Native BTC DeFi, finally
Swap Bitcoin to ETH, stablecoins, or RUNE without wrapping. Borrow stables against native BTC and provide BTC liquidity — no WBTC, no tBTC, no custodian in the middle. Powered by THORChain and Rujira.
Why this matters to Bitcoin holders
- Most "BTC DeFi" is WBTC DeFi. WBTC is an ERC-20 IOU issued by a multisig custodian. THORChain settles native BTC on both sides of the swap — your BTC leaves the Bitcoin chain and arrives on another chain as a native asset, with no wrapper in between.
- The wrapper stack carries custody, bridge, and peg risk. Native-BTC settlement eliminates all three. No company holds the peg; no bridge contract holds your coins.
- Rujira makes native BTC a first-class app-layer asset. Borrow stables against real Bitcoin, or LP native BTC with concentrated ranges — without minting WBTC. Babylon and BitVM point at similar primitives from different angles; Rujira ships them today.
- Your coin, your key, and the DeFi primitive you wanted. Non-custodial loans, non-custodial LP, non-custodial swaps — all routed on BTC that never leaves Bitcoin's own security assumptions except at the swap boundary.
Concrete jobs you can do with BTC today
Swap BTC to stablecoins without minting WBTC
Exit to USDC or USDT directly from your Bitcoin wallet. One transaction, native settlement both sides.
Swap BTC to USDC Read the guideNative BTC vs. WBTC, side by side
The wrapper stack explained without the polemic. Custody, peg, and bridge risk — what's there, what's not.
Read the comparisonBorrow stables against native BTC
No WBTC mint, no CEX margin line. Your BTC stays on-chain as the collateral lien.
Borrow against BTC on Rujira Read the guideProvide concentrated LP with native BTC
Uniswap-style concentrated ranges, with real Bitcoin as one side of the pair. No WBTC leg.
LP BTC on Rujira AMM Read the guideMove native BTC into DeFi without leaving self-custody
Wallet choice, memo construction, and the end-to-end flow — the boundary conditions spelled out.
Read the self-custody guideThree primitives without a wrapper
Native swaps
THORChain routes BTC to any connected asset on-chain. Native settlement both sides, no WBTC leg in the path.
BTC-collateralized loans
Borrow stables against native BTC via Rujira Money Market — the collateral lives as a native-settlement position, not a wrapped derivative.
Concentrated LP
Provide liquidity with user-chosen ranges via Rujira AMM — Uniswap-style capital efficiency applied to native BTC.
Questions Bitcoin holders ask
Is THORChain a wrapper like WBTC?
No. THORChain settles native BTC on the Bitcoin chain on both sides of the swap. Your BTC leaves your Bitcoin wallet as native BTC and lands as native BTC (or the paired asset on its own chain) — there is no intermediate ERC-20 token, no mint, and no custodian holding the peg.
Can I borrow stablecoins against native BTC?
Yes. Rujira Money Market accepts native BTC as collateral and lets you borrow stablecoins against it without minting WBTC first. The BTC stays as a native-settlement position on THORChain; the stablecoins are released to the address you specify.
Can I provide liquidity with native BTC?
Yes. Rujira AMM supports concentrated-liquidity LP positions with native BTC as one side of the pair. That is the same class of product EVM users know from Uniswap v3, but without the WBTC leg — you LP with real Bitcoin.
How is this different from Babylon or BitVM?
Different design space, different timelines. Babylon is a BTC-staking system; BitVM is a set of research proposals for BTC-backed rollups. Both are early. THORChain + Rujira are live today and deliver swaps, lending, and LP against native BTC in the wallet you already use. Hold the comparison neutral and pick by shipped capability.
Do I need to give up self-custody?
No. THORChain and Rujira are non-custodial. You sign a single BTC send from your own wallet; the protocol holds the lien or the LP position on-chain against your address. There is no operator that can freeze, withdraw, or re-hypothecate your BTC.
What wallets work?
Any Bitcoin wallet that can sign a standard send transaction with an OP_RETURN memo. Sparrow, Electrum, and BTC-compatible hardware wallets all work. THORChain does not require a proprietary app.