We just wrapped up an enlightening AMA, and wow—the energy was unreal!
Chatting with industry leaders like Ki (Orca), Wilbert (Pendle), Gnarl (Magic Eden), Cap (Solana Superteam UK) and our very own Jeremy Dreier (Chief Business Development Officer at GoMining) gave us fresh insights into how BTCfi is shaking up the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Missed the AMA? No worries—catch the full recording on X/Twitter.
We talked about BTCfi’s explosive growth, Bitcoin's expanding utility, and how we’re transforming mining into a highly dynamic DeFi tool. Let’s get into it.
Highlights
🔥 BTCfi Uptake: Ki pointed out that while memes have been ruling past cycles, BTCfi is taking off because people want to do more than just HODL Bitcoin. Growth is heating up on Solana and beyond, with new BTCfi products on the horizon.
🔥 NFTs x BTCfi: Wilbert explained how Ordinals and NFTs laid the groundwork for BTCfi. We’re witnessing a Bitcoin renaissance, and projects are finding fresh ways to integrate Bitcoin into DeFi.
🔥 Our Unique Spin on BTCfi: Jeremy Dreier broke down how we’re blending BTCfi with Real World Assets (RWA). By turning digital miners into DeFi tools that generate real yield, we’re bridging Bitcoin mining with decentralized finance—unlocking new layers of utility.
Let’s Dive into Some Key Questions
Yann Barry (Host)
We’re talking today about BTCfi and we’re going to be talking about the benefits of connecting decentralized applications with Bitcoin.
So, let's start with the speakers of today.
First we have Ki, from Orca. Ki is the Head of Business Development at Orca, and he has been extremely active and contributing to the Solana ecosystem for about three and a half years now. Orca is considered the go-to-place to trade tokens and provide liquidity on Solana.
Then, we have Wilbert from Pendle. He is part of the Ecosystem team at Pendle. Pendle is one of the strongest DeFi protocols focused on Yield trading, allowing users to both fix or leverage their yield.
Next, we have Gnarl, who is the Bitcoin Business Lead at Magic Eden. I think that all of us know Magic Eden, which is the largest NFT marketplace on Solana, and that it allows users to buy, to sell, to mint, and to manage tokens on Solana.
And then we have Cap from Solana Superteam UK which is one of the best platforms that accelerates projects within the Solana ecosystem.
And finally, we have Jeremy, who is my colleague from GoMining, and who is the Chief Business Development Officer here at GoMining. So welcome to all of you guys.
Tell us a bit more about the major trends for 2025 that you’ve detected in BTCfi.
Ki (Orca): As far as trends go, I think memes have dominated the cycle, but there is a growing interest in other areas like project tokens, DeFi, AI, AI-agents — and BTCfi is one of those areas that I’m seeing a lot of growth in.
Not just on Solana but across the ecosystem. People want to be able to use their Bitcoin, they want to be able to earn and speculate from Bitcoin products such as mining. It's definitely growing.…People want to be able to use Bitcoin as it is one of the biggest assets in the world. Up until now, all people were able to do was hold it, but with BTCfi, there is tons more room for growth.
Are there any applications that excite you the most about the growth of BTCfi in the coming years?
Wilbert (Pendle):
I think for one, we’re definitely interested in protocols like GoMining that are developing tokenized hashrate strategies because there are a lot of things we can do on Pendle with tokenized hash rates.I think GoMining has an LBH - like a Liquid Bitcoin Hashrate that is representing the tokenized hash rate…With that, you can bring it to Pendle, and users can essentially purchase PT tokens and get some kind of fixed yield in terms of the BTC mining rates. Because BTC mining rates are variable, they will depend on a few other factors like BTC’s price for example. So having that PT asset as a fixed rate strategy might be interesting. So that’s one vertical that we’re definitely looking at on the BTC mining side of things.
What makes BTCfi exciting for the application of NFTs, and how can NFTs create some type of new use case for BTCfi?
Gnarl (Magic Eden):
Ordinals, runes and NFTs paved the way for BTCfi to start kicking off, and using those assets is a pretty interesting concept. I think we’re in a Bitcoin renaissance, and there's no doubt you can see the growth that is happening. We see big decentralized projects getting involved in launching things where you can use Bitcoin. So it's really cool to see the Bitcoin ecosystem transform and I think they can start with Ordinals in some way.
