Bitcoin
Zest Raises $3.5M Led by Tim Draper for On-chain Bitcoin Lending Using Stacks
Bitcoin lending protocol Zest raised $3.5M to enable Bitcoin (BTC) holders to deploy their assets on the network and generate yield.
The initial raise was led by billionaire investor Tim Draper with participation from Binance Labs, Flow Traders, Trust Machines and others, Zest Protocol announced in an email on Monday.
The Zest protocol uses the Nakamoto Update by Bitcoin layer 2 stacks and sBTC bridge assets (pegged 1:1 to bitcoin) to create a lending experience fully native to the world’s largest blockchain network.
Users will rely on sBTC to send bitcoin to fund their balance on the Zest protocol, which resides on the Stacks mainnet, and will then be able to participate in lending or other income-generating activities.
“Bitcoin L2s like Stacks should play a key role in unlocking Bitcoin DeFi,” said Tycho Onnasch, founder of Zest Protocol. “Unlike Ethereum, creating basic DeFi primitives like liquidity pools is not possible on Bitcoin L1. The Stacks sBTC upgrade will be a game changer for Bitcoin DeFi, which it was designed for from the beginning.”