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Blockchain-focused platform, Hotstuff Labs, announced today that it has launched the public testnet for Hotstuff L1, a DeFi Layer 1 blockchain powered by DracoBFT, a custom-built consensus protocol.
Following its design, Hotstuff L1 features as a purpose-built chain that pairs a highly performant on-chain order book with a programmable finance routing layer where validators act as last-mile gateways to trading, payments, and fiat rails.
While it differs from general-purpose chains, Hotstuff L1 is designed as an Uber-style routing layer in which validators provide real-world financial access on demand.
According to the announcement, Hotstuff Labs is backed by top-tier investors, including Delphi Digital, Dialectic, Stake Capital, Tykhe Ventures, and the founders of leading DeFi protocols such as 1inch, Safe, Biconomy, Socket, and more.
 
Speaking on the development, Julien Bouteloup, the Founder of Stake Capital Group, said;
“Hotstuff Labs is building a performant chain that links trading, payments, and real-world settlement into one coherent layer. The vision is to enable validators to become active financial access points. That aligns perfectly with how we see the future of infrastructure: decentralised, compliant, and directly plugged into the global economy.”
Notably, the Hotstuff L1 architecture extends beyond trading; it enables validators to opt in as permissioned service providers.
On Hotstuff, validators aren’t just for consensus; they act as global financial access points for both the core trading engine and end users. As such, stablecoin rails enable access to off-chain liquidity for the core trading engine. Meanwhile, for end users, validators unlock last-mile connectivity for fiat crypto on/off-ramps, payments, and FX use cases.
Nonetheless, the announcement further revealed that integrations with leading payment platforms, on/off-ramps, banking partners, and card programs baked into the chain enable validators to earn by powering fiat stablecoin on/off-ramps, enabling regional payment and remittance rails, issuing or supporting cards, and local accounts, and also serving as last-mile connectivity into different currencies and regions.
The chain matches users to specific validators based on stake, performance history, and quality of service, much like a routing layer combined with lightweight zero-knowledge proofs for trustless verification of both on-chain and off-chain actions.
Vyom Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO of Hotstuff Labs, commented on this, saying, “Most chains validate blocks. Hotstuff validates and delivers trustless access to money. It’s the Uber for financial validators, routing every flow to the right provider…We’re building a Layer 1 that can connect a trader in Asia, a remittance corridor in LATAM, and a card issuer in Europe on the same settlement fabric”.
Following the launch, the Hotstuff L1 public testnet is now live and open to traders and quants to test early perp and spot trading, multi-venue vaults, and market infrastructure built directly on the core L1.
Also, builders, fintech, and stablecoin infrastructure providers can now partner with Hotstuff Labs to enable new trading primitives, payments, FX, and settlement use cases.
Lastly, the launch will allow validators and node operators to run DracoBFT nodes, benchmark performance, and experiment with financial service modules.