream. Funds are locked on Bitcoin via federation multisig and unlocked on Liquid as L-BTC.

Codebase: Elements (github.com/ElementsProject/elements), a Bitcoin Core fork with extensions.

Architecture

• Federation: ~15 functionaries (Blockstream + partners).
• Block production: round-robin among functionaries.
• 2-minute target block time.
• Peg-in: send BTC to federation multisig → equivalent L-BTC appears on Liquid after 102 confirmations.
• Peg-out: send L-BTC to federation → BTC released on Bitcoin after withdrawal queue.