Today, over $260 billion sits idle in corporate treasuries and funds, largely held as a passive asset. Unlocking this capital is one of the biggest growth opportunities for Bitcoin Finance (BTCFi). To make institutional Bitcoin sustainable, we need secure custody, robust structured products, real-world use cases, and the scalability of a proven smart contract network.
Rootstock is among few Bitcoin sidechains turning this opportunity into real execution today. Since the start of 2026, it has formed a cross-border network that provides the secure, borderless rails necessary for Bitcoin to serve as a productive foundation for the next generation of global finance. Clocking 3,000 days of uninterrupted operations, Rootstock has cemented its status as the bulletproof bedrock of BTCFi. It delivers the uncompromising reliability institutions require to securely transition their bitcoin from passive reserve to productive capital. Alongside Animoca Brands Japan, Midas, Mercado Bitcoin, Mellow, Tyr, Fireblocks, and more, the Rootstock community is supporting Bitcoin-native investment strategies, custody solutions, structured products, and RWA settlements that foster real-world adoption on an international scale.
By bridging secure access and strategic investment, Rootstock has established itself as a primary venue for Bitcoin-native institutional capital deployment. Today, 30% of all BTCFi activity happens on Rootstock, including millions in real-world asset settlements, new BTC vaults, and structured products that support advanced trading strategies.
Here’s how the institutional Bitcoin stack has been integrated into Rootstock, and what it means for the future of BTCFi.
Enabling Institutional Access
Institutional access starts with regulated custodial solutions. Leading providers like Fireblocks, ForDefi, Utila, and Cobo have integrated with Rootstock to build these gateways.
With Rootstock, hedge funds, family offices, and treasury teams can deploy bitcoin into smart contracts while keeping the same governance and security standards they expect from traditional settlement layers. Built on eight years of proven security, custody, and operational resilience, Rootstock removes technical friction and aligns with institutional governance frameworks that give the world’s largest capital allocators confidence to engage in digital asset markets.
Recent infrastructure upgrades are reducing friction for institutional access.
Utila now supports Bitcoin PSBT, enabling secure execution of complex, multi-party transactions and native BTC-to-rBTC peg-ins via the Rootstock Powpeg. This gives institutions a seamless path to move Bitcoin into Rootstock’s smart contract environment.
With advanced transaction support and MPC-based governance, capital can be deployed more efficiently into onchain strategies like BTC-denominated vaults, without compromising security or control.
Capital Activation
As structured financial products in DeFi mature, institutions are moving bitcoin from a static balance sheet asset to active capital.
In January, Mellow launched its institutional BTC vaults on Rootstock with Tyr, an alternative fund manager focused on digital assets. These vaults use smart contract primitives so capital can operate within clear strategy frameworks, with built-in oversight.
In February, Midas launched mHyperBTC on Rootstock, an institutional vault tracking BTC-denominated market-neutral strategy managed by Hyperithm, a digital asset manager based in Tokyo and Seoul. This onchain investment product expands DeFi and BTC treasury management options. So far, Midas reports issuing over $1.7 billion in assets and paid out $37 million in yield. This integration reinforces Rootstock’s long-term mission to position Bitcoin as the foundation for open, on-chain finance.
These developments solidify Rootstock’s role as the premier infrastructure for institutional-grade vaults, moving bitcoin beyond its traditional role as a reserve asset into working capital. The Rootstock community is powering this shift from passive to productive use.
Diversifying Global Use Cases
BTCFi’s success depends on real-world utility. Major institutions are partnering with Rootstock to unlock bitcoin’s financial potential. For example, Animoca is bringing Bitcoin-native financial solutions to the Japanese corporate and institutional markets, while Mercado Bitcoin in South America is using Rootstock to settle tokenized credit with Bitcoin.
In Japan, RootstockLabs, a core contributor to Rootstock, is working with Animoca Brands Japan to help enterprises adopt Bitcoin-based financial infrastructure that meets local regulations and governance standards. While Metaplanet’s bitcoin accumulation gets headlines, many Japanese public companies are quietly increasing their own bitcoin holdings. Japan’s regulatory environment is also evolving, with upcoming policies that would treat crypto as traditional securities and a planned 20% flat tax rate on digital assets. This opens the door for broader corporate adoption.
“In Japan, an increasing number of companies are beginning to utilize cryptoassets as part of their financial and treasury strategies. In this context, security and governance are elements that Japanese corporations place particular importance on. Through this partnership, Animoca Brands Japan and RootstockLabs will support corporate adoption of cryptoassets in a manner compliant with Japan’s regulatory environment.”-Kensuke Amo, CEO of Animoca Japan.
For institutional treasurers looking to use bitcoin beyond passive storage, operational resilience is essential. Rootstock has had zero chain resets since its 2018 launch and is backed by over 80% of Bitcoin’s hash power through merged mining. This level of operational excellence is a rarity in the broader market, empowering Rootstock to provide Japanese corporations the technical guarantees they need for active treasury management.
In Brazil, Mercado Bitcoin—the largest digital asset exchange and investment banking platform in Latin America—has accelerated institutional activity on Rootstock. In January, they deployed over $20 million across a growing suite of on-chain products, distributed through institutional and partner channels. Targeting $100 million in issuance by the end of Q2, this momentum shows Rootstock’s ability to support complex, high-value RWA settlements at scale.
The End of Idle Capital, and What to Expect Next
Capturing a $260 billion market needs proven, reliable infrastructure. By connecting custodians, onchain investment products, and credit markets, Rootstock brings together the institutional Bitcoin stack, integrating security, custody, compliance, and yield baked into the Bitcoin ecosystem, available to the largest global allocators.
This is just the beginning. RootstockLabs is also exploring ways to introduce compliant, institutional-grade products to the ecosystem.
Now, the focus moves from attracting institutional capital to Bitcoin to how quickly this capital can be deployed.
As institutional participation accelerates, conversations are shifting toward the infrastructure and frameworks needed to support BTCFi at scale. On March 26, RootstockLabs will host a live webinar from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM UTC, exploring the future of institutional bitcoin, covering topics ranging from capital efficiency and settlement to risk management and institutional-grade BTC financial infrastructure. The discussion will actualize deployable strategies for allocators, funds, HNWIs, and ecosystem leaders seeking to activate bitcoin’s potential without compromising security or compliance. Secure your spot by registering today.