Bitcoin was the first crypto and it’s still the biggest. Yet in one respect, BTC looks curiously absent. The coin that spawned a financial revolution is hardly used in decentralized finance. That’s a glaring omission. 

DeFi has matured into a $148bn market, with blockchain lending alone worth $50bn+. Ethereum’s malleable coding language makes it the dominant player, with more than $90bn of assets tied up in smart contracts. Bitcoin, by contrast, accounts for a paltry $7.9bn. That leaves it trailing Solana and scarcely ahead of Binance’s BNB chain. The mismatch is striking: Bitcoin offers unparalleled liquidity, yet much of it sits idle.

For DeFi projects, it’s a missed opportunity. For Bitcoin holders, it’s lost yield. Analysts – and Institutions that have been accumulating the asset – are starting to ask a simple question: what can be done with a BTC hoard beyond leaving it in cold storage?

Locked out

The problem isn’t demand but design. Bitcoin’s architecture deliberately sacrifices flexibility in favour of security. Its scripting language is intentionally limited and cannot support the complex, self-executing contracts that …

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