In a digital landscape dominated by Ethereum-native decetralized finance (DeFi) protocols, Bitcoin has largely sat idle — less a productive asset, more a vault. But platforms like Xverse are starting to change that, and they’re doing it without reinventing the wheel.
“We don’t develop the protocols ourselves…we aggregate them,” said Ken Liao, CEO of Xverse Wallet, in a recent conversation with TheStreet Roundtable’s Alp Gasimov. “You just basically, within a couple of clicks, deploy your Bitcoin capital.”
Bitcoin DeFi is quietly gaining traction, especially among risk-aware crypto investors who’ve grown wary of bridging to exotic chains or complex liquidity pools. At the center of Xverse’s strategy is Stacks, a Bitcoin layer 2 (L2) protocol whose native token (STX) can be staked to generate BTC rewards.
Xverse isn’t trying to build the next big DeFi protocol — it’s building the interface to all of them. It serves up vetted protocols from Bitcoin-native ecosystems like Stacks and other L2s that settle to the main Bitcoin chain. That’s a subtle but crucial criterion in an era where every chain wants to claim Bitcoin-level security.
“We’re not going to support every single L2. We’re looking for the best, most robust solutions on Bitcoin,” Liao noted. “Chains that settle to Bitcoin in the end.”
It’s a strategy reminiscent of Robinhood’s move into crypto or Coinbase’s rollup-centric Base strategy — curate the user experience, abstract the complexity, and meet the investor where they are.
While Ethereum DeFi has long enabled yield farming and lending, Bitcoin’s ecosystem has been slower to develop. But platforms like Xverse may be tapping into a massive underutilized market.
“Users don’t have to think about what layers they’re interacting with. They just put Bitcoin in and get Bitcoin out,” Liao said.
For high-net-worth holders, family offices, or even retail investors with idle BTC, the promise is simple: Don’t just hold Bitcoin — make it work for you.
Xverse wants your Bitcoin to do more than just sit there first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 18, 2025
