274: Scaling Bitcoin DeFi — Charlie on Bitlayer, BTR launch & unlocking $1T in liquidity
Description
In this episode, Charlie, co-founder of Bitlayer, shares how they are building a Bitcoin rollup and trust-minimized BVM bridge to unlock BTC liquidity for DeFi while maintaining Bitcoin-level security.
Backed by Franklin Templeton and top mining pools like F2Pool, Bitlayer is enabling yield-bearing BTC (YBTC), partnerships with Sui and Solana, and preparing for the launch of its BTR governance token.
If you’re curious about Bitcoin’s future beyond payments — from miner incentives to cross-chain DeFi — this episode is for you.
Key Timestamps
[00:00:00 ] Introduction: Sam introduces Charlie and Bitlayer’s mission.
[00:01:00 ] Charlie’s Web3 story: From early Bitcoin and Ethereum to Polygon and Polkadot.
[00:03:30 ] Why Bitcoin DeFi: Recognizing the need for scaling and security.
[00:05:00 ] Bitlayer’s mission: Building a BVM rollup and bridge for DeFi on Bitcoin.
[00:07:00 ] Achieving Bitcoin DeFi: Unlocking BTC liquidity via a trust-minimized bridge.
[00:09:00 ] Bridging innovation: How BVM improves on multisig and wrapped BTC.
[00:11:00 ] Bitlayer vs sidechains: Why Bitcoin rollups are different.
[00:14:00 ] Team strength: Engineering talent from Polygon, Celestia, and Alibaba.
[00:15:00 ] Metrics: TVL milestones, daily transactions, and wallet growth.
[00:18:00 ] Developer & user growth: Strategies to onboard devs and create retention.
[00:20:00 ] Branding: F1-style “Bitcoin engine” culture.
[00:21:00 ] Decentralization focus: Ensuring Bitcoin-level security.
[00:23:00 ] Partnerships: Collaborations with Sui and upcoming Solana integrations.
[00:25:00 ] Future vision: Bitcoin DeFi in 2 years — retail + institutional products.
[00:26:30 ] Institutional adoption: Working with ETF issuers like Franklin Templeton.
[00:28:00 ] The BTR token: Governance launch and upcoming campaigns.
[00:30:00 ] Closing thoughts: Miner incentives and the next decade of Bitcoin utility.
Connect
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlieyechuanhu/
Disclaimer
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