Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Bitcoin is worth more than a trillion dollars. But most of that capital just sits there. For years, developers have been trying to answer the same question: Can Bitcoin be more than digital gold and power a full financial system?
That vision now has a name: Bitcoin DeFi.
But when we interviewed more than a dozen builders working on Bitcoin DeFi — from StarkWare to Babylon to Stacks to Bitlayer — we discovered no one agrees on what Bitcoin DeFi actually is.
Some say it already exists through wrapped Bitcoin on Ethereum. Others argue it will happen on Bitcoin Layer 2s, while disagreeing on what Bitcoin Layer 2s are. And some believe the only real Bitcoin DeFi must happen directly on Bitcoin itself.
In Episode 3 of our Beyond Bitcoin documentary series, we map the entire ecosystem and break down the six competing models trying to unlock Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar liquidity.
We explore:
• Wrapped Bitcoin and custodial models
• Federated sidechains like Rootstock and Liquid
• Decentralized signer bridges
• The emerging world of Bitcoin Layer 2s
• BitVM and the future of Bitcoin rollups
• StarkWare’s cryptographic approach
• Babylon’s Bitcoin staking model
• And Bitcoin-native protocols like Ordinals and BRC-20
Bitcoin DeFi isn’t one architecture. It’s a spectrum of trust models.
And the race to unlock Bitcoin’s capital has only just begun.
⸻
Featuring interviews with
Eli Ben-Sasson (StarkWare)
Muneeb Ali (Stacks)
David Tse (Babylon)
Charlie Hu (Bitlayer)
Willem Schroé (Botanix)
Eril Binari (BRC-2.0)
Matt Luongo (Thesis)
Explore The Defiant ✨
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#TheDefiant #DeFi #Decentralized #Finance #Blockchain #Web3
Bitcoin is worth more than a trillion dollars. But most of that capital just sits there. For years, developers have been trying to answer the same question: Can Bitcoin be more than digital gold and power a full financial system?
That vision now has a name: Bitcoin DeFi.
But when we interviewed more than a dozen builders working on Bitcoin DeFi — from StarkWare to Babylon to Stacks to Bitlayer — we discovered no one agrees on what Bitcoin DeFi actually is.
Some say it already exists through wrapped Bitcoin on Ethereum. Others argue it will happen on Bitcoin Layer 2s, while disagreeing on what Bitcoin Layer 2s are. And some believe the only real Bitcoin DeFi must happen directly on Bitcoin itself.
In Episode 3 of our Beyond Bitcoin documentary series, we map the entire ecosystem and break down the six competing models trying to unlock Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar liquidity.
We explore:
• Wrapped Bitcoin and custodial models
• Federated sidechains like Rootstock and Liquid
• Decentralized signer bridges
• The emerging world of Bitcoin Layer 2s
• BitVM and the future of Bitcoin rollups
• StarkWare’s cryptographic approach
• Babylon’s Bitcoin staking model
• And Bitcoin-native protocols like Ordinals and BRC-20
Bitcoin DeFi isn’t one architecture. It’s a spectrum of trust models.
And the race to unlock Bitcoin’s capital has only just begun.
⸻
Featuring interviews with
Eli Ben-Sasson (StarkWare)
Muneeb Ali (Stacks)
David Tse (Babylon)
Charlie Hu (Bitlayer)
Willem Schroé (Botanix)
Eril Binari (BRC-2.0)
Matt Luongo (Thesis)
Explore The Defiant ✨
📰 Website
thedefiant.io
✉️ Free Daily Newsletter
https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...
🤑 Weekly Premium Newsletter
https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi...
✊ Follow The Defiant
X/Twitter: https://x.com/DefiantNews
📬 Contact our Newsroom
editorial@thedefiant.io
🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships
sponsors@thedefiant.io
#TheDefiant #DeFi #Decentralized #Finance #Blockchain #Web3
