CoinDesk Podcast Network BITCOIN SEASON 2: Bitcoin's Missing Piece: Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Oct 1, 2025
Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of StarkWare and Zcash, shares exciting news about StarkNet's Bitcoin initiative. He introduces native Bitcoin staking with a hefty 100 million STRK tokens for lending incentives. Eli explains how zero-knowledge proofs can scale Bitcoin to fulfill Satoshi's vision of decentralized transactions. He discusses the significance of OP_CAT in enhancing Bitcoin’s functionality and emphasizes how StarkNet paves the way for self-custodial DeFi solutions, redefining the Bitcoin landscape.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
StarkNet's BTCFi Launch
- StarkNet launched BTCFi with native Bitcoin staking, 100M STRK incentives, and external partners for BTC yield strategies.
- The initiative links Bitcoin liquidity to StarkNet's self-custodial ZK scaling and DeFi capabilities.
ZK-STARKs Power Layer-Two Scaling
- StarkNet uses ZK-STARK technology to scale blockchains while preserving decentralization and self-custody.
- The team built on Ethereum first but is adapting the same ZK scaling tools to serve Bitcoin's financialization layer.
One Proof Verifies Millions
- ZK proofs let you verify millions of transactions' integrity with one succinct proof, massively reducing verification cost.
- This enables global-scale Bitcoin usage without bloating base-layer fees or latency.
