Bitcoin

Runestone is a Bitcoin NFT experiment co-launched by Ord.io founder Leonidas and the developers of the Ordinals protocol, a tribute to the first groups to use Ordinals.

The core function of IBIT, or the iShares Bitcoin Trust, is to provide investors with Bitcoin price exposure through an ETF structure. Investors can participate in Bitcoin market movements through traditional securities accounts without directly holding Bitcoin or managing a digital wallet.

IBIT and GBTC both provide investors with exposure to Bitcoin’s price, but their development history, product structure, and market positioning are not entirely the same. For investors who want to participate in Bitcoin market movements through traditional securities markets, understanding the differences between the two can make it easier to grasp how the spot Bitcoin ETF market has evolved.

IBIT, or the iShares Bitcoin Trust, is a spot Bitcoin ETF that gives investors exposure to Bitcoin’s price through traditional securities markets. Its core purpose is to let investors participate in Bitcoin market movements without directly holding Bitcoin or managing a crypto wallet.

Citrea is a ZK Rollup network that uses Bitcoin as its data availability layer and settlement layer. Through BitVM and Type 2 zkEVM technology, it provides BTC with smart contract and BTCFi capabilities. Compared with traditional Bitcoin sidechains, Citrea places greater emphasis on a “Bitcoin native” architecture, aiming to let BTC support DeFi, stablecoins, lending, and on-chain financial applications without changing Bitcoin’s consensus rules.

The ctUSD Vault is a core stablecoin liquidity module in Citrea’s BTCFi ecosystem. Through stablecoin deposits, on-chain asset allocation, and CTR incentives, it provides foundational liquidity support for the Bitcoin DeFi market. Its goal is to build a more stable on-chain capital flow system within a Bitcoin Layer2 environment.

Citrea uses zkEVM, zero knowledge proofs, or ZK Proofs, and BitVM to provide BTC with smart contract and BTCFi capabilities. Unlike traditional Bitcoin sidechains, Citrea places greater emphasis on a “Bitcoin native” architecture, aiming to bring final security back to the Bitcoin mainnet. Citrea’s Rollup process mainly includes five stages: transaction execution, state batching, ZK Proof generation, data submission, and Bitcoin verification. User transactions are first executed in Layer2 zkEVM. The system then generates state proofs and completes final verification and settlement through BitVM and Bitcoin.

Citrea and Stacks both fall under the Bitcoin Layer2 category, but they differ significantly in their underlying architecture and security mechanisms. Citrea uses ZK Rollup, BitVM, and Bitcoin Settlement to bring final state security back to Bitcoin, while Stacks uses an independent chain and PoX, or Proof of Transfer, to enable smart contract functionality through its own network.

Factom (FCT) is a data anchoring protocol built around a Bitcoin anchoring mechanism. It is designed for enterprise-grade data verification, tamper resistant recordkeeping, and blockchain based auditing. Factom writes data hashes to the Bitcoin blockchain, using Bitcoin’s security to verify the authenticity of data while avoiding the need to store large volumes of raw data directly on the Bitcoin network.

Core DAO’s main use cases center on BTCFi, DeFi, EVM smart contracts, and non-custodial BTC staking. These use cases are designed to expand Bitcoin’s role in on-chain finance and smart contracts.

CORE is the native token of the Core DAO network. It is mainly used to pay network fees, participate in validator staking, support on-chain governance, and maintain the network incentive system within Satoshi Plus consensus.

Core DAO (CORE) is an EVM-compatible public blockchain network designed to connect Bitcoin security with the smart contract ecosystem. Through the Satoshi Plus consensus mechanism, it combines Bitcoin miner hash power, DPoS, and non-custodial BTC staking to form its network validation system.

sBTC, Stacks, and Zest Protocol are key components of the Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi, ecosystem. Stacks provides Bitcoin with smart contract functionality and Layer2 scaling capabilities. sBTC brings BTC into a programmable on-chain environment, while Zest Protocol builds BTC lending markets and on-chain financial protocols on top of this infrastructure. Together, the three help Bitcoin evolve from a pure store-of-value asset into a financial asset system that can participate in lending, yield, and on-chain liquidity.

Zest Protocol (ZEST) is a decentralized lending protocol designed for the Bitcoin ecosystem. It mainly runs on the Stacks network and allows users to use assets such as BTC, sBTC, and STX for on-chain collateralized lending, yield generation, and liquidity management.

Zest Protocol and Aave are both decentralized lending protocols in the crypto market. They allow users to obtain on-chain liquidity by collateralizing assets, while also providing interest income to depositors. However, the ecosystems they operate in are not the same. Aave is a representative protocol within the Ethereum DeFi system, while Zest Protocol is more closely aligned with Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi, infrastructure. Its goal is to allow BTC assets to participate in on-chain financial activity as well.