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77% of Bitcoin Holders Have Never Used BTCFi, Survey Reveals

77% of Bitcoin Holders Have Never Used BTCFi, Survey Reveals

Kaumi GazetteCryptocurrency8 October, 20258.2K Views

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap of a very powerful tales in cryptocurrency tech improvement. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk.

In this concern:

BTCFi’s Big Problem: 77% of Bitcoin Holders Haven’t Even Tried It, Says Survey
Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade Passes Holesky Test, Moves Closer To Mainnet
DoubleZero Mainnet Goes Live With 22% of Staked SOL on Board
Bee Maps Raises $32M to Scale Solana-Powered Decentralized Mapping Network

Network News

BITCOIN HOLDERS HESITANT TO EXPLORE BTC DEFI : Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi), often known as BTCFi, has been touted as the following wave of innovation for the world’s largest cryptocurrency. However, analysis suggests bitcoin holders themselves are barely partaking. Some 77% of bitcoin holders have by no means tried a BTCFi platform, based on a survey of greater than 700 respondents throughout North America and Europe by BTC mining ecosystem GoMining. Just over 10% reported having experimented a few times, whereas solely 8% stated they actively use BTCFi companies for yield or lending. The survey highlights a stark disconnect between the sector’s promise and its precise attain. “There’s an enormous appetite for these opportunities, but the industry has built products for crypto natives, not for everyday bitcoin holders,” stated GoMining CEO Mark Zalan in an announcement. That urge for food reveals up within the knowledge: 73% of respondents expressed curiosity in incomes yield on their BTC by means of lending or staking, whereas 42% need entry to liquidity with out promoting. Yet hesitation dominates. More than 40% stated they might allocate lower than 20% of their holdings to BTCFi merchandise, underscoring the sector’s belief and complexity drawback. — Jamie Crawley Read extra.

ETHEREUM FUSAKA UPGRADE ON HOLESKY TESTNET GOES LIVE: Ethereum’s subsequent improve, Fusaka, simply moved nearer to going stay on the principle blockchain after a profitable check run on the Holesky check community final week. The Fusaka laborious fork comes just a few months after Ethereum’s main Pectra improve and is designed to make issues cheaper for establishments utilizing Ethereum. One of the modifications it introduces is PeerDAS, a characteristic that lets validators test solely half of the information wanted as a substitute of full chunks (“blobs”), which helps lower prices for each layer-2 networks and validators. Test networks like Holesky act as observe grounds the place builders can safely check new code earlier than it reaches the actual chain. Holesky, launched in 2023, was notably essential as a result of its validator setup carefully mirrors Ethereum’s mainnet. But over the previous few months, Holesky has began exhibiting indicators of age and reliability points. Fusaka is the final improve the community will see earlier than it shuts down — two weeks after Fusaka goes stay on mainnet. The subsequent two testnet runs are scheduled for October 14 and 28. After these are full, Ethereum builders will lock in a date for Fusaka’s full mainnet launch. — Margaux Nijkerk Read extra.

DOUBLEZERO MAINNET GOES LIVE: A brand new mission desires to provide blockchains their very own “fast lane” on the web. The DoubleZero Foundation introduced that its extremely anticipated mainnet-beta is stay. DoubleZero is a community constructed to hurry up how blockchain validators discuss to one another. Instead of counting on the general public web, which might typically be sluggish and unpredictable, Solana validators can now join by means of DoubleZero’s fiber routes, which let customers transact sooner. In easy phrases, DoubleZero is sort of a non-public freeway system for blockchains. While regular web routes are designed to be low-cost and broad, they aren’t constructed for the split-second coordination hundreds of blockchain nodes want. DoubleZero says its community reduces lag and makes it simpler for validators to course of transactions and keep in sync, which might enhance each efficiency and reliability for finish customers. The mission has already seen early adoption. Currently, 22% of staked SOL is plugged into the DoubleZero community. Big business names like Jump Crypto, Galaxy, RockawayX, and Jito are contributing fiber hyperlinks and engineering sources, betting that sooner web infrastructure will repay as blockchain functions scale. — Margaux Nijkerk Read extra.

