Bitlayer has taken a significant step toward mainstream adoption of Bitcoin-native DeFi by securing strategic partnerships with three of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pools.
In an announcement posted on May 27 via its official X account, the company revealed new collaborations with Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool—mining giants that collectively contribute nearly 40% of the Bitcoin network’s total hashrate.
These partnerships are critical to moving BitVM from a conceptual framework to a fully functional infrastructure. By agreeing to support non-standard transactions (NSTs)—which are valid on the Bitcoin network but typically not relayed due to Bitcoin Core’s default settings—these mining pools enable the challenge-response mechanism that underpins BitVM’s design.
As a result of this support, BitVM can now function more efficiently. This enhances the capabilities of the BitVM Bridge, which facilitates Bitcoin transfers into smart contract platforms without relying on centralized intermediaries, thereby maintaining decentralization and trust minimization.
This technical breakthrough allows Bitcoin to be used in new ways, supporting DeFi applications such as lending, yield farming, and multi-chain staking. Bitlayer’s approach brings smart contract functionality to Bitcoin without modifying its core protocol or compromising its security—a major advancement in expanding Bitcoin’s utility.
Building on this momentum, Bitlayer has also established integrations with networks such as Sui, Arbitrum, Base, and Starknet, further broadening its ecosystem. These connections enable decentralized applications to leverage Peg-BTC, a Bitcoin-backed token minted through the BitVM Bridge, to power various DeFi services.
Currently, Bitlayer reports a total value locked (TVL) of $413 million, according to data from DeFiLlama, following its mainnet launch in April 2024.
Notably, Bitlayer has recently partnered with Xverse Wallet to integrate the BitVM Bridge directly into the wallet’s interface. This integration aims to streamline user access to BitVM-based applications, promoting adoption by allowing seamless interaction with enhanced DeFi functionalities on the Bitcoin network in a trust-minimized and user-friendly way.
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