Digital assets,
native to Bitcoin Lightning.
RGB Protocol on Bitcoin brings digital assets to the Lightning Network — without bridges, without custodians, without leaving Bitcoin. Issue tokens, stablecoins, and digital rights that move at Lightning speed.
Lightning-native by design, not by bridge. Built on client-side validation — the only approach that keeps all contract data private, off-chain, and secured by Bitcoin’s proof-of-work.
assets
100%
Bitcoin security
v0.11.1
Live on mainnet
Real assets. Real Lightning.
No compromise.
RGB makes Lightning a true multi-asset network — not by wrapping or bridging, but by letting assets flow natively through typed payment channels, validated privately by each party using client-side validation.
Assets that move at the speed of Lightning
RGB assets flow directly through typed Lightning channels. The contract’s full validation logic is preserved from sender to receiver — at Lightning speed, at Lightning cost, with Bitcoin security end to end.
Unlike approaches that require wrapping or bridging, the protocol integrates at the Lightning level. Each asset gets its own typed channel, preserving ownership rules and privacy throughout the entire transfer.
0ms*
Additional latency vs standard Lightning
0
Bridges or custodians required
100%
Bitcoin security model preserved
∞
Asset types supported natively
Instant settlement
RGB asset transfers settle in milliseconds — the same speed as any Lightning payment, with identical security guarantees from Bitcoin’s proof-of-work.
Near-zero fees
Lightning routing fees apply — fractions of a cent regardless of amount. No base-layer transaction cost, no gas, no fee market competition.
No wrapping or bridges
Assets never leave Bitcoin’s security model. No lock-up contracts, no third-party operators, no additional trust assumptions beyond Bitcoin itself.
The protocol beneath
the Lightning assets.
RGB Protocol on Bitcoin is built on client-side validation — a model where contract data never touches the blockchain. Each participant validates only their own slice of history. Bitcoin stores only a cryptographic proof that a valid transition occurred.
The problem
On-chain assets can’t scale on Lightning
Protocols that store asset data on-chain expose ownership publicly, congest the network, and require bridges or wrapping to work with Lightning — adding custodial risk at every step.
The RGB approach
Off-chain contracts, on-chain proof
Contract state stays entirely off-chain, exchanged privately between parties. Bitcoin anchors only a compact cryptographic commitment — making the transition final without exposing any data.
Scalability
No blockspace competition between assets
Thousands of RGB operations batch into a single Bitcoin transaction. Assets don’t compete for blockspace — no gas, no fee market, no throughput ceiling tied to on-chain execution.
Privacy
Ownership and amounts stay private
Contract state — who owns what, how much, under what conditions — is never published on-chain. Visible only to the parties directly involved in each transfer.
Three primitives.
One coherent protocol.
RGB combines three cryptographic building blocks into a system that brings programmable assets to Bitcoin and Lightning without modifying any consensus rules.
Client-side validation
Each user validates only the history of state transitions relevant to their own assets. This “shard” of history is exchanged privately at transfer time — nothing is published on-chain except a cryptographic commitment anchored to Bitcoin.
Validate only what’s yours
Single-use seals on Bitcoin UTXOs
Every contract operation is bound to a Bitcoin UTXO via a single-use seal. Spending that UTXO closes the seal and makes the state transition final — secured by Bitcoin’s proof-of-work, no extra trust required.
Anchored to Bitcoin proof-of-work
Schema-based contract logic
RGB contracts are defined by a Schema — a formal specification of the contract’s state and the rules governing how it evolves. Composable and extensible, enabling anything from stablecoins to decentralized identity on Lightning.
Programmable beyond simple tokens
Built on Bitcoin.
Built like Bitcoin.
RGB inherits Bitcoin’s philosophy — minimal trust, maximum verifiability, full sovereignty for every participant.
Lightning-native
RGB assets flow through typed Lightning channels natively — validated, settled at Lightning speed, without any bridge or wrapping.
Private by design
Contract state and ownership are never on-chain. Invisible to everyone except the parties directly involved in each transfer.
Scalable by default
Thousands of operations batch into a single Bitcoin transaction. No shared execution, no blockspace competition, no throughput ceiling.
Fully programmable
The Schema system supports arbitrary state structures and custom validation logic — far beyond simple token issuance.
Trustless and permissionless
No validators. No federations. No custodians. RGB is enforced by cryptography and Bitcoin consensus — nothing else.
Open protocol
Supported by the RGB Protocol Association, a Swiss foundation. Specs, code, and schemas are fully open source — anyone can build.
What moves on
RGB Lightning.
From stablecoins to tokenized real-world assets — RGB makes any digital asset transferable on Lightning, natively and privately.
Stablecoins
Native stablecoins on Bitcoin Lightning
Issue stablecoins that transfer natively over Lightning channels — not wrapped, not bridged, secured by Bitcoin’s proof-of-work end to end.
DeFi on Lightning
Decentralized exchanges on Lightning
Trade RGB assets on Lightning with atomic swaps — instant settlement, Bitcoin security, no intermediaries or custodial risk.
Tokenization
Real-world assets on Lightning
Tokenize real estate, commodities, and financial instruments as RGB contracts — transferable at Lightning speed, settled on Bitcoin.
Collectibles
Private digital collectibles
Unique assets with rich off-chain metadata. Ownership and transfer history stay completely private between the parties involved.
Identity
Decentralized identity on Bitcoin
Bind verifiable credentials to Bitcoin UTXOs. Self-sovereign identity with no registry, no custodian, no on-chain trace of personal data.
Proof of publication
Notarization and timestamping
Record the existence of documents or agreements with Bitcoin-level immutability — no third-party notary required.
RGB ecosystem
updates.
Protocol milestones and ecosystem news from the RGB community.
Frequently asked questions.
Bitcoin-native assets.
Lightning speed.
Join the developers and protocols building on RGB today.