Banking is broken. Your money sits in vaults built on 1970s technology, managed by institutions that profit from your deposits while you earn pennies. Just 17 years ago, Bitcoin was conceived as the currency and money system for the 21st century - verifiable by maths instead of trust in institutions.
Bitcoin has created a trillion-dollar economy. It set off a Cambrian explosion of innovation in economics, social experiments, and technology that changed the way we interact with money globally. Now sitting at $2T+, Bitcoin is the dominant leader among a growing category of decentralized assets.
Bitcoin has gone from strength to strength, showing remarkable long-term resilience and growth. But, despite being the hardest money ever created, BTC often sits idle in cold wallets, sadly disconnected from the financial revolution it started.
Finance apps are still built like the 2000s
The vast majority of Bitcoin and crypto trading happens on platforms that are still built like the early 2000s. From centralized exchanges to neobanks and brokers offering users access to trade BTC, they all hold your coins for you, which means you lose access if they go bankrupt. FTX, Terra/Luna, and many other examples show that we need to build better.
BOB is here to change the game. Banks run on traditional money that you never owned. BOB gives you money, powered by BTC. A Bank of Bitcoin.
Banking for the Bitcoin generation
BOB is doing for Bitcoin what neobanks did for fiat money. And then taking it into the future. This is banking reimagined for the Bitcoin age. One platform for everything - spending, saving, earning, borrowing - all powered by Bitcoin's unbreakable security. No bank vaults, no IOUs, just your money working harder on the world's strongest financial network. Everything on an open network, verifiable, open source, and with the same rules for everyone. No API keys, no permission, just money on Bitcoin rails.
The BOB stack
BOB is building the banking stack for Bitcoin. Over three layers, BOB transforms the three critical aspects of interacting with Bitcoin.
User layer - To convince users to switch, we need simple Bitcoin yields and frictionless distribution. Vaults serve as an easy access point into complex DeFi strategies without requiring a PhD in computer science and finance. Anything you want to do onchain only requires a single transaction, no matter how complex or how many chains it involves. You want yield. It should be simple, secure and transparent. We handle the complexity under the hood with the BOB solver network and Bitcoin intents.
Gateway layer - Builder experience powers innovation. With the EVM DeFi ecosystem, users can pick and choose from the best - builders don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The modular and programmable BOB SDK makes it easy to Bitcoinize any EVM dapp, providing seamless access to native BTC deposits or withdrawals. Your app can onboard users from Bitcoin with a single transaction – no matter how complex the smart contract on BOB.
Protocol layer - Bitcoin security is paramount. BOB’s hybrid chain model means all apps, assets and transactions are secured by both hybrid ZK fault proofs on Ethereum and by Bitcoin finality through staked Bitcoin. When BitVM is live on BOB mainnet in early 2026, BTC on BOB will be just BTC. No wrappers, no custodians, no need to trust a third party. With Bitcoin vaults, we will also bring a new class of collateral to lending. Always receive your BTC on Bitcoin back – secured by Bitcoin.
The 1,000x opportunity
The time to upgrade your money to Bitcoin is now. While BOB is already leading the way in BTCFi with more than $300M in onchain TVL, we are just getting started.
Only $6B of BTC is currently used in native BTC DeFi - that’s just 0.3% of Bitcoin’s market cap. For comparison, 30% of ETH is used onchain in DeFi. BOB’s mission is to close that 100x gap, equivalent to $600B. To make this leap, and bring native BTCFi TVL to $700B, BOB is solving the crosschain Bitcoin security challenge with BitVM, and Bitcoin’s UX issues with Bitcoin intents.
It is our firm belief that BTC will become a prime collateral asset not just in the crypto world but in everyday life. It will be used by everyone to take out personal and professional loans. With its scarcity, verifiability, and digital nature, Bitcoin will allow people to pay for a place to live, their education, a new car, an emergency, anything... Compared to the complexity of securing a loan with a bank, getting a loan onchain is a transparent process enforced by code. With this as a universal practice, Bitcoin should overtake Gold’s $28T market capitalization. Assuming that 30% of Bitcoin is still used onchain, that would further 10x the active BTCFi market to $6T.
Our roadmap will capture this opportunity in three phases.
Banking on Bitcoin in Three Phases
Phase 1: Hybrid Chain (Almost Complete)
Mission: Combine Bitcoin’s security with Ethereum’s innovation.
BTC is actively used on many chains today. But none of these wrappers allow users to unilaterally withdraw their BTC back to Bitcoin. Fundamentally, even with fully decentralized wrappers, this property only works if the chain on which the wrapper is minted is secured or finalized by Bitcoin.
At the same time, stablecoin liquidity and adoption is strongest in Ethereum and its L2s. As the prime use case for BTC onchain is to take stablecoin loans against it, we need to combine Bitcoin security with the existing stablecoin ecosystem.
BOB was the first to set out on this mission: fuse Bitcoin and Ethereum together on one chain that has native bridges to both. Stablecoins issued on Ethereum secured by Ethereum, BTC secured by Bitcoin.
Within the last 18 months, we’ve built:
- Hybrid Chain with zk fraud proofs: BOB was the first chain to bring zk proofs to an optimistic rollup which allows cheap transactions and fast confirmations, while bridge operations can be accelerated with validity proofs if necessary. BOB is among the few L2s with a working proving system that ensures that users can always enforce withdraw of their stablecoins back to Ethereum. BitVM bridge and Bitcoin vaults: BOB is leading the way in native BTCFi development. The BitVM bridge is on testnet and we are pushing the research boundaries with our contributions to BitVM3, the latest iteration of the groundbreaking Bitcoin fraud proof mechanism. BOB also founded the bitvm/acc institutional alliance to ensure BitVM is developed in line with the business needs of both Bitcoin users and institutional operators. Recently, BOB invented a new model for managing native Bitcoin lending liquidations, paving the way for permissionless Bitcoin-backed stablecoin loans.