In your opinion, how can we grow a strong BTCfi community, and what would be the key steps for these communities to connect and collaborate?
Cap (Solana Superteam UK):
You want to think “What’s the big 10 that’s going to drive the entire world together?”, and be able to bring the best BTCfi projects in one building……You’d get curated guests so that everyone who’s in that room is an amazing person that can drive the space forward. There’s the believer effect that will happen. Then you can have micro follow ups in different regions.
How does BTCfi make Bitcoin mining easier for people?
Jeremy (GoMining):
It’s not just about BTCfi, it’s also about RWA, it's part of what we’re doing here at Gomining also, it's going to be an intersection of both directions. Our core product of course is Digital Miners, but we believe that it's all about unlocking Bitcoin’s full potential.
For years, Bitcoin has been primarily seen as a store of value [...] and we’re starting to see it evolve into a broader component of the financial ecosystem, especially crypto, and starting to see it moving to cross-chain BTCfi, and I think that’s really interesting.
When it comes to RWA and asset integration, that’s also a game changer in our eyes and I think it goes hand-in-hand with BTCfi, especially for us.
…More projects are exploring ways to bring Bitcoin into DeFi — [whether] cross chains or layer 2s around Bitcoin, now Bitcoin on Solana. This is going to increase Bitcoin’s utility and continue to strengthen its position which is very important to us as Bitcoin miners, and as a cornerstone of the digital economy.
What makes GoMining's approach unique?
Jeremy:
We’ve taken something as foundational as Bitcoin mining and we have transformed it into a tool in DeFi that creates real yield. We’ve created a tangible consistent return that directly ties back into our real-world operations, which is the foundation of GoMining…
As far as what we see and where we’re trying to push this ecosystem, we’re trying to build not just GoMining as a Bitcoin ecosystem, but more of a BTCfi ecosystem in general, and have everything Bitcoin-related under GoMining.
So we’ve started these new initiatives where we just expanded to Solana. We're in the middle of that launch right now. We’re building a new platform such as our Bitcoin launchpad, which is to help accelerate Bitcoin projects or projects that are around Bitcoin — giving them new ways to drive transactions.
We’re starting to get to the point where it falls back to what Bitcoin can do. It's not about “Can Bitcoin do this same type of thing?” “Can we use Bitcoin in DeFi?” — it’s “How far can we take it?”...and that’s why we’re pushing those limits to see how far we can go.
What makes it rewarding for us is that we think we’re at the forefront of something that will change things for crypto and how people view and use Bitcoin. And, we just want to continue to create tools and platforms that allow users to get access to Bitcoin in multiple different ways.
What wallets will power the $GOMINING token and GoMining’s NFT on the Solana blockchain?
Jeremy:
First of and foremost, one of our major partners for this launch is Magic Eden. The Magic Eden wallet supports the holding of GOMINING tokens. Beyond that, you can also use Phantom. [They are] top wallets in the Solana ecosystem where you can hold and trade GOMINING tokens.
As far as NFTs go, at this point, the Mint Pass Launch and Whitelist [Sale] are all happening through Magic Eden. For the first launch, the first step, you should attach your Solana NFTs to the GoMining platform so you can receive your rewards directly. And, we’re interested in having further discussions with Magic Eden about expanding how those NFTs can be held directly inside the Magic Eden wallet and receive their rewards directly as well.
Will Solana be able to be swapped for GoMining tokens?
Jeremy:
So yeah, you can go to Orca right now and the main liquidity pair that is set up is USDC/GOMINING. But you can swap directly from Solana to GOMINING via USDC, just like you can on any type of platform that offers DEX liquidity. So you can go to Orca and swap directly from GOMINING via USDC.
What’s Next?
This AMA barely scratched the surface. Here’s what we’re building next:
📂Bitcoin Launchpad — Fueling Bitcoin-first projects and creating new earning opportunities.
📂Further Expansions — Unlocking new utility for GOMINING tokens and NFTs.
📂Pushing BTCfi Limits — Building a full-scale BTCfi ecosystem to maximize Bitcoin’s potential.
We’re redefining what Bitcoin mining means. And this is just the beginning.
January 16, 2025
