Portal to Bitcoin is a trust-minimized, non-custodial cross-chain protocol designed to enable seamless trading and interoperability between the native Bitcoin blockchain and other networks. It addresses the long-standing challenge of integrating Bitcoin into the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem without relying on vulnerable custodial bridges or wrapped tokens. By prioritizing security and self-custody, Portal ensures that users maintain complete control over their assets throughout the entire swap process, mitigating the risks of exploits and hacks that have plagued other cross-chain solutions.

The core of Portal's innovation lies in its BitScaler technology, which utilizes atomic swaps powered by Hash Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs) to facilitate direct, peer-to-peer exchanges. Instead of locking assets in a centralized bridge, this mechanism uses on-chain, time-bound smart contracts to ensure that a swap either completes successfully on both chains or fails safely, with each party recovering their funds. The protocol is also supported by a decentralized validator network, which secures the cross-chain operations and is economically incentivized through staking of the native PTB token.

As a custody-less infrastructure, Portal unlocks new possibilities for Bitcoin in DeFi, from enabling institutional trading with reduced counterparty risk to supporting the development of DeFi applications that leverage Bitcoin's security. The platform supports a wide range of assets, including BTC, Ordinals, and Runes, to facilitate liquidity flows across different blockchain environments. With its innovative architecture and focus on decentralization, Portal to Bitcoin aims to accelerate the vision of a financial internet built on the foundational security and censorship resistance of Bitcoin.