WakeUp Labs partnered with Alpen Labs to operationalize the tooling stack for Alpen, a ZK-enabled Bitcoin rollup where Bitcoin anchoring is part of consensus and finality, not an external settlement layer. We brought it to production.
Nearly all Bitcoin financial infrastructure today treats programmability as something that happens somewhere else. Bitcoin settles transactions while another chain executes them.
That separation has shaped nearly every major Bitcoin interoperability, bridge, and L2 design over the last several years.
Alpen Labs is approaching the problem differently. They are building Alpen, an execution environment on top of Bitcoin such that Bitcoin is not simply an external settlement layer or passive asset source. As a ZK-enabled Bitcoin rollup, Bitcoin anchoring is part of the protocol's consensus and finality model itself.
That changes the infrastructure assumptions across the entire stack.
A standard EVM explorer is no longer enough. Wallet flows need to preserve Bitcoin-native security expectations. Operational tooling has to account for Bitcoin-aware signing and release processes. Even concepts as basic as transaction confirmation and finality become more nuanced when Bitcoin anchoring is embedded directly into the protocol architecture.
That is the environment WakeUp Labs partnered with Alpen Labs to help operationalize.
How the Collaboration Started
The collaboration began during Alpen's testnet phase.
Before building infrastructure, WakeUp Labs worked directly inside the protocol environment to understand how Alpen behaved under real operating conditions: bridge flows, transaction lifecycle visibility, developer experience, tooling limitations, and operational edge cases.
Bitcoin-anchored execution systems inherit constraints from both Bitcoin and EVM environments simultaneously. Many infrastructure assumptions that hold inside a conventional rollup stack require specialized adaptations once Bitcoin settlement and anchoring become part of the consensus model itself.
The early testnet work gave WakeUp Labs direct familiarity with those constraints before moving deeper into the infrastructure layer.
From there, the collaboration expanded into explorer infrastructure, operational security tooling, and Bitcoin-native user integrations.
The Projects
Testnet QA
The starting point. Functional testing across Alpen's Testnet 1 (DeFi flows, bridge interactions, developer tooling, and transaction lifecycle behavior) to build operational understanding before shipping infrastructure on top.
Alpen Block Explorer
A customized Blockscout implementation for Bitcoin-anchored consensus: anchoring-aware transaction state, Bitcoin-related finalization context, and dedicated visibility into BTC deposits entering and locking on Alpen.
Strata Multisig Desktop App
A cross-platform Tauri and Rust desktop app for authorized signers managing Alpen administrative multisigs, with hardware-wallet workflows and reproducible, multi-party release engineering.
Sparrow (Strata Edition)
A specialized Sparrow fork for BTC deposits into Alpen via the Strata bridge, plus an independent Safe App for withdrawals, preserving Bitcoin-native security patterns users already trust.
Testnet QA
WakeUp Labs performed functional testing across Alpen's Testnet 1 environment, covering DeFi flows, bridge interactions, developer tooling, and transaction lifecycle behavior.
The goal was not simply protocol validation. It was to develop a working operational understanding of Alpen's Bitcoin-anchored architecture before building infrastructure on top of it, while also validating Alpen's EVM from a product builder perspective to ensure a predictable and compatible experience for teams building on the network.
That familiarity with protocol behavior informed every project that followed.
Alpen Block Explorer
A customized Blockscout implementation adapted for Alpen's Bitcoin-anchored consensus architecture.
While some EVM explorers already support more complex settlement models, Bitcoin anchoring introduces additional consensus visibility requirements due to Bitcoin's non-deterministic finality. Supporting Alpen's architecture therefore required non-trivial analysis and infrastructure customization.
The Alpen explorer extends beyond standard EVM transaction visibility by exposing anchoring-aware transaction state and Bitcoin-related finalization context. This required changes to indexing and consensus visibility layers that do not normally exist in conventional EVM infrastructure.
The explorer also includes dedicated visibility into BTC deposits entering and locking within the Alpen network.
In addition to feature development, WakeUp Labs collaborated with Alpen Labs on deployment processes, infrastructure operations, and ongoing maintenance as the network progressed toward production readiness.
Strata Multisig Desktop App
A cross-platform desktop application built with Tauri and Rust for the authorized signers managing Alpen administrative multisigs.
The operational security requirements for the application reflect the realities of Bitcoin-secured infrastructure. The application implements key protocol standards required by the ecosystem while supporting hardware-wallet-based signing workflows and reproducible build processes.
Release engineering was designed around multi-party operational controls, including multi-employee signing requirements for releases and independently verifiable builds. These are the kinds of operational guarantees expected from critical infrastructure systems securing Bitcoin-aware execution environments.
Sparrow (Strata Edition)
A specialized fork of the Sparrow Bitcoin wallet enabling BTC deposits into Alpen through the Strata bridge, alongside an independent Safe App supporting withdrawals.
Sparrow is widely trusted within the Bitcoin ecosystem because of its security model and hardware wallet compatibility. Extending that environment to support Alpen bridge interactions required integrating new execution flows while preserving existing Bitcoin-native security assumptions and user expectations.
Rather than forcing users into an entirely new wallet environment, the integration allows Bitcoin users to interact with Alpen through tooling patterns already familiar to the Bitcoin ecosystem. That matters for Bitcoin-native usability.
Why This Infrastructure Is Different
Bitcoin-EVM infrastructure exists at the intersection of two ecosystems designed around very different assumptions.
| Layer | Typical EVM assumption | Bitcoin-native expectation |
|---|---|---|
| Finality | Execution-layer finality patterns | Settlement guarantees with non-deterministic Bitcoin finality |
| Wallets | Generalized wallet abstractions | Hardware workflows and conservative signing conventions |
| Explorers | EVM transaction visibility | Bitcoin-aware consensus and anchoring context |
| Operations | Standard release cadence | Multi-party controls and verifiable builds |
Most EVM tooling assumes execution-layer finality, Ethereum-style operational patterns, and generalized wallet abstractions. Bitcoin infrastructure prioritizes settlement guarantees, conservative operational security, and Bitcoin-native signing conventions.
Alpen's architecture brings those worlds together more directly than traditional interoperability systems. Bitcoin anchoring is not treated as an external bridge dependency layered on top of the protocol. It is integrated into the protocol's broader consensus and finality model.
Building that kind of infrastructure requires familiarity with both ecosystems simultaneously. WakeUp Labs brings experience across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Starknet, and Aztec alongside Bitcoin ecosystem work including Rootstock, BitcoinOS, and Alpen Labs.
"Most teams pick one ecosystem and go deep. Bitcoin-EVM infrastructure forces you to hold two very different mental models simultaneously. That's exactly the kind of constraint we find interesting."
Milton Berman, Co-founder, WakeUp Labs
From Testnet Infrastructure to Mainnet Readiness
The collaboration evolved in layers: protocol validation during Alpen's testnet phase, consensus-aware infrastructure, operational security tooling, and user-facing Bitcoin integrations.
Together with Alpen Labs, WakeUp Labs continues supporting the infrastructure and operational tooling required as Alpen advances toward production-scale deployment and broader Bitcoin-native execution infrastructure.
"Financial markets don't emerge from protocols alone. They require the tooling stack that developers and fintechs can build on with confidence. We've partnered with @WakeUpLabs to deliver the infrastructure stack needed to unlock financial markets on Bitcoin."
Stefano Pepe, Alpen Labs
If you are building Bitcoin-native infrastructure or designing tooling for emerging L2s, these are the kinds of systems we help bring into production.
WakeUp Labs designs, builds, and operates critical infrastructure systems across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and EVM-compatible ecosystems.