- Staking: BOB staking is live on testnet and will be launched on mainnet at TGE to provide economic security. Users will be able to stake and delegate BOB to “Hybrid Nodes”. These Hybrid Nodes will have two main functions when BOB phase 2 goes live with the launch of Bitcoin finality on BOB - securing the operations of Bitcoin finality providers and BitVM bridge operators.
We have already made great strides to combine the best of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but there is more to be done in the current phase of our roadmap.
Phase 2: Gateway to Bitcoin DeFi (Current Focus)
Mission: Build liquid BTC markets and expose them everywhere through middleware.
In this phase, the priority is increasing distribution and maximizing the accessible user base for BOB’s products. This is being achieved through a focus on B2B integrations and by positioning BOB as the ideal BTC partner for existing high usage chains, apps, wallets and institutions.
We power the interfaces people already trust, increasing access to native BTC in large popular apps and ecosystems. Everything routes through the BOB network and therefore drives BOB revenue streams: Solver fees on swaps, transaction fees on the chain, and AUM vault fees.
The Gateway to Bitcoin DeFi includes:
- Bitcoin intents: BOB created the first Bitcoin intents-based swaps system, enabling native BTC deposits and withdrawals, plus direct DeFi deployments, all with just a single transaction. One click UX for crosschain BTC access is now available across 11+ major chains including Base, Ethereum, Unichain, BNB and integrated with LayerZero with more partners in development. Trustless BTC to any chain swaps are coming soon.
- Yield Vaults: Transparent, risk-scored, strategies that activate idle BTC, allowing it to earn a variety of DeFi yields, both on BOB and other chains, plus access offchain yields. The goal is to provide access to the best BTC yield opportunities, democratizing access to strategies previously not available to retail users, while also enabling composability and allowing the use of yield-bearing BTC as collateral asset.
- BOB SDK: Any wallet, exchange, institution, fintech, or dapp can easily embed 1-click native BTC deposits, swaps, and yield through the BOB SDK. Modular and programmable, the BOB SDK makes it easy to integrate custom flows with different dapps and interoperability partners.
Phase 3: Money, powered by Bitcoin (Future Vision)
Mission: Bank on Bitcoin. Turn Bitcoin rails and markets into everyday financial products with mass market appeal and accessibility.
What should a Bitcoin native financial platform look like? Think Revolut for Bitcoin, except built around Bitcoin’s settlement engine instead of being patched onto legacy rails.
- Custody: The most basic function of any bank is holding money. Just like the majority of people don’t trust themselves to hold a large quantity of cash, new users likely won’t feel particularly comfortable with self custody of Bitcoin, which blocks adoption. With BOB we have the solution. BitVM Vaults are the best possible way to custody your Bitcoin. It remains secure on the Bitcoin network, and there is no need to trust a third party. You remain true to the ethos of Bitcoin, but you can still get access to all the best EVM tooling on offer in the wallet space, including smart accounts for ease of use and social recovery for peace of mind.
- Trading: Trade your Bitcoin against stables and other assets and DCA into BTC, just like FX trading at a bank.
- Lending: A prime use case for Bitcoin is as collateral for loans. BOB will offer you easy lending with micro loans, longer term loans, fixed loans, flexible loans - all powered by Bitcoin vaults, with secure liquidations where the BTC stays on the Bitcoin network.
- Savings accounts: Put your Bitcoin to work and earn interest from a variety of sources. Initially, this will come from deployment into DeFi protocols on other chains as well as off-chain strategies, but in the longer term, the goal is that it starts to function like a bank. The Bank of Bitcoin. Anyone can simply supply capital to the platform and benefit from its use in other banking activities, particularly lending and trading, in return for APY. It’s simple interest wrapped in a 1-click UX, providing a very easy way of earning on your BTC.
The BOB advantages
- BitVM leadership: Trust-minimized BTC lending (launching 2026) will unlock native BTC that sits idle on Bitcoin. BOB is in the BitVM Alliance and is one of the few teams developing BitVM3, having co-authored the award winning BitVM2 design that underpins it.
- Hybrid Architecture: Forced withdrawals of BTC to Bitcoin are only possible on Bitcoin finalized chains. Forced withdrawals of stablecoins to Ethereum are only possible on chains that settle on Ethereum. BOB is the only chain that has both.
- Bitcoin intents: The cheapest way to onboard from BTC to any Bitcoin DeFi will always be with a simple BTC transfer. Gateway allows swaps, DeFi participation, and anything a user wants to do with their BTC with a single simple transfer. No HTLC, no complex TEEs. Just a 1-click frictionless interface.
- Multiple revenue streams: Sequencer fees and custom block builders allow BTC staking with sustainable yields directly integrated with the BOB DeFi ecosystem powered by onchain usage. A liquidity and fee flywheel effect means more users → more BTC staked → deeper liquidity → lower slippage → more users and so on. BOB Gateway then brings swap fees between Bitcoin and any asset on multiple chains. Swaps have historically been a powerful revenue stream and Gateway is currently the fastest and cheapest way to go from BTC to any chain.
A Bank of Bitcoin
From legacy banks to neobanks to a bank of Bitcoin, BOB isn’t just a bet on Bitcoin DeFi. It's a bet that Bitcoin can become money's final form, allowing us to build a new type of bank, free of the systemic issues that plague the legacy model and prevent many around the world from participating. Come and build banking on Bitcoin rails with BOB.
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