Ethereum L2 is rolling out BTC staking and generation products as part of the push to become the Bitcoin execution layer.
Layer 2 (L2) network StarkNet has announced several new initiatives aimed at expanding Bitcoin use in decentralized finance, including BTC Staking, facility-grade BTC yield products and the 100 million STK incentive program.
On September 30th at Token2049 in Singapore, Starknet revealed that it launched Bitcoin stake on the network, explaining that alongside STRK users can secure Layer 2 and earn rewards.
The project called the initiative “staking L2 in the first place completely unreliable BTC,” and described it as part of the network’s goal of becoming a Bitcoin execution layer.
The announcement also revealed that RE7 Capital, which operates a fund under management of over $1 billion, supports the initiative in Starknet’s new BTC-controlled yield fund aimed at promoting institutional use of Bitcoin within ecosystems.
Starknet’s Bitcoin Defi (BTCFI) push includes contributors WBTC, Lombard, SolV, Threshold Network, PumpBTC, Bitlayer and Bedrock, according to a press release shared with Defiant. Cross-chain infrastructure companies such as Layerzero, Hyperlane, Rhino.fi and Atomiq are also involved in the initiative.
According to the announcement, Starknet noted that previous approaches to BTC staking in L2 faced “trade-offs” including security risks and scalability issues. On StarkNet, “BTC stakers help secure a network and prove a transaction in exchange for rewards,” the release reads.
Technical details of the update remain unknown, and Starknet said details will be revealed later this week.
StarkNet is now the seventh largest Ethereum rollup in total secured by chains per L2Beat data, exceeding $625 million. The biggest one is Arbitrum, which exceeded $19.8 billion at press time.
100 million strk
The Starknet Foundation said the Starknet Foundation will distribute around $13 million at its current price, with the intention of launching activities around Bitcoin on the network through a program called the “BTCFI Season.”
In the news, Starknet (STRK) prices rose almost 9% this morning in the news, per data on Defiant’s price tracking page.
Bitcoin’s defi locked total (TVL) has exploded over the past two years, almost doubled, led by staking the platform Babylon earlier this year. The protocol continues to control BTCFI TVL for each Defillama data, accounting for $6.6 billion of a total of $8.45 billion.
As of the time of reporting, Bitcoin’s Debt Protocol native assets hold approximately $1.72 billion in total market capitalization, while Tokenization Protocol Pendle Finance’s Pendle Finance accounts for nearly $780 million per Coingecko data.