Dear Investors,
Our onboarding efforts are progressing well, as you’ll see in the sales updates below. We’ve carved out a niche serving large, conservative BTC-holding institutions that want to work with top-tier trading firms and earn 5-6% APY through conventional BTC strategies.
Next, I want to highlight where we’re headed. While our first product replaces WBTC with a safer wrapped Bitcoin, we are now expanding into on-chain BTC yield opportunities.
The most frequent question we get is: “How much yield can I earn on iBTC?” Wrapped Bitcoin itself—like WBTC or cbBTC—does not generate yield. However, the market is now accustomed to products that do. A BTCFi sector has grown around bridged assets–solvBTC, Lombard LBTC–and Bitcoin L2s all offering yield. These returns typically come from (unlicensed) prop trading, mining rewards from token emissions, or speculation on points programs.
Many of these programs have underdelivered. Protocols promising 10-20% yields have disappointed investors when their incentives didn’t deliver. Babylon saw over $6Bn in BTC locked, but with its only yield source coming from securing small Cosmos chains, it is heavily oversecured and at risk of delivering low (~1%) returns. You may remember that EigenLayer faced a similar issue: despite securing $15B in TVL, demand for its AVSs was under $1.5B, leading to collapsing yields.
These protocols also introduce additional trust assumptions. BTC assets must be bridged to a custodian or a network of validator-run BTC nodes, introducing bridge risks. BitcoinLayers reports that some Bitcoin L2 chains operate with as few as one signer on a multisig—meaning a single founder could withdraw all deposited BTC.
Since iBTC itself does not generate yield, our next step is to create secure yield opportunities. As an early first step, I’m excited to announce the launch of siBTC, our first Symbiotic AVS staking vault for iBTC, leveraging the Mellow LRT layer. siBTC uses iBTC to secure our iBTC Attestor network, offering 4% APY on the first $50Mn in deposits. We are also expanding our collaboration with Symbiotic to enable iBTC to secure additional PoS chains.
Longer term, we aim to build on-chain vaults that generate yield from BTC held in self-custody. This is the ultimate solution for institutions—earning DeFi yields on BTC while maintaining full control of their principal, with theft-proof security that eliminates risks from hacks or collusion.
Sales and Business Development
Canton Network, Cumberland’s permissioned blockchain with built-in privacy features, picked iBTC as their wrapped Bitcoin provider. We're powering VM/IM flows on BTC derivatives, to be traded by QCP, DRW and FalconX. Canton’s founder Eric estimates that, once deployed, iBTC will see $50Mn/day volumes.
Regarding expansion to other chains:
Ripple Labs has outlined their plans for iBTC-enabled Defi on XRPL and on their new XRP EVM sidechain.
We’ve received a grant from StarkNet to launch and set up iBTC.
We’re still in discussions with Mysten Labs regarding timing of the launch to Sui.
BitGo support will be live in February, marking our first integration with a qualified custodian. This will unlock major clients like Bullish, Cumberland, and FalconX. We are also progressing with Anchorage, Copper, and Fireblocks.
In terms of trading institutions, we are finalizing our onboarding with Cumberland and engaging with traders at QCP, Susquehanna (SIG), MetAlpha, STS, and others.
We are onboarding liquidity providers, including Bullish, Dialectic, VanEck, and Acheron. Hashnote, our strategic partner, was recently acquired by Circle for over $1B. We are also in early discussions with Xapo Bank, a major Bitcoin holder.
Marketing and PR
We launched our points program to incentivize users and grow our community. The points program aims to incentivize users and grow our community by rewarding them for their engagement.
We launched the iBTC Symbiotic vault in collaboration with Mellow, and co-marketed it with Symbiotic, Mellow, and P2P.
We created educational content about the custodial risk of the Solv protocol and wBTC, raising awareness about the importance of secure solutions in the Bitcoin market.
We achieved our highest-ever impressions on X, surpassing the previous record set in October 2024, thanks to our co-marketing initiatives.
We’re finalizing our new branding, which will be visible soon, stay tuned!
Testimonials
“You’re a better, faster, cheaper version of wBTC” – Head of Trading at a leading prime brokerage
“iBTC unlocks new staking yield opportunities for Bitcoin users.” – Felix Lutsch, Head of Ecosystem, Symbiotic
"You're sovereign Bitcoin for everything else” – Leading Bitcoin Investment Fund
Product
As mentioned in the introductory section, we have launched on the Symbiotic shared security network with our iBTC Network as an AVS, and iBTC as a supported collateral type. We have opted-in various top-tier operators such as P2P, Nethermind, Kiln, and Pier Two.
With our partnership with Mellow Finance, we have also launched an LRT token on top, known as siBTC. (Staked iBTC)
Integration for support by the BitGo custodial BTC wallet has been moving along quite well, and is expected to launch in February, although this will be dependent on BitGo’s internal schedule.
For early Q1, we are designing and launching several yield tokens, including principle/yield token pairs via Specta Finance. These are tokens which automatically accrue yield by representing yield-generating investment strategies. This will give us more products which we can leverage to get activity in the market.
We have begun development of our iBTC token on the Canton network, development expected to be completed in Q1 2025.
Finance and Fundraising
We have secured $2Mn in hard commits, with $3Mn left to raise. We are now in early discussions with several funds that can lead or co-lead to close out our seed fundraise.
How You Can Help
We’re looking to connect with more BTC-holding institutions, including asset managers, prop trading desks, foundations, and Bitcoin miners. We’re also seeking introductions to trading firms, OTC desks, and market makers. If you know any that aren’t familiar with iBTC, please introduce me via Telegram (@akibalogh) or email ([email protected]).
Best,
Aki
PS – Missed any of our previous Investor Updates? Read past editions here.
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