**Bitcoin's DeFi Evolution: Babylon and Fractal Bitcoin Lead the Charge**

Bitcoin is making waves in decentralized finance (BTCFi), with new projects like Babylon and Fractal Bitcoin pushing the boundaries. Cointelegraph Research's latest report, crafted by HTX Ventures, highlights how Bitcoin's programmability is driving advanced financial applications.

**Babylon: Revolutionizing Bitcoin Staking**

- Babylon introduces Bitcoin-native staking, leveraging upgrades like Schnorr signatures and Taproot.

- Projects like StakeStone and Uniport are already enhancing liquidity in Babylon’s ecosystem.

- Staking yields are generated in tokens on validated chains, not directly as BTC.

**Fractal Bitcoin: Scaling Beyond Mainnet**

- Fractal Bitcoin uses sidechains running virtual instances of Bitcoin Core for improved scalability.

- This system maintains security while allowing higher transaction capacities.

- Features Cadence mining, enabling Bitcoin miners to validate both Bitcoin and Fractal Bitcoin blocks.

Bitcoin's expanding role in finance signals a bright future for BTCFi. For a deeper dive, check out the full report by HTX Ventures on Cointelegraph Research.