Bitcoin 2025 Conference: DeFi Visionaries Envision Parallel Financial System

At the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, prominent figures in the Bitcoin space shared their vision for the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and its potential to challenge traditional finance. Speakers at the conference expressed a strong belief that Bitcoin’s infrastructure will power the next generation of DeFi applications, creating a parallel financial system to fiat currency. This vision aligns with the early builders of Bitcoin who envisioned a decentralized financial ecosystem.

The conference featured various DeFi projects, including the Liquid Network, and emerging Bitcoin DeFi companies aiming to expand the decentralized technology set within the Bitcoin ecosystem. There was a broad consensus that Bitcoin remains the bedrock of crypto, serving as a store of value and a hedge against traditional financial systems. However, there is a growing movement advocating for the expanded use of Bitcoin’s infrastructure to drive innovation in the DeFi space.

Developers pioneering the next phase of Bitcoin DeFi are driven by the premise that Bitcoin is too significant to remain passive. Jacob Phillips, co-founder of Lombard Finance, a liquid staking protocol, emphasized that Bitcoin DeFi aims to build a trustless, permissionless financial system around Bitcoin, transforming it into an active financial instrument rather than just a store of value. Lombard’s LBTC enables users to stake Bitcoin on the Babylon blockchain for yield, which can then be used in various DeFi applications like lending and trading outside the Bitcoin network.

Adrián Eidelman, co-founder and chief technology officer of RootstockLabs, highlighted Bitcoin’s layer 2 (L2) as the foundation for smart contracts and financial inclusivity. He noted that Bitcoin’s sidechains and federated bridges can extend its functionality without compromising its core security. Charlie Hu, co-founder of Bitlayer, underscored the importance of using the Bitcoin base layer for finality and security, advocating for a path that fortifies Bitcoin’s base layer with new DeFi infrastructure.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back discussed the potential of Bitcoin DeFi solutions to provide yields, stating that once a Bitcoin layer 2 is established, users can stake their Bitcoin for instant yields. He drew a distinction between traditional finance and trustless protocols, asserting that Bitcoin-native applications will offer better borrowing rates and liquidity. Back explained that Bitcoin DeFi’s decentralized design incentivizes users to adopt trustless systems through self-custody tools, which offer lower fees and greater privacy compared to custodial exchanges.

Yves La Rose, CEO of Vaulta, emphasized the importance of self-custody in Bitcoin DeFi, stating that user control remains non-negotiable. Joseph Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Unchained, described collaborative custody as an antidote to the rent-seeking intermediaries of legacy finance, ensuring that clients have unilateral control over their funds. Rich Rines, an initial contributor at Core DAO, framed this moment as a convergence of robust security and DeFi experimentation, highlighting Bitcoin’s transition from a store of value to a utility.

RootstockLabs’ Eidelman sees Bitcoin DeFi as a tool for economic empowerment, particularly in regions affected by inflation and capital controls. He noted that in places like Argentina, people use dollar-backed stablecoins to escape local currency erosion, with Bitcoin serving as the collateral behind these stablecoins, driving a new kind of adoption. The speakers at the conference shared a conviction that Bitcoin is more than just digital gold, with the potential to revolutionize the financial landscape through DeFi innovations.