Dear Current and Prospective Investors,
The markets have surged following the elections, reflecting growing optimism among consumers and institutions in the US about advancements in Bitcoin and crypto regulation. This momentum has driven the introduction of products like options on spot Bitcoin ETFs, ETH staking ETFs and altcoin ETFs. While these offerings are inherently centralized, they represent a significant step toward wider DeFi adoption in the US.
As DeFi adoption grows, cross-chain bridges connecting BTC to other chains are becoming increasingly important. Historically, bridges have been adopted by retail users at their own risk. Institutions have largely avoided bridges due to their complex designs, which make risk assessments challenging. The potential for BTC loss from hacks, rug pulls, or technical failures outweighs the yield benefits, leaving institutions on the sidelines.
Our solution directly addresses these challenges. By keeping BTC under the depositor’s control, our theft-proof design eliminates the risk of principal loss, ensuring institutional-grade safety.
Reflecting our unwavering commitment to security and institutional-grade quality, we have thus rebranded dlcBTC as iBTC (institutional BTC). This new name underscores our mission to provide secure, reliable Bitcoin solutions specifically designed to meet the stringent standards of institutional users.
The next step is to prove the scalability of DLCs and iBTC. We need sufficient liquidity on-chain to enable listings on platforms like AAVE, Compound, and Morpho, which are critical for unlocking key use cases and yield opportunities for our LPs.
To address the 'cold start' challenge, we are partnering with Cumberland’s asset manager, Hashnote, to mint an initial $200 million in iBTC liquidity. This will be rolled out in multiple tranches as additional custodians are onboarded for iBTC minting.
iBTC offers LPs the flexibility to mint from any custodian supporting Taproot. Cumberland’s initial mint will utilize DFNS wallet with Tungsten as the custodian. Looking ahead, we are excited to expand support to include BitGo (committed for Q1) and Fireblocks (verbal commitment for Q1/Q2). We are also exploring additional custodians to further enhance minting options for iBTC.
Sales and Business Development
We are actively onboarding various entities within Cumberland/DRW. Cumberland Trading will serve as our market maker on centralized exchanges, while Ergonia, their DeFi trading arm, will support our DeFi activities. Hashnote, their asset manager, is offering iBTC minting to its LPs. Canton, a private blockchain launched by Cumberland/DRW, has chosen iBTC as its wrapped Bitcoin provider. Finally, we are also in discussions with Cumberland Labs about a potential investment.
Good news! VanEck has committed to onboarding as a liquidity provider to support iBTC coming to Sui. We are aiming to launch iBTC on Sui in Q1.
We’ve met our goal of onboarding 5 iBTC merchants by Q4! Current merchants include Amber Group, DV Chain, Hashkey OTC, Keyrock and Flowdesk. Cumberland Trading is also in process of onboarding, as are IMC, Dialectic and others.
In terms of custodians, we have onboarded DFNS (alongside Fordefi and Ledger) as minting options. BitGo plans to support iBTC in Q1, and Fireblocks in Q1/Q2. We’re in ongoing discussions with Anchorage, Copper, Cobo and others as well.
We’re expanding our attestor network. We’re onboarding Everstake, Nethermind, P2P, InfStones, ChorusOne, and are in active discussions with Kiln, Fiona and TwinStake. With these, we should soon be able to complete our 15-operator network.
We continue to be in discussions with OKX, Binance and other exchanges regarding $dlcBTC and $DLC listings. Assuming no disruptions to schedule, we may be able to launch $DLC token as early as Q2 2025.
Marketing and PR
We've rebranded to iBTC! The dlcBTC token is now iBTC, and a new company name coming soon. iBTC (aka institutional Bitcoin) better aligns with our mission to provide decentralized, institutional-backed wrapped Bitcoin. This change comes with many other exciting updates, including new merchants, a new Bitcoin yield platform, and a brand new company name to be announced soon!
The marketing team has finalized a strategy for the first half of next year centered around our upcoming product launch and pending TGE. This proactive planning ensures we're well-prepared to maximize the impact of these major milestones and drive adoption.
We're shifting our content strategy to focus more on Bitcoin DeFi. Stay tuned for a newsletter and more articles on this topic. This shift aligns our content with the growing interest in Bitcoin DeFi and positions us as a thought leader in this emerging space.
The team had a large presence at Devcon in November, and you can find us at BTC Mena and Abu Dhabi Finance Week in December. These events provide valuable opportunities to connect with potential partners and users, build relationships within the industry, and increase brand visibility.
Testimonials
A few recent quotes from our fans:
“You’re a better, faster, cheaper version of wBTC” – Head of Trading at a leading prime brokerage
"iBTC's 1CY (Self-Custodial 1-Click Yield Product) unlocks new restaking yield opportunities for Bitcoin users" – Felix Lutsch, Head of Ecosystem, Symbiotic
"[iBTC] is making Bitcoin more composable & usable in DeFi" – Oliver Birch, Global Head, Chainlink BUILD Program
"You're sovereign Bitcoin for everything else” – Leading Bitcoin Investment Fund
Product
On top of the stellar list of node operators we’re partnering with already, we plan to be adding some new big names including P2P, Kiln, ChorusOne, and OKX. In addition to being part of our Attestor network and benefiting from our rewards program, these operators are excited for our Symbiotic partnership, and offering our Bitcoin staking vaults to their investors and staking customers.
Bitcoin staking is going to be a hot topic in 2025, and iBTC is going to be leading the charge with our unique innovations. In early January we’ll be launching as a Symbiotic AVS network, and co-marketing with them as part of their “launch partner” program.
To differentiate us from the rest of the market, we will be offering “Institutional grade” staking, by leveraging our existing self-custodial bridging technology to create isolated, self-custodial staking vaults! These will allow individual institutions to stake funds without the worry of co-mingled assets. Expect our first launch of our 1CY (1 Click Yield) products, and our 1CY Pro for Institutions around the beginning of the year.
We’re getting significant interest from protocols and investors to move to new chains. Therefore, we’ve begun a short and targeted improvement to part of our system, which will allow us to onboard quicker than ever to new chains. This will also reduce complexity for code audit as well. This will be completed in December, so in Q1 we can quickly onboard SUI, BNB, and then likely Aptos and Solana.
Finance and Fundraising
We're in discussions with various candidates for lead/co-leals. At this point, we’re still open to meeting new funds at this stage. However, we cannot guarantee allocations.
Confirmed participants in the round include Round 13 Digital, Auros Ventures, Maelstrom, InfStones as well as angels from BlackRock, LayerZero, Kraken and Ether.fi.
How You Can Help
We’re looking to meet more institutions that hold BTC and are looking for safe yields. These may include asset managers, proprietary trading desks, OTC desks, market makers and other financial institutions.
Best,
Aki
PS – Missed any of our previous Investor Updates? Read past editions here.
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