During most of its history, Bitcoin has been appreciated as digital gold: an asset to keep in place. That passivity has left billions of dollars in BTC in wallets, disconnected from the performance strategies and composability that define decentralized finances (Defi).
The increase in liquid rethink tokens promises to change that, positioning Bitcoin not only as a value reserve but as a productive asset integrated in the chain capital markets.
The commitment to liquid refers to the use process offered by its cryptography to help ensure a network, and receive a liquid and negotiable token in return that represents its assets states and can be used in Defi while the original tokens continue to gain betting rewards.
Lombard Finance has become one of the prominent projects in Bitcoin Liquid Staking. Its flagship product, LBTC, is a performance token backed 1: 1 by BTC.
When BTC is deposited in the Lombard protocol, the underlying currencies are stabilized, mainly through Babylon, a protocol that allows a Bitcoin de Autodial commitment without trust. Users receive LBTC in return, which can be implemented in defi ecosystems, while the original bitcoin gains rewards.
This dual functionality is key. Holders can maintain exposure to Bitcoin while using LBTC in loans, loans and provision of liquidity for protocols such as Aave, Morpho, Pendle and Ether.fi. Designed for interoperability, LBTC moves through Ethereum, Base, BNB chain and other networks, avoiding liquidity fragmentation and guaranteeing that Bitcoin can participate in a defi environment of multiple chains.
A market is potentially worth billions
By mobilizing the inactive liquidity of BTC, Lombard and other liquid bet projects aimed to provide the infrastructure for Bitcoin Defi, channeling the vast market capitalization of the asset in the capital markets in the chain.
This effort reflects the transformation of Ethereum through derivatives of liquid stagnation, but with the potential to unlock a deeper group of value given the Bitcoin scale.
To contextualize the difference in the scale, the Ethereum liquid stagnation market, led by Lido’s Steth, has a market capitalization of approximately $ 38 billion. In contrast, the entire Bitcoin LST sector is still incipient, with a total market capitalization of around $ 2.5 billion. LBTC of Lombard only represents approximately $ 1.4 billion of ESO, or about 40% of the Bitcoin LST market.
Bard of Lombard
On the basis of that foundation, Lombard announced this week the creation of the Liquid Bitcoin Foundation and its Native Token of $ Bard, along with a community sale of $ 6.75 million.
The Foundation will act as an independent administrator of the protocol, financing research, subsidies and education, while establishing governance frameworks to preserve neutrality. $ BARD will serve as the Ecosystem utility and governance file, giving the headlines the ability to bet to ensure the central infrastructure of Lombard, vote the proposals and obtain access to new products.
Jacob Phillips, co -founder of Lombard, described the sale of the community as “an invitation to more than 260,000 headlines of LBTC and others in the Bitcoin ecosystem to help shape the future of the Bitcoin chain.” Erick Zhang, founder of Buidlpad, who will organize the sale, added that Lombard is “a pioneer who unlocks Bitcoin’s complete potential as digital gold and a basis for next -generation capital markets.”
