Ethereum L2 Starknet Seeks “Bitcoin’s DeFi Take-Off Moment” With BTC Wallet Xverse

One of the foremost initiatives aiming to extend the velocity of the Ethereum community is ramping up its work on the world’s unique blockchain: Bitcoin.

Ethereum layer-2 Starknet, in partnership with BTC pockets Xverse, is aiming to ship a “full DeFi experience to Bitcoin users.”

Xverse mentioned it’s going to “achieve Bitcoin’s DeFi take-off moment,” by way of integrating with Starknet in Q2 2025, in an emailed announcement on Tuesday.

The partnership with Xverse comes amid a interval of elevated analysis into Bitcoin scaling utilizing Starknet.

The Starknet Foundation has printed a brand new Bitcoin Roadmap, which described how Starknet would stay totally lively on Ethereum, whereas “becoming Bitcoin’s execution layer,” with the objective of scaling the community “from 13 TPS to thousands.”

Developers have been more and more exploring the best way to faucet the safety and deep reserves held in BTC to empower the broader DeFi and blockchain world. The problem has been the best way to handle Bitcoin’s relative lack of programability in comparison with Ethereum and others.

Layer 2s like Starknet purpose to handle this by performing as an execution layer, doing the heavy lifting of processing transactions, that are then finally given finality by way of settlement on Bitcoin.

For many observers, the lacking piece is OP_CAT: a proposed implementation to the Bitcoin community that would unlock hitherto unseen programmability, which might be pivotal to the availability for DeFi.

Crucially, OP_CAT might enable zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic technique of proving the validity of statements with out providing data that will compromise privateness.

OPCAT is not in need of supporters, however its future as a Bitcoin enchancment proposal (BIP) stays unsure. However, Starknet and Xverse’s plan is to make Bitcoin DeFi a actuality even with out it.

Xverse’s purpose is to supply a Bitcoin DeFi expertise in its pockets utilizing belief assumptions as the subsequent large factor to zero-knowledge proofs till such a time that OP_CAT is adopted.

“Obviously, the endgame is trustless DeFi on Bitcoin,” Xverse founder Ken Liao mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement. “This will nonetheless have ‘training wheels’ of some belief assumptions, however it’s nonetheless vastly thrilling to be delivering essentially the most correct preview to date of what intuitive DeFi on Bitcoin will appear and feel like.”