Ankr, the provider of decentralized blockchain infrastructure, is set to introduce Bitcoin liquid staking tokens to the AI-focused blockchain Talus starting from May 1. Ankr stated that Bitcoin, being the oldest and most liquid blockchain, has traditionally been confined to the Bitcoin L1. However, with Ankr’s liquid staking service, Bitcoin can now be staked through various Bitcoin restaking protocols, allowing users on the Bitcoin network to earn additional staking rewards while providing access to Bitcoin liquidity for other ecosystems. To participate in Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi), users delegate their BTC to an operator in a restaking protocol, which is then used as collateral to create BTC liquid staking tokens (LSTs). In the case of Talus, these Bitcoin LSTs can be used to power the blockchain’s smart agents or AI assistants and their applications, such as travel bookings, online purchases, and portfolio management.
Talus’ smart agents are capable of bundling multilayer atomic swaps and executing them in a single transaction to provide security against exploits like flash loan attacks. Talus commented that Ankr’s BTC liquid staking unlocks a significant amount of liquidity, enabling seamless execution of simultaneous DeFi transactions on Talus. This move follows Ankr’s earlier launch of its first Bitcoin liquid staking product in collaboration with the Babylon protocol. The Babylon protocol allows users to earn yields from their idle bitcoins by pledging them as collateral to mint LSTs, which can then be used to validate transactions on proof-of-stake blockchains. The yields earned from staked LSTs are returned to users’ locked Bitcoin. Currently, the Babylon protocol is in its testnet phase, with a mainnet launch scheduled for later this year.
Despite the ongoing market correction, the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem has been flourishing, with the introduction of new protocols like Ordinals, Inscriptions, Atomicals, and Runes. SolvBTC, an omnichain yield-generating protocol, has accumulated a total value locked of $700 million from its yield-bearing Bitcoin minted on platforms such as Arbitrum, Merlin, and BNB Smart Chain. SolvBTC recently surpassed 10,000 BTC staked and attracted over 92,000 participants shortly after its launch.