I read through recently released paper from Core on their vision for Bitcoin DeFi. https://unlockingbitcoindefi.com/

Here are my thoughts.

At first glance...

It's a little nuts in parts, not entirely sure I agree with all the statements here, but they're having a proper swing at their vision for BTC and you need to have strong convictions if you're going to break new ground (which they are definitely doing). At very least it's INTERESTING and I certainly dig interesting (for all it's newness so much of crypto is boring AF, too much copy paste).

Obviously I'm bullish Core (and Stacks) but I'm also very aware that Ordinals are booming and they are most definitely on the L1. Are they a good UX? Heck no! Terrible. It's getting better but still it's 1000% worse than even Ethereum (and fees are high a lot of the time). But they're on chain, and Bitcoiners seem to resonate with that in a way they're yet to with any BTC product that's on another chain. I do think the L2s (and I use that term super broadly) can change the game, but it's going to be mindset shift more than an incentives play.

If you're holding BTC you have zero yield. Never have had it, and you've seen prices go up and down and that's not seemed to phase most holders. Pulling them into a L2 with the promise of yield doesn't look like the right strategy. It's a good value add, but core value prop has to be something else methinks...

Getting to the core of the matter

I think Core, in that paper, are striking the right tone. It's ideological mostly in nature. Not technical.

• Bitcoin isn't for payments (literally that's what the Bitcoin whitepaper says...)
• Making any changes to the base layer is wrong (imagine if we had adopted that approach with any other technology..)
• Anything that attempts to scale the base layer is silly (Lightning) or evil (BCH)

Now on the face of this these are ludicrous statements. The main criticism levelled at Ethereum is it doesn't move quickly enough!

But on closer inspection are they as insane as they first sound? I think these are deliberate.

I keep saying to people: Saylor tells people to never sell their BTC. That is he is telling people to invest in the first ever digital payments blockchain, that has zero yield, and NEVER USE IT. Saylor is going to zero (how can anyone with this idea of how finance/business works not be?) but he's not going there anytime soon and people listen to him.

But people will start to run out of money if all their wealth is tied up in an asset they're getting nothing for and are not supposed to sell.
They're already a strange bunch as they're prepared to give up yields for an ideology but they do have to eat. Seeing a bunch of people make reliable and ongoing revenue from much smaller nominal value altcoin holdings than they have in BTC will start to grate a bit.
And then a lot. But what are they to do? You never sell your BTC right?
And if it's not your keys it's not your BTC right?

Well that's where Core seems to have staked out an interesting position, and potentially a game changing one. They are on the 'Bitcoin is god' train well and truly and that's speaks to these holders. Now their solution is not permissionless, only the L1 is truly permissionless, but is pretty good at trying to remove as much of the necessary permissioned infra you need to use an asset of one chain on another.
Maybe holders can overlook that hurdle if it's coming from one of them, aka Core. And that seems to be the hurdle you need to cross here: The ideological one.

The design mirrors the ideology

And you can see the ideology clearly in the design.
Everything runs essentially as process beside the L1, it never really integrates with it at any level. It doesn't even post data to the L1!

Stacks is slow because it has to post data to the L1. Stacks is trying to integrate with the Bitcoin L1. Core doesn't want to integrate, they are happy leaving the L1 alone and offering a service to L1 participants.
They aren't trying to say they increase Bitcoin security (like EigenLayer reckons restaking does for Ethereum) they're instead giving BTC holders and BTC miners an opportunity to earn extra rewards on Core.

Now where it gets trickier is when you start talking about ye olde 'have your cake and eat it too' aka wrapped assets. You can get double your money if you're able to wrap an assets cause now you have BTC on the L1 AND BTC on another chain.
Yes I know it's not really double your money but if your BTC was only ever going to sit on the L1 doing nothing having another version that can do something as well as that one on the L1 is like have two assets. Definitely shows up in most TVL figures as double the money.

But if this was such a good deal why hasn't all the other wrapped BTC products boomed? Well... they're: "not your key, not your bitcoin". Aaannnndddd we're back at that problem again. coreBTC does this lockers thing which is exactly like what tBTC and iBTC do. This will be a huge hurdle for the Bitcoiners. I think they'll be fine with "I get free money for hooking up my L1 BTC to Core" but will be not so fine with "I can lose my BTC on the L1 via this other asset that isn't BTC on another chain". But to truly scale the TVL Core will need that BTC value to port across. And seeing as someone else is taking the custody risk (these Lockers) then maybe that's fine?
There's an interesting set of participants here.
The ones securing the BTC and the ones having their BTC secured.

Comparisons to other Bitcoin DeFi are bullish

Now I know I've gone on a bit about Core but it really hit home to me what they're trying to do when I was voting on the Jupter LFG first round of candidates. One of the projects, Zeus Network, is a Bitcoin communication layer (it's just a less featured tBTC/iBTC). https://www.jupresear.ch/t/lfg-launchpad-introduction-bitcoin-zeus-network-solana/5357

I was struck by how incredibly tone deaf it was. I don't think they had spoken to even one long term BTC holder. They make a bunch of wild statements about how people will want to unlock the value in their BTC without ever explaining why they haven't so far despite having ample access to many many almost identical solutions.

It's just so dumb. It's classic crypto: "I see big number and hype so business make sense".

You could easily write Core off as another one of these. After all we've had Stacks for ages and Rootstock for even longer and neither have even close to a even a minor player Ethereum L2's users or TVL. But I do think Core are actually listening to their customers and building for them.

Maybe that's long term fragile as there's really no one in crypto relatively speaking but you can only ever operate in the short term and if you can get enough adoption you can make it far enough to deal with long term problems.

Core Ignition and Journey NFT programs: 6 months of Core incentives

From the Core Discord 13/03/2024

Core Foundation Launches Core Journey NFT Collection & Core Ignition!

Core Journey NFT

Celebrating the journey of Coretoshis, the Core Journey NFTs provide an immersive experience into the world of BTCfi exclusively on Wizard Gallery - Core chain's latest NFT marketplace demonstrating the commitment to cultivating EVM + BTCfi ecosystem on the Core chain.
https://www.wizardgallery.xyz/launchpaddetailpage?id=65f0ccfbb4525aaa70b3cf44

Core Ignition

Core Ignition will be rewarding users and builders for their contributions in the Core chain ecosystem. This six-month program aims to foster Core ecosystem growth, and drive a higher engagement within the Core DAO community.
Your on-chain activities will speak volumes, and exciting rewards await those who contribute to the thriving Core ecosystem!

Get Involved: https://ignition.coredao.org/

Join us in celebrating BTCfi's journey with the Core Journey NFT collection, and stay sharp on the updates and criteria for Core Ignition.

Let's UNLOCK Bitcoin DeFi and propel the Core chain ecosystem forward!
Learn More: https://coredao.org/explore/blog/58