One of the most important projects aimed at increasing the speed of the Ethereum network is to increase his work on the world’s original blockchain: Bitcoin.
Ethereum Layer-2 Starknet Wil, in collaboration with BTC Wallet Xverse, a “complete Defi experience to Bitcoin users”.
Xverse said that it will “reach Bitcoin’s Defi starting moment”, by integrating with Starknet in Q2 2025, in an emailed announcement on Tuesday.
The collaboration with Xverse comes in the midst of a period of increased research into Bitcoin scaling using Starknet.
The Starknet Foundation has published a new Bitcoin route map, which described how Starknet would remain fully active on Ethereum, while “Bitcoin’s version layer becomes”, with the aim of scaling the network “from 13 TPS to thousands.”
Developers have increasingly investigated how they can tap into the security and deep reserves in BTC to strengthen the wider Defi and Blockchain world. The challenge is how Bitcoin’s relative lack of programmability can be tackled compared to Ethereum and others.
Layer 2s such as Starknet want to tackle this by acting as an implementation layer, the heavy work of processing transactions, which then ultimately get finality by settlement on Bitcoin.
For many observers, the missing piece on_cat is: a proposed implementation of the Bitcoin network that could so far unlock unseen programmability that would be crucial for the provision for Defi.
It is crucial that on_cat makes zero-known testing possible, a cryptographic method to prove the validity of statements without offering information that can endanger privacy.
OPCAT has no shortage of supporters, but the future as a Bitcoin improvement proposal (BIP) remains uncertain. However, Starknet and Xverse’s plan is to make Bitcoin Defi a reality, even without.
The aim of Xverse is to offer a Bitcoin Defi experience in his wallet with the help of trust assumptions such as the next big thing for zero knowledge certificates up to a time that is accepted on_cat.
“It is clear that the endgame is trust on Bitcoin,” said Xverse founder Ken Liao in Tuesday’s announcement. “This will still have ‘training wheels’ of some trust assumptions, but it is still extremely exciting to give the most accurate preview of what intuitive Defi on Bitcoin will look and feel.”
