Top 9 Bitcoin DeFi projects to watch in 2024

How does decentralized finance (DeFi) work with Bitcoin? And, what's next for Bitcoin? As we gear up for the next Bitcoin halving in 2024, these questions and others are on the coin community's mind.

Some people are bullish on DeFi making a more prominent impact on Bitcoin in 2024, with much debate over which projects will reign supreme. DeFi marks a departure from centralized financial systems to peer-to-peer (P2P) oriented ones, enabled by decentralized blockchain-based technologies.

The importance of Bitcoin in this shift is indisputable, granting a safe and reliable base for a variety of DeFi schemes. These projects seek to democratize the financial space by removing centralized authorities and providing a more user-friendly and inclusive platform.

TL;DR

• Bitcoin's evolving role in DeFi: Bitcoin's integration in DeFi, post-Taproot upgrade, enhances its capabilities for native DeFi applications.

• Key DeFi projects: Notable projects like Stacks, Badger DAO, Lightning Network, and Liquid Network are expanding Bitcoin's DeFi landscape.

• Challenges and solutions: Bitcoin faces scalability and regulatory challenges, but solutions like the Lightning Network offer potential remedies.

• Innovative technologies: BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals are pivotal in making Bitcoin more accessible and fostering creativity in DeFi and NFTs.

• Future prospects: Despite hurdles, Bitcoin's future in DeFi shows promise with ongoing innovations and community-led projects.

What is Bitcoin DeFi?

What exactly is Bitcoin DeFi and how does it compare to Ethereum's approach to DeFi?

Bitcoin's Integration in DeFi

Traditionally known as a secure digital store of value, Bitcoin's foray into DeFi became more pronounced with the Taproot upgrade in November 2021. This upgrade expanded Bitcoin's capabilities beyond simple transactions, enabling the launch of native DeFi applications within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Before this, Bitcoin's role in DeFi was mainly through wrapped BTC (wBTC) on Ethereum, allowing BTC holders to engage in Ethereum's DeFi activities.

Bitcoin vs. Ethereum in DeFi

Though its DeFi ecosystem is in its early stages, Bitcoin is comparatively less developed than Ethereum. To support DeFi functions, Bitcoin has implemented second-layer solutions such as the Lightning Network and Liquid Network. The solutions are designed to boost transaction speed and scalability and provide Bitcoin users with greater flexibility in DeFi applications.

Ethereum stands as the bedrock of DeFi, with its blockchain technology facilitating the creation of sophisticated smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps). These DApps span various financial services, including lending, borrowing, and decentralized exchanges. Ethereum's open-source nature also promotes interoperability with various DeFi protocols. Meanwhile, the asset's Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) provides a consistent and secure execution environment for these applications.

What are the top 9 Bitcoin DeFi projects?

1. Taproot Assets

History and mission: Established in 2019 to enhance Bitcoin's functionalities, particularly with smart contracts and Dapps, the Taproot Assets platform has evolved since its mainnet launch in 2023.

Key features: Provides the ability to issue assets using the Bitcoin blockchain, as well as asynchronous receipt capabilities and a multiverse feature for managing assets.

Unique points: Integrates with Bitcoin's Lightning Network for speedy transactions and enables handling of real-world assets like gold and USTs.

2. Stacks

History and mission: Stacks was founded in 2019 to enable smart contracts and decentralized applications using Bitcoin. Significant evolution with Stacks 2.0 in 2021.

Key features: Includes STX token for governance, Clarity smart contract language, and proof-of-transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism.

Unique points: The PoX mechanism takes advantage of Bitcoin's security by integrating it, allowing users to earn Bitcoin rewards.

3. BitVM

History and mission: In 2023, Robert Linus of ZeroSync created BitVM to enhance Bitcoin's functionalities, including smart contracts similar to Ethereum, while keeping Bitcoin's original code intact.

Key features: BitVM offers Turing-complete contracts on Bitcoin, enables off-chain computation with on-chain verification, and allows bridging BTC to other blockchain networks.

Unique points: This approach doesn't involve modifying the code of Bitcoin, but instead uses a concept similar to Ethereum's optimistic rollups. It also presents the potential for trustless sidechains within the Bitcoin network.

4. SRC-20

History and mission: SRC-20 tokens were created to enhance Bitcoin by using Ethereum's ERC-20 and Bitcoin's BRC-20 standards. They aim to expand Bitcoin beyond a store of value by allowing tokenization and NFT creation on its blockchain.

Key features: SRC-20 tokens enable tokenization on the Bitcoin network, marking a significant expansion of its capabilities. These tokens allow for embedding diverse data, such as images and text, directly into Bitcoin transactions. A standout feature is their immutability. Once minted, SRC-20 tokens are permanent and unalterable, guaranteeing their reliability and longevity on the blockchain.

Unique points: SRC-20 tokens upgrade Bitcoin's usefulness by adding digital collectibles and asset tokens. Data is stored in transaction outputs, so tokens can't be changed. However, due to cost and block space, SRC-20 tokens are limited to small images. They have similarities to Ethereum's ERC-1155, but SRC-20 is specifically designed for Bitcoin, making it unique from other standards.

5. Ordinals

History and mission: In 2023, Casey Rodarmor created Ordinals, a feature that improves Bitcoin's capabilities by integrating digital content (such as images and text) into the blockchain. This is made possible through the use of SegWit and Taproot upgrades.

Key features: Ordinals inscribe unique data onto individual satoshis, Bitcoin's smallest units, diverging from traditional NFTs by using the blockchain itself for data storage without needing external smart contracts.

