The Ethereum L2 is rolling out BTC staking and yield products as part of its push to become the execution layer for Bitcoin.
Layer 2 (L2) network Starknet announced several new initiatives aimed at expanding Bitcoin’s use in decentralized finance, including BTC staking, an institutional-grade BTC yield product, and a 100 million STRK incentive program.
At Token2049 in Singapore today, Sept. 30, Starknet revealed that it has launched Bitcoin staking on its network, explaining that, alongside STRK, users can stake BTC to secure the Layer 2 and earn rewards, “all without losing custody.”
The project called the initiative the “first fully trustless BTC staking on any L2,” and said that it is part of the network’s goal of becoming the execution layer for Bitcoin, “using zero-knowledge (ZK) tech to scale Bitcoin trustlessly and enable private transactions.”
The announcement also revealed that Re7 Capital, which operates a fund with more than $1 billion under management, is backing the initiative with a new BTC-denominated yield fund on Starknet, aimed at advancing institutional use of Bitcoin within the ecosystem.
According to a press release shared with The Defiant, Starknet’s Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) push involves contributors WBTC, Lombard, Solv, Threshold Network, PumpBTC, Bitlayer and Bedrock, which will all provide access to DeFi and cross-chain markets. Cross-chain infrastructure firms like LayerZero, Hyperlane, Rhino.Fi, and Atomiq are also involved in the initiative.
Per the announcement, Starknet noted that previous approaches to BTC staking on an L2 had faced “tradeoffs,” including security risks and scalability issues. On Starknet, “BTC stakers will help secure the network and attest transactions in exchange for rewards,” the release reads.
The technical details of the update remain unclear, and Starknet said more info will be revealed later this week.
Starknet is currently the seventh-largest Ethereum rollup by total value secured on-chain, with over $625 million, per data from L2Beat. The largest is Arbitrum, with over $19.8 billion at press time.
100 Million STRK
To woo stakers, the Starknet Foundation said it will also distribute 100 million STRK tokens, around $13 million at current prices, through what a program it calls “BTCFi Season,” meant to kick-start activity around Bitcoin on the network.
Amid the news, the price of Starknet (STRK) jumped almost 9% this morning on the news, per data from The Defiant’s price tracking page.
The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi on Bitcoin has exploded over the past two years, nearly doubling in a month earlier this year, led by staking platform Babylon. The protocol continues to dominate BTCFi TVL, accounting for $6.6 billion of the $8.45 billion total TVL, per data from DefiLlama.
As of press time, native assets of Bitcoin DeFi protocols hold about $1.72 billion in total market capitalization, with tokenization protocol Pendle Finance’s PENDLE making up nearly half at $780 million, per data from CoinGecko.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/starknet-announced-btcfi-bitcoin-staking-initiative