Rootstock (RSK) is a Bitcoin Layer-2 protocol that uses merged mining, allowing Bitcoin miners to simultaneously secure both Bitcoin and Rootstock. Recently, it achieved a milestone: 81% of Bitcoin’s total hashrate is now supporting the Rootstock network. This is a significant jump from earlier in the year when it was just 56%, indicating growing confidence among miners.
This heightened hashrate participation drastically improves the security model for Rootstock-based applications. Since Rootstock enables smart contracts and DeFi use cases on Bitcoin, the increased mining support means more resilience against network attacks, faster confirmation times, and greater decentralization. It’s a major step toward making Bitcoin DeFi (often referred to as BTCFi) a credible competitor to Ethereum-based DeFi.
Moreover, by leveraging Bitcoin’s established security and adding smart contract functionality, Rootstock bridges the gap between Bitcoin maximalists and decentralized finance. Developers now have a more secure and efficient playground to build DeFi tools without abandoning Bitcoin’s base layer ethos. This could accelerate the growth of a new generation of BTC-native DeFi protocols.
