Bitlayer Partners with Major Mining Pools to Advance BTCFi

Bitlayer, a project developing a Layer 2 solution for Bitcoin, has partnered with leading mining pools Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool to advance the BTCFi segment.

?We’re beyond excited to break the news:
Bitlayer has forged strategic partnerships with three major BTC mining pools — Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool — whose combined global hashrate accounts for nearly 40% of the total Bitcoin network. @AntPoolofficial @f2pool_official… pic.twitter.com/RLXoDot625

— Bitlayer BitVM (@BitlayerLabs) May 27, 2025

The BitVM concept aims to expand smart contract capabilities without requiring updates to the Bitcoin network. The solution allows any computable function to be verified within the protocol, possessing Turing completeness.

The system does not necessitate changes to consensus rules. Instead of executing computations on the blockchain, they are merely verified, similar to Optimistic rollups.

BitVM employs a request-response protocol, fraud proofs, and Taproot for prover-verifier interaction.

Pools controlling over 36% of Bitcoin’s hashrate have agreed to support so-called non-standard transactions — a key element of the request-response system in BitVM, the companies reported. They stated that involving major players will eliminate one of the main bottlenecks to launching the protocol and bring this technology closer to widespread adoption.

NSTs are considered valid within Bitcoin’s consensus rules but are not broadcast by standard Bitcoin Core software. As a result, such transactions are “difficult to confirm without cooperation from miners.”

As part of the partnership, Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool will assume the role of “guardians” of the BitVM Bridge. Their main task is to ensure that NSTs are reliably included in blocks and become part of the immutable ledger.

The BitVM Bridge is a tool for secure and reliable interaction of Bitcoin with rollups, cross-chain protocols, and smart contracts. Without the involvement of centralized intermediaries, this solution opens up the possibility of creating complex DeFi applications while maintaining the fundamental security guarantees of the first cryptocurrency’s network.

“BitVM is the most reliable way to implement on-chain validation without compromising Bitcoin’s core security,” said Bitlayer co-founder Kevin He.

Representatives of Antpool emphasized that the new solution could boost economic activity and miners’ revenue through fees:

“Bitlayer, built on BitVM, allows Bitcoins to flow into DeFi and Layer 2 ecosystems. This means more usage, more fees, and long-term sustainability for miners.”

In April, the BTCFi project Babylon launched the Genesis mainnet and conducted an airdrop.

In March, the lending platform Dolomite announced its expansion into the Bitcoin ecosystem through the integration of the EVM-compatible Layer 2 solution Spiderchain.