The Bitcoin ecosystem continues to expand, with developers and users taking advantage of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) network to innovate and power a truly decentralized financial system.
Against this backdrop, Persistence One is all set to help Bitcoin realize its full potential and enter a new era of experimentation, adoption, and evolution. Persistence One, an ecosystem designed to maximize yield and security through Liquid Staking, will allow Bitcoin holders to earn yield while enhancing the robustness of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chains.
Bitcoin is a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain that requires miners to solve complex mathematical problems using vast amounts of computational power in exchange for rewards. This means unprecedented security but extremely slow transaction speed. Meanwhile, PoS blockchains rely on financial stakes, requiring validators to lock their tokens to receive rewards. This results in higher throughput but lower security and higher inflation.
This, however, is about to change thanks to the Taproot upgrade, which has allowed Bitcoin to see the emergence of projects that extend the base layer's security to PoS networks.
In the fast-evolving world of the Bitcoin ecosystem, Layer 2s have been scaling Bitcoin and advancing its programmability by creating an underlying execution layer through which transactions can be routed while utilizing the main chain as a settlement network. These L2s have introduced a wide variety of use cases to Bitcoin, such as cross-chain swaps, NFTs, DeFi, and inscriptions.
This way, some projects are bringing PoS elements to Bitcoin while others are bringing Bitcoin to PoS chains. Here, Babylon stands out for enhancing the security of PoS chains by tapping into Bitcoin's unutilized security.
Babylon is a trustless, self-custodial Bitcoin staking protocol that enables BTC holders to stake their tokens, allowing them to validate the PoS chain. In return, they earn altcoin yields. This is achieved without bridge tokens, which is a complex and risky process.
The project leverages the Bitcoin network's time-locking feature to create a two-sided marketplace. Here, PoS chains in need of security and willing to pay for it compete with BTC holders who want to earn a yield on their idle assets.
With its distinct game plan, Babylon is allowing PoS Chain to access over $1 trillion in BTC security and providing BTC holders the ability to validate and secure multiple chains simultaneously and earn yield.
Tapping into the Trillion-Dollar Worth Unutilized Security
As staunch believers in Bitcoin, the Persistence team combines their passion for the world's largest cryptocurrency—which they view as the hedge against the macro environment marching towards high inflation—with a fundamental belief in cash flow to capitalize on the opportunities to generate yield on BTC.
Persistence One recognized early on the potential of staking to bring a significant change in the crypto world. The team then embraced liquidity staking when the narrative was still undeveloped and has now onboarded the Bitcoin DeFi train.
Persistence One's Bitcoin journey is facilitated by Babylon. By collaborating with the Bitcoin staking protocol, Persistence One will allow BTC stakers to earn XPRT rewards to bolster the security of its blockchain and the growing ecosystem.
This allows the PoS-based Persistence One network to use PoW's battle-tested security features to bolster its security but without diluting its native token XRPT's utility. Hence, it brings the best of both worlds—PoS's energy efficiency and PoW's robust security—to Persistence One. Borrowing some of Bitcoin's unparalleled security will further help Persistence One chain tap into the trillion-dollar asset's unutilized utility and value.
One of the first Cosmos app chains, Persistence One, has been working with Babylon since early last year when it launched its Timestamping testnet.
In addition to partnering with Babylon, Persistence One will soon also support DeFi around BTC (wBTC or Wrapped Bitcoin) on its chain. wBTC is a tokenized version of the largest cryptocurrency. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain and is ERC-20 compliant, so Bitcoin can be integrated into the vast and thriving ecosystem of Ethereum, which hosts hundreds of billions of dollars via dApps.
wBTC is backed by Bitcoin in a 1:1 ratio, which means you can convert 1 wBTC for 1 Bitcoin at any time and vice versa. With a market cap of $9.46 bln, there are 155,304 WBTC circulating in the market, as per CoinGecko.
Wrapped Bitcoin can be used across the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond, including trading on DEXs, token swapping, margin trading, supply liquidity, lending and borrowing, yield farming, and much more.
So, with these moves, Persistence One is all set to help Bitcoin take advantage of the vibrant PoS world, create additional utility for BTC holders, and build an independent financial ecosystem.