BEE MAPS RAISES $32M IN FUNDING ROUND: Bee Maps, the decentralized mapping mission powered by Hivemapper, has raised $32 million in recent funding to broaden its world contributor community and scale its infrastructure, it introduced this week. The spherical was led by Pantera Capital, LDA Capital, Borderless Capital and Ajna Capital, marking one of the most important financings within the decentralized bodily infrastructure (DePin) sector this yr. Bee Maps is an utility on the Hivemapper community, which is one of the most important decentralized bodily infrastructure networks (DePIN) centered on mapping knowledge on Solana. Hivemapper permits drivers to contribute knowledge by means of AI-enabled sprint cams, which detect real-time modifications on roads (like new indicators on the roads, detours, or building zones), guaranteeing digital maps can replace rapidly to remain correct. Bee Maps leverages this infrastructure by rewarding contributors with its native token, $HONEY, for amassing street-level imagery. The elevate highlights sturdy investor urge for food for Bee Maps’ imaginative and prescient of real-time, AI-powered maps. In latest months, Bee Maps has teamed up with main gamers together with Lyft and Volkswagen’s robotaxi program to deliver its mapping-data to their platforms. The recent capital will probably be used to distribute extra units, improve AI fashions that course of and replace map options and enhance contributor incentives tied to $HONEY. – Margaux Nijkerk Read extra.

In Other News

KAIO, the tokenization agency backed by Brevan Howard and Nomura Bank’s crypto-focused Laser Digital, is bringing its tokenized funds to the Sei community (SEI) as real-world asset demand is increasing. The agency, previously often called Libre Capital, has issued over $200 million in belongings, together with token variations of feeder funds of Brevan Howard, Hamilton Lane, Laser Digital and a BlackRock fund, with plans to broaden entry to extra methods. The tokens, accessible to institutional and accredited traders, enable for onchain subscription, redemption and reporting. The Sei Network, constructed for high-speed monetary transactions, offers the underlying rails for execution. KAIO’s enlargement follows ARK-backed tokenization agency Securitize introducing the $112 million Apollo Diversified Credit Fund, a tokenized feeder fund of Apollo’s non-public credit score automobile, to Sei. The announcement highlights a rising pattern in tokenized real-world belongings (RWAs), the place conventional investments like bonds, credit score and funds are represented as digital tokens. — Kristzian Sandor Read extra.
Yuma, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) centered on decentralized synthetic intelligence (AI), has appointed veteran crypto founders Greg Schvey and Jeff Schvey as its new Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer, respectively, the corporate stated. The hires mark a key enlargement for Yuma because it scales operations throughout the Bittensor community, together with validator, mining, and subnet accelerator initiatives, and prepares to launch an asset administration division, the corporate stated. The Schvey brothers are greatest recognized for co-founding TradeBlock, an institutional crypto knowledge and portfolio administration platform acquired by DCG, and Axoni, a blockchain infrastructure agency serving conventional monetary markets. Axoni’s largest enterprise unit was acquired by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in 2024. DCG was an early investor in each ventures. — Will Canny Read extra.

Regulatory and Policy

The Bank of England (BoE) is planning exemptions to its proposed limits on stablecoins holdings, Bloomberg reported earlier this week. The BoE will grant waivers to some companies that want to carry giant quantities of tokens, like crypto exchanges, the report stated, citing an individual aware of the matter. The U.Okay.’s central financial institution may even enable companies to make use of stablecoins for settlement in its Digital Securities Sandbox, the folks stated. Last month, it was reported that BoE officers deliberate to impose caps of 10,000-20,000 kilos ($13,400-$26,800) for people and 10 million kilos ($13.4 million) on stablecoins. Digital asset business figures criticized the plans as unworkable. BoE governor Andrew Bailey expressed skepticism about stablecoins in July, highlighting potential threats to monetary stability and warned world funding banks in opposition to growing their very own. — Jamie Crawley Read extra.
The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to be trying to formalize an “innovation exemption” for corporations to construct on digital belongings and different modern applied sciences within the U.S., probably as quickly as the top of the quarter, stated company Chair Paul Atkins. While acknowledging that the present authorities shutdown had “hamstrung” the SEC’s potential to make progress on rulemaking, Atkins stated engaged on this exemption continues to be his precedence for the top of the yr or the primary quarter of 2026, he stated at a Futures and Derivatives Law Report occasion hosted by the legislation agency Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday. The SEC chair opened with one of his now-common refrains: That crypto is “job one” and the company has develop into a pro-innovation physique trying to encourage builders and entrepreneurs to construct within the U.S. — Nikhilesh De Read extra.