Elastos Raises $20M to Turn Bitcoin Into a DeFi Powerhouse

Elastos, a decentralized infrastructure provider, aims to scale its Bitcoin DeFi protocol BeL2 as a utility layer for the world's original blockchain.

Elastos, a project aiming to make Bitcoin a more useful foundation for decentralized finance (DeFi), has raised $20 million towards this goal.Elaostos, a decentralized infrastructure provider, aims to integrate its Bitcoin DeFi protocol BeL2 into the world's original blockchain as a utility layer.Elaostos told CoinDesk in an email on Thursday that the company has raised $20 million from private investment firm Rollman Management to expand its merge-mined ELA token as a Bitcoin reserve asset.Merge mining involves mining two or more cryptocurrencies simultaneously.BeL2 is designed to allow bitcoin holders to pledge BTC in their wallets and access Ethereum smart contract services, such as minting stablecoins and peer-to-peer borrowing.Elaostos is one of many projects seeking to capitalize on the estimated $2 trillion in bitcoin holdings by creating DeFi services that can be funded by BTC's deep reserves.DeFi requires liquidity and security, both of which Bitcoin can provide with a stronger track record than any other blockchain. However, the network has historically lacked the utility for DeFi projects to leverage, which Elaostos and others aim to address.