2026-01-07 16:21:18

The Bitcoin ecosystem has new developments. Babylon recently announced the completion of a $15 million funding round led by the well-known a16z crypto. The project is backed by two Stanford professors, David Tse and Fisher Yu, who have been exploring ways to involve Bitcoin in DeFi without relinquishing control of their assets since 2021.

BTCVaults is their proposed solution, essentially a decentralized protocol. In simple terms, through this mechanism, token holders can use Bitcoin as collateral for borrowing or earning yields, while still retaining control of their private keys.

What’s more noteworthy is that Babylon has already planned the next step—aiming to integrate with Aave in Q2 2026. Aave is a leading player in the lending ecosystem. Once this partnership is realized, it will allow Bitcoin holders to directly perform related operations on Aave via Babylon, which will significantly boost Bitcoin’s penetration into DeFi.

BTC-0,66%

AAVE-0,34%

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EthMaximalist

· 01-08 08:21

Keep your private keys yourself—that's the right way. I quite agree with Babylon's approach.

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rugpull_survivor

· 01-07 16:50

Bro, aren't you just trying to get the old hands to fall into the DeFi trap again, pretending everything is very safe?

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SerumDegen

· 01-07 16:46

a16z just threw 15m at this and now we're talking aave integration by q2 2026... ngl the cascade effect could get spicy if this actually ships without getting rekt

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ser_ngmi

· 01-07 16:45

Now Bitcoin is really entering the deep waters of DeFi. Holding your private key allows for lending and borrowing? That's something else.

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BlockchainRetirementHome

· 01-07 16:31

Haha, now it's finally serious. The barrier to Bitcoin DeFi has finally been lowered.

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ZKSherlock

· 01-07 16:28

actually... keeping your keys while accessing defi liquidity sounds neat in theory, but what are the actual cryptographic primitives under the hood? they're not just hand-waving away the trust assumptions here, right?

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MemeCurator

· 01-07 16:24

Oh no, BTC is really entering DeFi now, no need to worry about losing private keys. BTCVaults are indeed smart, and a16z's investment also shows the significance of this project. If the Aave integration really comes to fruition... Bitcoin holders will be so happy. Wait, Q2 2026? How long do we have to wait? I'm optimistic, but the premise is not to have some black swan event happen again.

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