Developers are racing to leverage BTC to replicate Ethereum’s booming restaking ecosystem. <\/p>\n
DeFi developers are competing to replicate the explosive growth generated by Ethereum\u2019s restaking sector within the ecosystem.<\/p>\n
On May 20, BounceBit, a \u201cCeDeFi\u2019 Layer 1 network backed by Binance, the popular centralized exchange,\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0its roadmap for 2024. In the document, BounceBit said it plans to develop a \u201cshared security client module\u201d allowing third-party projects to utilize the liquidity deposited on the \u201cBounceBit BTC restaking chain.\u201d<\/p>\n BounceBit celebrated its mainnet launch on May 13, claiming to have amassed a total value locked (TVL) of more than\u00a0$1 billion<\/a>\u00a0after launching an incentivized early access\u00a0phase<\/a>\u00a0on Jan. 30.<\/p>\n The BounceBit chain is secured by users who stake both its native BB token and Bitcoin (BTC). BounceBit\u2019s new roadmap seeks to expand on this with the introduction of restaking by allowing third-party protocols to harness its staking mechanism for security.<\/p>\n BounceBit\u2019s roadmap also includes improving BounceBit\u2019s Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) execution, bolstering transaction throughput, and upgrading communication between its EVM and the\u00a0Cosmos<\/a>\u00a0software development kit.<\/p>\n Restaking was pioneered on Ethereum by\u00a0EigenLayer<\/a>. EigenLayer allows Ethereum stakers to earn additional yield by simultaneously pledging their stake to secure third-party actively validated services (AVSs<\/a>) while also securing the Ethereum network. However, restakers incur additional slashing risks, meaning their stake will be diminished should delegated AVSs misbehave.<\/p>\n EigenLayer has surged to become the second-largest DeFi protocol with a more than $15.3 TVL. The protocol\u2019s growth was recently buoyed by the\u00a0explosive rise<\/a>\u00a0of liquid restaking tokens (LRT) protocols, which reduce the technical barriers to participating in restaking and enable additional yield generation by allowing users to remain liquid.<\/p>\n BounceBit is not the first project aiming to bring restaking onto Bitcoin, with several projects leveraging Babylon, a Cosmos-based Bitcoin staking network, to develop BTC-based restaking products.<\/p>\n Babylon is a Cosmos-based network allowing Bitcoin holders to \u201cstake\u201d their BTC to secure Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks in exchange for yield.<\/p>\n On May 16, Mind Network, a restaking-focused Layer 1 network,\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0a strategic alliance with Babylon. Per the deal, users will be able to secure Mind-based sub-networks by staking Babylon-based LRTs.<\/p>\n On May 2, Bedrock, an LRT protocol,\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0uniBTC, a Babylon-based Bitcoin liquid restaking token. UniBTC allows BTC holders to participate in Babylon staking without locking up their assets, meaning holders can remain liquid while securing PoS chains.<\/p>\nRestaking boom<\/h2>\n
Projects tap Babylon as middleware for Bitcoin restaking<\/h2>\n