Maestro Report: Bitcoin is evolving from a store of value to the center of finance on the blockchain

After more than a decade and a half of presence in the market, a new industry report from the Bitcoin infrastructure company Maestro based in Austin paints an interesting picture: Bitcoin has moved beyond its traditional role as a store of value and has become the foundation of a growing blockchain financial ecosystem called "BitcoinFi" worth billions of dollars.

One of the most striking conclusions of the Maestro report is how staking and lending Bitcoin have become leading use cases in this blockchain financial boom. After many years of work on scaling and interoperability, these income-oriented activities have finally achieved a strong product-market fit for Bitcoin holders.

According to the report, approximately 68,500 BTC ( around 7.4 billion dollars ) are currently locked in various Bitcoin-based staking and yield protocols, making staking the largest component of the emerging BitcoinFi landscape. In addition, around 3.32 billion dollars in BTC are involved in so-called "restaking" strategies, where the same Bitcoin is used to secure multiple networks or services.

In total, more than 10 billion dollars are now secured by Bitcoin applications for generating yield on the blockchain - a figure that would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago.

What is driving this growth?

Maestro analysts note that the mentioned growth is due to a new generation of protocols that allow BTC holders to earn rewards for participating in network security and other DeFi-like activities. In other words, Bitcoin owners can now make their coins work similarly to how Ethereum holders stake ETH or how DeFi users earn yields on other smart contract platforms.

Several platforms have led this movement, with only Babylon, a protocol that allows staking Bitcoin to support other networks, accounting for approximately $4.79 billion in blocked BTC.

In addition to generating yield, Bitcoin's capabilities are expanding through various new layers and sidechains designed to significantly enhance its programmability and throughput. Maestro's report documents an impressive leap in Bitcoin's technical landscape: by mid-2025, L2 and Bitcoin-oriented sidechains collectively hold more than 52,000 BTC ( approximately 5.5 billion dollars ) locked outside the main chain, signaling real demand from developers and users for Bitcoin-native versions of smart contracts, asset issuance, and other advanced features.

Tokens, NFTs, and stablecoins stimulate activity on the Bitcoin network

Alongside new layers, the Bitcoin network itself has experienced a renaissance of tokenization at the base level, driven by so-called "metaprotocols" that allow for new types of assets and data to be recorded directly on the blockchain.

The Maestro report highlights that in the first half of 2025, an impressive 40.6% of all Bitcoin transactions involved one of these new asset protocols, whether it be Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens, or the latest variant known as Runes. Daily trading volumes for BRC-20 tokens reached approximately $128 million on active days, while NFT inscriptions surpassed the 80 million Ordinals mark, ranging from profile pictures and collectibles to texts and art stored on the chain.

Another notable event was the rise of Bitcoin-based stablecoins, an asset class that has long been a mainstay of platforms like Ethereum, Tron, or Solana, as the infrastructure of Bitcoin has historically not been very suitable for issuing or managing stable-value tokens.

In the last six months, native stablecoin projects have accumulated approximately 860 million dollars in total value, representing a growth of 42.3% compared to the previous quarter.

Problems persist, but nothing insurmountable

Of course, no evolution comes without its share of problems, and despite the impressive strides made by the BitcoinFi ecosystem, scaling remains a constant issue, even with the emergence of new layers and protocols. There is also a learning curve for the new class of users, especially those Bitcoin investors who have never engaged in DeFi or complex on-chain operations.

Nevertheless, the overall story remains one of momentum and opportunity, with data from the Maestro report telling a clear story: billions of dollars in Bitcoin are now actively at work, securing networks, fueling new tokens, and connecting with financial use cases that simply did not exist in Bitcoin until recently.