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Elastos Looks to Capture BTC Staking Demand With Bitcoin Layer 2 Offering
The platform is developing Bitcoin tools as the applications built on the network catch favor with investors.
Updated Apr 9, 2024, 11:08 p.m. Published Dec 19, 2023, 1:00 p.m.
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Blockchain network Elastos is introducing BeL2, a Bitcoin layer-2 network, in a move that could capture billions of dollars in bitcoin [BTC] volumes from staking tools offered on the new platform.
BeL2 will allow more sophisticated bitcoin transactions than the base Bitcoin blockchain, including smart contracts and irreversible digital agreements, Elastos developers told CoinDesk. The smart contracts can be defined, managed, tracked and modified wholly on Bitcoin without needing an intermediary.
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The network will also let users stake their bitcoin holdings directly on the service, paying out yields while users interact with applications built on BeL2. Transactional fees are expected to be very low, potentially even eliminated, compared with the $10 average for Bitcoin transactions as of Tuesday.
"The arrival of BeL2 means that Bitcoin is now 'smart,' highlighting the potential for Bitcoin holders to stake their assets directly and earn interest on their holdings," Sasha Mitchel, head of strategy at BeL2 said in a note to CoinDesk. "It's always been an anomaly that Bitcoin reserves remained effectively 'dormant' between transactions."
Bitcoin layer-2 projects have flourished this year, with tokens of projects such as increasing as much as 300%. Such networks share a ledger that allows users to store data outside the main Bitcoin blockchain, enabling developers to build apps on the platform, just as they can on Ethereum and Solana.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante
The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.
What to know:
- Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
- Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
- fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.
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