Greetings Persisters,
We hope you are doing well.
The year kicked off on an eventful note. Throughout January, we shipped across fronts, even as markets remained volatile.
Our 2026 focus remains clear. Delivering a reliable, fast cross-chain swap experience for BTCfi while steadily positioning Persistence One as the BTCfi Interoperability Hub for Bitcoin DeFi users.
We also crossed the USD 50,000 mark in swap volume on our beta interoperability product so far. This is an early step, and we plan to build further momentum on this front as the year progresses.
Keep reading to catch up on everything that happened in January.
Persistence One Highlights
- The month began with the team focusing on showcasing additional multipliers and fee rebates for XPRT stakers within the Bitcoin Interoperability product. These updates and their mechanics were explained in detail here.
- An infographic outlining the steps to make the most of the interoperability beta mainnet and share feedback was also shared with the community early in the month.
- Subsequently, we tried to highlight the scale of the opportunity in Bitcoin DeFi to the community. With less than 1 per cent of Bitcoin currently active in DeFi, it is still very early, helping set the context for the year ahead and where BTCfi Interoperability fits in this landscape.
- To explain the fragmentation problem in Bitcoin DeFi, we outlined the key challenges and how these gaps can be addressed more effectively going forward.
- Halfway through the month, a popular trading platform, Cede Hub, launched an XPRT trading contest, giving traders and community members a way to participate and stay engaged.
- The product team increased the per-order cap from 0.0005 BTC to 0.001 BTC between BNB Chain and Base, enabling beta users to move higher volumes more efficiently. This aligns with our broader direction of supporting more networks and higher swap limits on the product.
- A community member’s inspired idea was shared in our chats: if it is a day ending in Y, BTC is moving.
- Continuing our series breaking down core product concepts, we explained what intent solver-based swaps are, what they mean for BTCfi, and how they differ from traditional AMM-based methods.
- The Interop product went through a brief maintenance cycle toward the end of January to address reported bugs and returned with under-the-hood improvements to keep things moving more smoothly.
- Before wrapping up January, we published a quest to carry the momentum forward and also shared the milestone of crossing USD 50,000 in swap volume during the month.
We appreciate everyone who has used the product and shared feedback so far. January was about fixing bugs, listening to the community, and moving forward steadily in a volatile market, and we remain optimistic as this is just the start of the year ahead.
Media & Community
Here are some standout moments from the media and community front during January:
- Persistence One CEO, Jeroen Develter, spoke about how future integrations could evolve and how potential DeFi strategies for end users could open up new opportunities across BTCfi.
- Jeroen also shared why more teams are gradually moving toward intent-based designs, and why he believes 2026 could be a breakout year for intent solver architecture in DeFi.
- Keeping the momentum going, we rolled out new campaigns for Persisters throughout the month.
- Persisters also shared their experience with the product in their own communities, helping expand awareness and reach new participants.
XPRT Governance & Token Highlights
January did not see any new governance proposals move to voting or completion. A security patch was merged on the Persistence Core-1 Chain, and operations continued as usual.
About Persistence One
Persistence One is building intent-based Bitcoin interoperability—simple, reliable cross-chain swaps across Bitcoin L2s, sidechains, and BTC-aligned networks.
Our mission is to reduce fragmentation across the Bitcoin ecosystem and make cross-chain value transfer intuitive for users, developers, and partners.
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