In most of its story, Bitcoin has been appreciated as digital gold: an asset to hold rather than use. This passivity has left trillion of dollars worth of BTC, (Defi).
The increase of floating stake roofs promises to change it, placement of Bitcoin not only as a value of value, but as a productive active integrated into onchain capital markets.
Liquid Staking refers to the process of uses that offer their crypto to help secure a network, and receive a liquid, marketable token in return representing their stacked assets and can be used across defi, while the original tokens continue to serve to stage rewards.
Lombard Finance has emerged as one of the prominent projects in Bitcoin Liquid Stake. Its flagship product, LBTC, is a yield token supported 1: 1 of BTC.
When BTC is deposited in the Lombard Protocol, the underlying coins are stacked, primarily via Babylon, a protocol that enables confidence-free, self-defense Bitcoin stacking. Users receive LBTC, in turn, which can be implemented across defi -ecosystems, while the original Bitcoin earns staff.
This double functionality is key. Holders can hold exposure to Bitcoin while using LBTC in lending, borrowing and liquidity supply across protocols such as Aave, Morpho, Pendle and Ether.fi. LBTC is designed for interoperability and moves across Ethereum, base, BNB chain and other networks, which prevents liquidity fragmentation and ensures that Bitcoin can participate in a multi-chain defi environment.
A market that is potentially worth billions
By mobilizing BTC’s dormant liquidity, Lombard and other floating stacking projects aim to provide the infrastructure for Bitcoin Defi, which channels the asset’s huge market capital to Onchain Capital Markets.
This effort mirrors Ethereum’s own transformation through floating stacks, but with the potential to lock a deeper pool of the value to Bitcoin’s scale.
To contextualize the difference in scale, Ethereum’s Liquid Stake Market, led by Lidos Steth, boasts a market capital of approximately $ 38 billion. In contrast, the entire Bitcoin LST sector is still beginning with the total market value of around $ 2.5 billion. Lombards LBTC alone accounts for approx. 1.4 billion dollars of it, or about 40% of the Bitcoin LST market.
Lombards Bard
Based on this foundation, Lombard announced this week the creation of the Liquid Bitcoin Foundation and its original $ Bard -Token along with a sale of $ 6.75 million.
The fund will serve as an independent steward for the protocol, financing surveys, grants and education, while establishing management frameworks to preserve neutrality. $ Bard will serve as a benefit and control token for the ecosystem, allowing the owners to enter into to ensure Lombard’s core infrastructure, vote on suggestions and access new products.
Jacob Phillips, Lombard’s co-founder, described social sales as “an invitation to over 260,000 LBTC holders and others in the Bitcoin ecosystem to help shape the future of Bitcoin Onchain.” Erick Zhang, founder of Buidlpad, who will host sales, added that Lombard is “a pioneer unlocking Bitcoin’s full potential as a digital gold and a foundation for the next general capital markets.”
