Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem thrives despite market correction

The Bitcoin DApp ecosystem has been reinvigorated by the invention of native protocols such as Ordinals and Inscriptions last year.

The Bitcoin decentralized application (DApp) ecosystem has been experiencing a revival with the introduction of native protocols since the creation of Ordinals and Inscriptions.

One such project, omnichain yield-generating protocol SolvBTC, has accumulated a total value locked (TVL) of $700 million from its yield-bearing Bitcoin minted on Arbitrum, Merlin, and BNB Chains. In a statement to Cointelegraph, SolvBTC developers claim that the protocol has recently surpassed 10,000 BTC staked and attracted “over 92,000 participants” shortly after its launch earlier this month. 

“The liquidity revolution of Bitcoin is a necessary prerequisite for the true explosion of BTCFi,” commented SolvBTC founder Ryan Chow. “In the near future, SolvBTC will be launched on and bridged to additional networks, effectively connecting BTC users, chains, and protocols.”

SolvBTC utilizes BTC as collateral and sources staking along with DeFi yields from blockchains such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, Merlin, and BNB Chain. The protocol estimates the mechanism can generate annual returns of 5% to 10% on users’ BTC deposits. 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin layer-2 solution BEVM announced an undisclosed investment from Chinese Bitcoin mining rig manufacturer Mitmain on April 30. “Next, BEVM will delve into exploring Bitcoin hash rate and the PoW ecosystem’s application on BEVM, which could help facilitate the migration of PoW hash rate assets and a substantial quantity of $BTC to BEVM,” commented BEVM core-builder Gavin Guo. 

Since the launch of its mainnet on March 28, BEVM has boasted over 700,000 user addresses and now hosts more than 30 ecosystem projects. Founded on the Taproot consensus, BEVM utilizes BTC as gas fees to power its Bitcoin cross-chain and liquidity provision platforms. The platform currently is valued at $200 million. 

Similarly, Bitcoin decentralized exchange (DEX) Orders Exchange and sidechain MicroVisionChain unveiled their 2024 roadmap on April 29. Specifically, the Bitcoin DEX will, among other items, integrate with the Web3 wallets of “two major exchanges” and build a Bitcoin nonfungible tokens marketplace. 

Previously, Orders Exchange completed integration with the Bitcoin Runes protocol to allow the issuance of fungible tokens on the native network and constructed a Bitcoin asset bridge with MicroVisionChain that enables the swap of BRC-20 tokens for one another. 

Despite a market sell-off, the Bitcoin Ordinals market has expanded to $2.3 billion at the time of publication, in part due to ecosystem development, memecoin frenzy, and listings on major exchanges such as Binance. BRC-20 tokens previously reached a milestone of $1 billion in market capitalization on May 9, 2023, shortly after their invention. 

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