Bitlayer, a Bitcoin Layer 2 constructed on the BitVM paradigm, has partnered with three of the world’s largest bitcoin
mining swimming pools — Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool — in a first-of-its-kind collaboration to speed up the real-world adoption of BitVM, a breakthrough expertise targeted on enabling Bitcoin-native DeFi.
Bitcoin’s ecosystem has lagged behind different Layer 1s like Ethereum for years on account of technical limitations — particularly its lack of help for Turing-complete sensible contracts. Bitlayer’s BitVM paradigm addresses this by providing Bitcoin-equivalent safety and Turing completeness with out altering Bitcoin’s core protocol or compromising its foundational design.
However turning that imaginative and prescient into actuality requires the cooperation of miners — the entities that create new blocks and validate transactions in trade for BTC. That’s exactly what this new partnership secures.
The three mining swimming pools, representing over 36% of Bitcoin’s whole computing energy (hashrate), have agreed to help non-standard transactions (NSTs) — a essential piece of BitVM’s challenge-response mechanism, the companies stated. Their help removes a key bottleneck to BitVM deployment and brings the system nearer to widespread use.
NSTs are transactions which can be legitimate underneath Bitcoin’s consensus guidelines however will not be relayed by the default Bitcoin Core software program, making them onerous to get confirmed on-chain with out miner cooperation.
Below this partnership, Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool will function guardians of the BitVM Bridge, making certain NSTs are reliably included in blocks and change into a part of Bitcoin’s immutable ledger.
The BitVM bridge is a particular software that facilitates safe and dependable motion of BTC into different blockchain ecosystems — reminiscent of rollups, cross-chain protocols, and sensible contracts — with out counting on centralized intermediaries. It opens the door for broader Bitcoin DeFi functions whereas preserving the community’s sturdy safety ensures.
“BitVM represents the most credible path to bring on-chain validation to Bitcoin while maintaining its core security. This partnership solves the critical last-mile challenge of getting Non-Standard Transactions included on-chain,” stated Kevin He, co-founder of Bitlayer, in a press launch shared with CoinDesk.
A win for miners
This isn’t only a milestone for Bitlayer — it’s a strategic win for miners as properly, particularly as they face dwindling revenue on account of per-block BTC rewards being minimize in half each 4 years.
Andy, CEO of Antpool, famous that Bitlayer’s BitVM may also help drive new financial exercise and fee-based revenue for miners.
“Built on BitVM, Bitlayer enables BTC to flow into DeFi and Layer 2 ecosystems. That means more use, more fees, and long-term sustainability for miners,” Andy stated within the press launch.
Leon Liang, chief technique officer at F2Pool, emphasised the significance of innovation, saying, “we want to support high-quality projects like Bitlayer that expand what Bitcoin can do.”
SpiderPool CTO Kenway spoke to the broader potential of Bitcoin as a financial services platform, stating, “This partnership lets us unlock new prospects for Bitcoin DeFi. It enhances Bitcoin’s utility whereas reinforcing miners’ central function within the ecosystem.”
Demand for bitcoin DeFi is rising quickly
Bitlayer’s collaboration with mining giants follows current integrations with main Layer 1 ecosystems like Sui, Base, Arbitrum, and Starknet. Collectively, these partnerships mirror a rising demand for safe, Bitcoin-native DeFi infrastructure that scales.
Bitlayer is actively onboarding extra validators and early adopters to assist safe and increase the BitVM Bridge — and to construct what might change into the cornerstone of Bitcoin’s subsequent evolution.
