Why the next wave of Bitcoin innovation is all about utility
Bitcoin’s (BTC) next evolution isn’t just about price. It’s about potential.
On this week’s episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, hosts Nathan Jeffay and Gareth Jenkinson sit down with Isabel Foxen Duke, general partner at Unbroken Chain and longtime Bitcoin advocate, to unpack what she calls “Bitcoin Season 2.”
“Bitcoin Season 2 is really about seeing what we can do with Bitcoin outside of just being money,” said Duke. “What are the broad range of financial use cases for [Bitcoin] other than just being money by itself?” New developments like ordinals, runes, and decentralized financial (DeFi) tools are pushing Bitcoin beyond its traditional identity as a digital store of value. One key innovation under discussion is trustless lending — allowing users to borrow against their Bitcoin without involving third-party intermediaries. “We don’t have the ability to lend against our Bitcoin in a trustless way without third-party intermediaries,” Duke said. “I would argue that is the second most important and second most used use case in the real world other than making payments.” One emerging solution involves Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs), which let users maintain control of their Bitcoin while locking it as collateral. Smart contract logic enforces repayment, not a central authority. “That’s proven by math rather than trust,” Duke said. Related: Bitcoin looks ‘ridiculous’ as bulls attempt $2T market cap flip — Analyst Duke said she is equally excited about trustless bridging, which could allow Bitcoin to interact with external computation platforms without compromising its decentralized ethos. “If you could use Bitcoin not just as money but as a base asset that can trustlessly plug into any financial system, that would be… the end of the road for this asset.” Looking ahead, Jenkinson highlighted how Bitcoin-native DeFi could unlock real-world financial access for people excluded from traditional banking. “A few little changes to some lines of code might just unlock [permissionless finance] for all of us,” he said. “And that’s the kind of future I’m hopeful about.” To hear the full conversation on The Clear Crypto Podcast, listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! Magazine: ZK-proofs are bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin — BitcoinOS and Starknet
Bitcoin beyond money
Lending on Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 104,843.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,542.70
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
XRP (XRP) $ 2.14
BNB (BNB) $ 651.04
Solana (SOL) $ 144.96
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999789
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.174642
TRON (TRX) $ 0.273131
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,542.23
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.637237
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 104,985.00
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 39.84
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,062.21
Sui (SUI) $ 2.99
Chainlink (LINK) $ 13.25
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.06
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 418.42
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.259011
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 19.01
Toncoin (TON) $ 2.96
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000012
WETH (WETH) $ 2,543.52
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,720.60
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.153958
Litecoin (LTC) $ 83.77
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.82
Monero (XMR) $ 312.69
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.52
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 34.30
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 104,815.00
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000011
Uniswap (UNI) $ 7.23
Aave (AAVE) $ 281.52
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.558678
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999957
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.18
Bittensor (TAO) $ 365.34
OKB (OKB) $ 51.84
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.39
Aptos (APT) $ 4.40
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.21
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.090626
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.06
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 16.37
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 175.26
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.774682
Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 28.39
USD1 (USD1) $ 1.00
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.638953
Gate (GT) $ 17.03
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.077311
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 9.87
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 104,583.00
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.45
VeChain (VET) $ 0.022188
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 4.07
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.200071
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.291870
Render (RENDER) $ 3.38
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.655273
Sky (SKY) $ 0.078453
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.336296
Filecoin (FIL) $ 2.37
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 0.964480
Quant (QNT) $ 106.64
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 2,543.04
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.175469
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 0.999280
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.998365
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 4.37
USDtb (USDTB) $ 0.999927
KuCoin (KCS) $ 11.22
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 153.05
SPX6900 (SPX) $ 1.33
Flare (FLR) $ 0.018000
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.21
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 2,893.81
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) $ 1.82
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.401758
Celestia (TIA) $ 1.75
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 2,662.72
Injective (INJ) $ 11.44
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000014
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.09
Sonic (S) $ 0.320556
Polygon Bridged USDT (Polygon) (USDT) $ 1.00
Story (IP) $ 3.47
Binance Bridged USDC (BNB Smart Chain) (USDC) $ 0.999907
PayPal USD (PYUSD) $ 1.00
Optimism (OP) $ 0.580872
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.060068
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 2,716.27
Stacks (STX) $ 0.612484
Sei (SEI) $ 0.173867
StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH) $ 2,665.99
