Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said that decentralized finance in the Bitcoin ecosystem will eclipse all other cryptocurrency DeFi within two to three years.
He touted the potential of Bitcoin DeFi, making a bold price prediction and highlighting a new model for moving Bitcoin (BTC) between blockchains without using centralized exchanges.
“I started in the Bitcoin space, and I liked Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been a big part of my life, and the only reason I'm here today is that there is Bitcoin,” he said in a YouTube video posted on November 27.
He expressed frustration with the use of Bitcoin in the early days, saying:
“Bitcoin has come a long way from a sleeping giant that never woke up in an innovative coma to a awakened giant that is four times larger than Solana and Ethereum combined.
He added
“DeFi in the Bitcoin ecosystem will outshine DeFi in all ecosystems in the cryptocurrency industry within 24-36 months, and that’s only due to the scale and liquidity.”
Hoskinson pointed to discussions that governments are having about strategic reserves of Bitcoin, saying:
“I believe Bitcoin will grow to $250,000–$500,000 over the next 12–24 months due to an influx of investments and the significant interest that has been generated.”
“Simply put, Bitcoin is a store of value for the Internet, and it will remain in this role for the foreseeable future as it now has a DeFi layer,” he said.
He then described a new model for integrating DeFi capabilities into Bitcoin through the Cardano network, which he referred to as the 'DeFi mode.'
Users can 'turn on DeFi mode' by linking their Bitcoin to a wrapped token on Cardano, he said. This allows Bitcoin holders to participate in DeFi ecosystems, trade on decentralized exchanges, utilize yield tools, and keep their private keys.
In October, the development team supporting Cardano announced the Cardano-Bitcoin bridge based on the Grail protocol.
The bridge could be the first step in providing DeFi applications secured by the Bitcoin network, in accordance with the base protocol specifications.
