Q2 was a significant quarter for us at Persistence One, as we laid the groundwork for multiple initiatives across the board on our orange-themed road towards building for BTCFi.
We went live with Persistence DEX on the Babylon Genesis Network, becoming one of the first DEXs to launch in the ecosystem, and took major steps on our BTC Interoperability product (ie, Persistence DEX V2). As BTCFi continues to gain traction, we’re positioning ourselves as the BTCFi liquidity hub for all Bitcoin-related assets.
The quarter was about shipping, listening to users, and continuously iterating. Here’s a snapshot of everything that happened.
Looking back: What We Shipped in Q2
Persistence DEX going live on Babylon Genesis
In early April, we decided to engage both Persisters and the broader BTCFi community by sharing our plans to deploy Persistence DEX on Babylon Genesis as early as possible after the chain went live. The discussion helped us gain visibility across communities and gave us valuable input ahead of the launch.
While we also published a blog introducing Persistence DEX, it further clarified why the DEX was purpose-built for trading liquid staked assets, making it a natural fit for the Babylon ecosystem, which is expected to be heavily LST-driven.
Subsequently, a forum post on Babylon about the deployment of Persistence DEX also sparked healthy discussions within both communities.
To further summarise how this aligns with our long-term goal of becoming the BTCfi Liquidity Hub, we shared a brief infographic.
Between late April and early May, we deployed several key pools on the DEX, and pool incentives went live across pairs to support early liquidity provisioning.
Our COO, Jeroen, joined the ‘Bitcoin Renaissance: Genesis’ livestream on Babylon’s Twitter.
We contributed to a thought leadership blog alongside the Babylon team, sharing why we believe Babylon Genesis is the place for BTCFi to Take Off. The blog was shared with both our community and Babylon’s.
Bitcoin Cross-Chain Swaps (Persistence DEX V2)
Throughout May, we kept building quietly behind the scenes on Persistence DEX and our upcoming intent-based Bitcoin bridging solution. It’s what makes us feel even more bullish on BTCFi. Our COO, Jeroen, shared weekly progress updates on X.
In early June, we teased ongoing product developments for our Bitcoin Interoperability Solution, giving the community a glimpse of what’s coming.
To make liquid staking $XPRT more seamless, the feature was integrated directly into Persistence DEX, aiming to significantly enhance the overall experience for Persisters.
After major improvements under the hood across multiple testnet rounds, our Interop product, Persistence DEX v2, went live on mainnet through whitelisted access for testnet participants. Order sizes were limited to help us test the product in a real-world setting and catch early bugs.
Finally, we shared a detailed guide for users to try the product after it went live and encouraged them to share early feedback or report any bugs.
But that wasn’t everything…
So much more was happening at Persistence One in Q2 2025, but we’d be here a while if we tried to cover it all.
The following covers some of the other important highlights:
- Our COO, Jeroen, joined a podcast with All In BTC to talk about what’s next in Bitcoin DeFi, our upcoming intent-based Bitcoin bridging solution, Persistence DEX, and more. Listen here.
- Jeroen further spoke about why he thinks building for Bitcoin-powered DeFi is the biggest opportunity right now, through multiple short video snippets on X (formerly Twitter).
- Jeroen also highlighted how BTCFi now represents nearly 6% of all DeFi, having grown nearly 20x in 2024, and how it’s positioned to outpace the broader DeFi space.
- We followed up on Persistence DEX on Babylon Genesis by teasing new pool incentives on the Babylon Genesis Network, which later went live.
- With momentum building around Bitcoin and DeFi, we released a blog titled ‘The Rise of Bitcoin-Powered DeFi’ to highlight how things are shaping up.
- The community came together to create and share a visual for Bitcoin Pizza Day, which we posted on X.
- Jeroen also shared how Persistence DEX is being purpose-built to facilitate swaps when Bitcoin DeFi becomes the biggest chunk of all DeFi activity in this tweet.
There was also a lot happening on the XPRT Governance side of things:
- A governance proposal was passed to disable the validator bond factor in the Persistence Chain’s Liquid Staking Module (LSM). The change aims to restore the simplicity and usability of staking operations that were impacted by the activation of LSM.
- A proposal was passed, approving stkXPRT rewards for incentivising Persistence DEX pools throughout May 2025.
- A proposal was passed on Babylon Genesis, approving the Persistence Labs team address to upload CosmWasm contracts for the deployment of the Persistence DEX on the Babylon chain.
- A proposal was passed, approving stkXPRT rewards for incentivising Persistence DEX pools throughout June 2025.
- A proposal was passed to seek community consensus on claiming accrued rewards from the PCOL wallet and reinvesting them into the XPRT/PSTAKE liquidity pool on Persistence DEX, continuing the strategy of building sustainable, community-owned liquidity.
- A proposal was passed, approving stkXPRT rewards for incentivising Persistence DEX pools throughout July 2025.
Looking Ahead: Opening Up Bitcoin Cross-Chain Swaps for BTCfi users
We laid the groundwork in Q2. Now it’s time to scale.
The product is out, users are testing it, and next up, the focus is on usage, liquidity, and making the swapping experience better.
Opening Up V2 to More Users and More Bitcoin Variants
Our closed beta mainnet launch was just the start.
This quarter, we’re aiming to open up Persistence V2 to more users and more BTC variants across various chains. We plan to increase the transaction caps, and we’re working hard to get integrated with some of the major DeFi platforms across BTC L2s. We also plan to onboard solvers to support smoother routing as multiple assets across chains go live.
At the same time, we’ll keep fixing potential bugs and making improvements under the hood so that security and speed remain unmatched.
Expanding Persistence DEX’s Utility
While our main focus will remain on the Bitcoin Cross Chain Swaps product, we’re continuing to grow Persistence DEX on Persistence & Babylon Genesis by creating more visibility, bringing in more users, and making UI/UX improvements to enhance the overall experience.
Whether it’s BTC variants, LSTs, or other Bitcoin-related assets, the goal is simple: to let users trade everything in one smooth flow.
Together, let’s shape the future of Bitcoin Interoperability.
About Persistence One
Persistence One is building the BTCFi Liquidity Hub, enabling fast, near-zero-slippage swaps for BTC, BTC-variants, and LSTs on Persistence DEX.
BTCFi’s rapid growth has created multiple BTC-related assets, making fragmentation a big challenge. Persistence One will provide a single liquidity hub, simplifying value transfer across the Bitcoin ecosystem.
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