π The BTC Financing Thesis
The Problem: Bitcoin Is Financially Idle
Bitcoin is the worldβs most valuable digital collateral β yet it remains largely unused in modern financial markets.
BTC is idle: ~19.9M BTC (β $2.5T) exists today, yet less than 1.1% participates in DeFi.
Wrapped dependence: Over 90% of BTC used in DeFi is synthetic, relying on custodians or bridges.
Trust gap: Most BTC holders are unwilling to relinquish custody or accept bridge risk.
Liquidity gap: Native BTC in DeFi represents only ~0.11% of total BTC supply.
This is not a demand problem β it is a trust and infrastructure problem.
Why Existing BTC Liquidity Models Fail
Current approaches to BTC liquidity require one or more of the following tradeoffs:
Giving up custody to centralized entities
Converting BTC into wrapped or bridged representations
Accepting opaque or discretionary liquidation rules
For long-term Bitcoin holders, these tradeoffs are unacceptable.
As a result, the vast majority of BTC remains financially inactive.
The Opportunity: Native, Self-Custodial BTC Financing
Unlocking Bitcoinβs capital efficiency does not require turning BTC into a DeFi-native asset.
It requires enabling financing primitives that respect Bitcoinβs security model.
Self-custodial BTC liquidity: Borrowing and lending that keeps BTC locked natively on Bitcoin.
Bridge-free verification: Credit relationships enforced without wrapped assets or custodial bridges.
Deterministic enforcement: Loan outcomes defined upfront and executed programmatically.
A Step-Change in Market Capacity
Even modest native BTC participation has outsized impact.
Onboarding a small fraction of BTC natively can unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in safe, verifiable liquidity.
This represents a 10Γ expansion of credible DeFi liquidity β without increasing systemic risk.
Trust-first BTC financing expands the market rather than redistributing existing capital.
A Win-Win Credit Primitive
A native BTC financing layer aligns incentives across participants:
Borrowers: Unlock liquidity without selling BTC or sacrificing custody.
Lenders: Earn yield backed by real BTC collateral, not synthetic representations.
This creates sustainable credit markets rather than speculative yield loops.
The Missing Layer
What Bitcoin lacks today is a financing layer that:
Preserves self-custody
Eliminates bridge risk
Makes enforcement explicit and verifiable
LiquidSat is built to fill this gap.

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