Community · Ethereum & Base

Escape the wrapper economy

Native BTC in your EVM wallet — without WBTC, tBTC, or a multisig in the middle. Swap, borrow, and LP with real Bitcoin from Ethereum or Base, powered by THORChain settlement and Rujira's app-layer.

Why this matters for EVM DeFi users

  • Every EVM user already carries WBTC exposure — directly or via a lending protocol. That is custody risk in a contract that isn't yours. THORChain routes native BTC in and out with no wrapping step.
  • ETH ↔ BTC and back, without a CEX or a wrapper. One swap, both sides native. Same settlement finality you expect from the underlying chains.
  • Rujira Money Market accepts native BTC as collateral. You can borrow stables against real BTC from your EVM wallet — the BTC lives as a native-settlement position, and the loan lands on your Ethereum or Base address where the rest of your DeFi stack is.
  • Concentrated LP with native BTC via Rujira AMM. The Uniswap v3 experience you already know — but BTC on one side of the pair is actually BTC.
Recipes

Concrete jobs for the EVM DeFi native

Swap · L1

ETH → native BTC (not WBTC)

One swap, native settlement both sides. The BTC lands on the Bitcoin chain at the address you specify.

Swap ETH to BTC Read the guide
Explainer

Escape WBTC — the wrapper-stack breakdown

Custody model, peg mechanism, and bridge surface — for the audience that already knows what DeFi is.

Read the breakdown
Loans · Rujira Money Market

Borrow stables against native BTC from your EVM wallet

Real BTC as collateral; loan proceeds on Ethereum or Base. No WBTC mint in the path.

Borrow on Rujira Read the guide
LP · Rujira AMM

Concentrated LP with native BTC — no WBTC leg

Uniswap v3-style ranges and fee tiers, with real Bitcoin as the base asset. Open positions from your EVM workflow.

LP on Rujira AMM Read the guide
Base · L2

Base users: ETH → native BTC in one hop

How Base holders route to native BTC: direct from Base where supported, or via mainnet with a single bridge.

Read the Base guide
What's new for EVM DeFi

Three things you can only do without the wrapper

Native BTC swaps

THORChain routes native BTC in and out of every connected chain. The ERC-20 WBTC leg that lives in every EVM DeFi flow is simply not in the path.

BTC-collateralized loans, no WBTC mint

Borrow stables against native BTC via Rujira Money Market — and receive the loan on an EVM address where the rest of your stack is.

Concentrated LP with real BTC

Provide liquidity via Rujira AMM — the same concentrated-liquidity UX you know from Uniswap v3, applied to native BTC pairs.

FAQ

Questions EVM DeFi users ask

Why would an EVM user route through THORChain for BTC?

Because THORChain settles native BTC on the Bitcoin chain. The alternative — WBTC — carries custody, peg, and operational risk at the federation + custodian layer. THORChain removes that layer by never minting a BTC receipt on Ethereum. Same BTC exposure inside a DeFi workflow, without the wrapper dependency.

Can I use native BTC as collateral from an EVM wallet?

Yes. Rujira Money Market accepts native BTC as collateral and releases the stablecoin loan to any address you specify — including an Ethereum or Base address. The collateral lives as a native-settlement position on THORChain; the loan sits in your EVM wallet and composes with the rest of your EVM stack.

How is Rujira AMM different from Uniswap v3?

Conceptually similar: concentrated liquidity, user-set price ranges, multiple fee tiers. Operationally different: Rujira AMM runs on THORChain, so the BTC leg of the pair is real BTC, not WBTC. If you are used to LPing the ETH/WBTC pair on Uniswap v3, Rujira lets you LP the equivalent without the wrapper.

Does this work from Base?

Yes. Base is an EVM L2, and the Rujira + THORChain app-surfaces support EVM addresses generically. You can initiate a swap from Base (or send loan proceeds to a Base address) using the same THORChain routing logic. Where THORChain offers a direct Base integration, the swap resolves in one hop; otherwise you bridge back to mainnet first.

Is THORChain a DEX?

No — it is a cross-chain settlement layer. AMM pools are the mechanism, but the product is native settlement: BTC leaves Bitcoin, the counter-asset is delivered on its own chain. "DEX" connotes an order-book or same-chain AMM UX; THORChain is closer in shape to a settlement protocol that exposes an AMM interface per pool.

How do routing and slippage compare to Uniswap?

THORChain routes non-RUNE pairs through RUNE as the intermediate asset, so a single cross-chain swap traverses two pool legs. Slippage is pool-depth-dependent; the interface previews the exact figure before you sign. For small-to-medium swaps on the large BTC and ETH pools, slippage is typically well under 1%.