Unique points: Bitcoin's ordinals caused debate about network congestion and changes to the asset's utility. A new way of storing digital art on the blockchain shows the technology's ever-changing nature.

6. BRC-20

History and mission: Introduced in March 2023 by an anonymous developer known as Domo, BRC-20 tokens are a significant innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Modeled on Ethereum's ERC-20 standard, BRC-20 aims to enable fungible token creation on the Bitcoin network, leveraging the Taproot upgrade's enhanced data embedding capabilities.

Key features: BRC-20 tokens allow for the creation, deployment, and transfer of fungible tokens on Bitcoin. Using ordinal inscriptions and JSON for token management, they offer basic functionalities compared to Ethereum's ERC-20 tokens.

Unique points: BRC-20 has introduced new functionalities to Bitcoin, attracting increased trading and speculation. However, it has also raised concerns about higher transaction fees and potential network congestion. This development marks a shift in Bitcoin's utility, moving towards features associated with smart contracts.

7. Badger DAO

History and Mission: Badger was established as a platform to enable decentralized solutions, focusing on connecting Bitcoin to other blockchains, particularly Ethereum.

Key features: Badger DAO's key features include its community-driven Badger Builders for collaborative development of Bitcoin across DeFi. The project also includes a BADGER governance token for decentralized decision-making, SETT vaults for Bitcoin asset optimization, and DIGG, an innovative Bitcoin-pegged elastic supply cryptocurrency. These elements highlight the Badger DAO's focus on integrating Bitcoin with DeFi.

Unique points: A strict focus on Bitcoin-related projects in DeFi.

8. Lightning Network

History and mission: The Lightning Network was created to improve Bitcoin's scalability and speed. Adding a separate layer to the Bitcoin blockchain makes transactions quicker and more economical.

Key features: Lightning Network is a technology that provides quick, cost-effective Bitcoin transfers by allowing transactions to occur outside the primary blockchain and only being settled on the blockchain when the channel concludes.

Unique points: Its primary innovation is the significant reduction in transaction times and fees, making Bitcoin more practical for everyday transactions and micro-transactions. These benefits represent a positive step towards scalability and usability.

9. Liquid Network

History and mission: Blockstream's Liquid Network was created to enable traders and exchanges to enjoy quicker and more confidential Bitcoin transactions and issuance.

Key features: The Liquid Network offers quick and confidential Bitcoin transactions, the issuance of digital assets, and Liquid Securities for tokenized asset management. Key features include Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC), pegged to Bitcoin, and Confidential Transactions for enhanced privacy.

Unique points: The highlights of this technology are quicker transactions, greater privacy with Confidential Transactions, and the capacity to create and control digital possessions, furnishing a solid infrastructure for financial activities on the Bitcoin network.

The challenges facing Bitcoin DeFi

Bitcoin's entry into the DeFi space has raised both positive and negative reactions within the Bitcoin community.

Scalability concerns

• High transaction costs: Bitcoin's network, known for its robust security, comes with relatively high transaction costs, particularly during peak times.

• Limited transactions per second: Regarding the amount of transactions that can be processed each second, Bitcoin lags behind other blockchain networks, which can result in slowdowns.

Regulatory hurdles

• Uncertain legal frameworks: Uncertainty about cryptocurrency and DeFi regulation limits the growth and adoption of Bitcoin across DeFi.

• Compliance issues: International laws requiring compliance can limit the global reach of DeFi Bitcoin projects.

Bitcoin-specific challenges in DeFi

• Smart contract limitations: Unlike Ethereum, Bitcoin wasn't created with complex smart contracts as a main focus. This restriction calls for creative methods to integrate sophisticated DeFi features.

• Network upgrades: Getting widespread agreement on upgrades like Taproot, which could improve Bitcoin's DeFi potential, is sometimes a slow and challenging process.

Future outlook and potential solutions

Although there are difficulties, the potential of Bitcoin in DeFi looks positive. Technologies such as the Lightning Network can address the scalability issue, and further developments may allow for more complex DeFi functions to be used on the Bitcoin network.

Regulatory guidelines that are more transparent and community-led projects can help create a supportive atmosphere for Bitcoin DeFi to thrive. Although the process may be challenging, the potential for invention and wider financial accessibility is vast.

What's new with Bitcoin DeFi?

Innovations such as BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals are proving to be key drivers in the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially with DeFi and NFTs. These new technologies are helping to make Bitcoin more accessible and inclusive, and Ordinals are encouraging users to create inventive NFTs at a lower cost.

The BRC-20 token standard supports improved interconnectivity between Bitcoin and Ethereum, allowing for more creative cross-chain applications. By reducing fees and streamlining the user experience, these developments could prove to be instrumental in increasing the value of Bitcoin and carving its path in the DeFi and NFT markets.

The final word

How is Bitcoin shaping the landscape of DeFi? With the anticipated Bitcoin halving in 2024, many are curious about Bitcoin's evolving role in DeFi.

Despite having a less mature DeFi ecosystem than Ethereum, Bitcoin is making strides with technologies like the Lightning Network and Liquid Network. High transaction costs and regulatory compliance remain priorities for many developers on the network, while innovations like BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals offer great potential to enhance creativity and accessibility.

The nine projects listed above are just some of the many influential developments spurring progress for Bitcoin in the DeFi space by unlocking new features and addressing challenges on the network. All eyes are on the asset's price movement in 2024, but there's much more for the community to look out for.