Decentralized funding (DEFI) on Bitcoin Blockchain may still be in its infant compared to Ethereum, but Bitcoin Defi (BTCFI) becomes more secure and cheaper, Crypto Analytics company Messari said in a new report.

A central participant is Rootstock, one of the oldest Bitcoin Layer-2 projects, the Crypto Analytics company Messari said in his “State of Rootstock” report published on Thursday.

Rootstock is now secured by 81% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate, which means that miners who account for an amount also approve transactions on layer 2. The figure was only 56% before the onboarding of foundry and Spiderpool, the world’s largest and sixth largest mining pools in February.

Messari also noted that transaction fees on Rodstok are 95% cheaper than the average Bitcoin transaction and 55% cheaper than those at Ethereum.

Rootstock is one of the many projects that wants to bring a greater tool to Bitcoin through the extension of the provision to Defi with smart contracts, activated by “BitVMX”, a changed version of BitVM programming language. Other prominent bitcoin-layer-2 projects include stacks and Bob (“Build on Bitcoin”).

The project has also associated with the broda formation of Protocol Layerzero to enable Rodstok-native applications to connect to dozens of other blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana. Its Momentum sets the stage for growing adoption of BTCFI through the rest of 2025, according to Messari.

“As BTCFI continues to grow, Rootstock is well positioned for wider adoption through core upgrades as a 60% reduction in transaction fees along with sustained investments in developer education and incentive programs,” said Messari analyst Andrew Yang.

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