Babylon Labs, a developer of Bitcoin staking infrastructure, has integrated with Ledger, a maker of cryptocurrency hardware wallets, in a move that could make it easier for holders to fund their Bitcoin ($BTC) to work in financial applications without giving up self-control.
In an announcement Tuesday, the companies said Ledger signers will be used for Babylon’s Trustless Bitcoin Vaults, also known as BTCVaults. The safes allow it $BTC holders can lock their tokens into programmable contracts governed by onchain terms, while retaining control over the underlying asset.
Ledger devices will act as the secure signing layer for BTCVault transactions, allowing users to authorize vault interactions directly from their hardware wallet.
The feature is based on Ledger’s Clear Signing technology, which displays human-readable transaction data on the device screen so users can verify exactly what they’re authorizing before signing. The approach is designed to reduce the risk of signing malicious or opaque transactions, a common problem in crypto workflows.
The partnership is significant given Ledger’s size as a hardware portfolio provider, with the company reporting more than 8 million devices sold worldwide. As Cointelegraph recently reported, Ledger is said to be in talks with major financial institutions about a US IPO.
One estimate of the expected size and growth rate of the crypto hardware wallet market. Source: Mordor Intelligence
Related: Ledger and Trezor 2025 hardware wallets released: what’s new for users?
The growth of digital asset vaults is increasing
Self-custody vaults are increasingly emerging as a use case for digital assets as users look for ways to put their crypto to work without giving up control of their money.
Unlike traditional custody platforms, where assets are deposited with an exchange or intermediary, vaults typically have programmable terms that allow users to retain ownership while participating in borrowing, staking or yield strategies.
Vault strategies have been gaining ground in the decentralized finance world. Protocols such as Yearn Finance have popularized the concept through automated yield vaults that allocate user deposits to the credit and liquidity markets.
More recently, messaging platform Telegram introduced vault-like yield products within its integrated crypto wallet, allowing users to deposit assets such as Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and Tether’s USDt (USDT) into structured strategies designed to generate returns.
Institutional players are also joining the fray. Asset manager Bitwise recently teamed up with DeFi lending protocol Morpho to put together onchain vault strategies designed to generate returns through overcollateralized lending markets.
Related: Bitcoin company Fold pays off and clears $66 million in debt $BTC security