BOB aims to bridge the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems as a hybrid layer 2 protocol by leveraging BitVM to expand the role of Bitcoin in DeFi and unlock cross-chain liquidity. Masu. The three-step roadmap includes Ethereum L2 integration, Bitcoin Finality Protocol, and a complete transition to Bitcoin Rollup, enabling advanced DeFi features such as BTC staking. Bitcoin DeFi is likely to become an even bigger market in the near future as new technologies are developed to support the ecosystem.
BOB (Build on Bitcoin) has established a step-by-step development roadmap to enhance its capabilities as a hybrid layer 2 protocol. Each phase is designed to improve the integration of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) and is aimed at promoting Bitcoin DeFi, a recent trend in the cryptocurrency community.
That's because there is a lot of innovation and development taking place in this area, and BOB is one of the projects that is poised to propel the sector on a potentially large scale.
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So what is BOB?
BOB is a new blockchain protocol that brings Ethereum’s DeFi features to Bitcoin BTC, or at least that’s the goal. It aims to achieve this by creating a bridge between the two blockchains while inheriting the security of Bitcoin.
This is basically a hybrid L2 of Bitcoin. The platform plans to support minimal trust Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals using a mechanism known as BitVM (short for Bitcoin Virtual Machine) introduced by Robin Linus in late 2023. The engine is Turing complete and can handle complex calculations off and on. It uses chains to reduce the load on the Bitcoin blockchain.
BOB’s selling point is that by connecting both ecosystems, it has the potential to open up mass DeFi adoption for Bitcoin. This connection aims to position BOB as a solution for cross-chain financial applications and extract liquidity from each.
Source: gobo.xyz
BOB CEO expects retail and institutional users to arrive soon
The crypto world is often rallying around meme coins and AI agents, but BOB CEO Alexei Zamyatin told CryptoNews Australia that it will take a while for retail and institutional users to get into Bitcoin DeFi. He said it would not take much time.
DeFi TVL has reached an 18-month high, but this is just the beginning. While memes and AI agents dominate the headlines, DeFi and on-chain yields are seeing a quiet but strong resurgence. There has been a flurry of renewed interest from both blockchain newcomers and those returning after a hiatus.
Alexei Zamyatin, BOB CEO
The protocol aims to put Bitcoin at the forefront of the DeFi ecosystem, unlocking new use cases and, of course, expanding access to liquidity across the blockchain.
With the DeFi expansion of Bitcoin powered by BitVM, we are poised for even bigger changes. Currently, DeFi TVL accounts for 30 percent of ETH's market capitalization. However, BTC has risen more than 110% since the beginning of the year, only by 0.1%.
Alexei Zamyatin, BOB CEO
BOB Hydra's roadmap consists of three phases. The first is the launch of BOB as Ethereum Layer 2, which is already live and built on top of the OP stack. It has grown to over 100 projects, 170,000 users, and over $100 million in assets, and is focused on increasing the ease of use of Bitcoin in DeFi with features such as one-click BTC staking.
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Phase 2 will add the Bitcoin finality protocol to the Ethereum L2 framework. Phase 3 is a full transition to Bitcoin rollup via BitVM, which we discussed earlier.
