Arch Network’s BTC ALL-IN! | The Bitcoin Programmability Summit proved to be more than just another crypto gathering—it was the stage where Bitcoin’s next evolutionary leap was unveiled, showcasing how Bitcoin is transforming from digital gold into the backbone of a programmable financial system.
“Bitcoin has been the most widely adopted and accepted digital asset,” Matt Mudano, Co-founder and CEO of Arch Network, began, “but it’s lacked programmability… which really transforms it not just for money, but into scalable infrastructure for a digital economy.”
Arch has developed the technology that enables Bitcoin to function as a fully programmable blockchain without sacrificing its core security and decentralization principles. Unlike other approaches that require wrapping or bridging Bitcoin to other chains, Arch’s novel execution platform allows native Bitcoin to participate directly in sophisticated financial applications. The network’s specialized ArchVM, Cryptographic Multisig, and Decentralized Verifier Network create a seamless, secure environment where Bitcoin’s massive $2T+ liquidity can be unlocked for DeFi, smart contracts, and other programmable use cases while remaining on the Bitcoin base layer.
“What makes Arch so interesting is that we can use Arch to continue with L1 trading. This is smart contract execution on the base layer of Bitcoin. That is a massive, massive breakthrough,” highlighted Hex, Director of Saturn, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Arch Network.
Building Real Yield on Bitcoin: How Arch and Chintai Are Tokenizing Gold and Beyond
Arch Network unveiled live on stage HoneyB—the first Bitcoin-native platform for tokenizing real-world assets. Through a strategic partnership with Chintai, the leading blockchain platform for RWA tokenization, Arch is setting a new benchmark for Bitcoin-native finance with institutional-grade asset origination and compliance infrastructure.
“We saw opportunity in the space,” said Josh Gordon, Managing Director of Chintai. “We started originating all these different assets—bonds, real estate funds, ETFs, gold—and said, “Okay, we need to distribute these assets now.” That’s where Arch stepped in. “I got in touch with Matt,” Gordon explained. “I want to figure out how to integrate real-world assets into Bitcoin and bring yield to the largest liquidity and the most distributed token on Earth.” Matt recalled his immediate response: “I got a good idea—let’s rock and roll.” Together, they announced HoneyB, fusing Arch’s infrastructure with Chintai’s regulatory and compliance expertise. A key starting point is gold: “We’ve just tokenized $500 million worth of Smart Gold,” said Matt. Their goal? To bring real, compliant yield—”not fluff yield”—to Bitcoin’s massive liquidity pool. As Mudano puts it: “You can trade tokenized Tesla, QQQ, or gold—and actually earn yield.”
While HoneyB tackled yield, others reimagined credit itself. The Peoples Reserve introduced a borrowing model that eliminates liquidation risk by adjusting interest rates with Bitcoin’s price, making it safer for Bitcoin holders to access credit without jeopardizing their holdings. CJ Constantinos, founder at Peoples Reserve explained how their system keeps BTC secure and onchain while offering innovative products like a Bitcoin bond with principal protection and Bitcoin upside.
These innovations alone illustrate a powerful new chapter: real-world assets and real yield are coming to Bitcoin, creating a programmable, liquid, and resilient financial future rooted in Bitcoin’s security.
Bitcoin’s Next Frontier: The Promise of DeFi
The excitement around real-world assets was matched by equally bold predictions about Bitcoin’s untapped potential for native financial innovation. Venture capitalists gathered to discuss what many believe could be the most significant opportunity in cryptocurrency’s history, expressing strong enthusiasm for the Bitcoin DeFi sector.
Dan Held, General Partner at Asymmetric, put it simply yet powerfully: “Bitcoin DeFi is the largest opportunity ever to exist in the crypto space. Bitcoin isn’t just the biggest L1 out there; it’s bigger than everything else combined.” Ishanee Nagpurkar, Junior Partner at Pantera Capital, echoed this vision, pointing to a sleeping giant: “There’s $2 trillion of liquidity in Bitcoin that’s essentially laying dormant… even if ordinal adoption climbs from 1% to 5 or 10%, the ecosystem will eclipse Ethereum, Solana. It’s going to be insane.”
What will ignite this transformation? Lending and native Bitcoin-denominated yield stand as the clear champions. Algorithmic stablecoins and borrowing markets backed by Bitcoin are paving the way. Brent Fischer, General Partner at DPI Capital, praised Arch’s vision, describing Bitcoin-denominated yield as a systemic breakthrough — one that could breathe new life into miners and unlock a more productive Bitcoin economy. This marks a bold evolution beyond the fleeting hype of meme coins and vaporware tokens, signaling a new era for Bitcoin’s financial ecosystem.
Saturn and Arch Redefine L1 Trading
While much of the crypto world has focused on building complex Layer 2 solutions, one of the conference’s most compelling keynotes challenged this entire paradigm. Hex, Director of Saturn, stepped onto the BTC ALL-IN! stage with a radical proposition: what if Bitcoin didn’t need to compromise its foundational principles to achieve DeFi capabilities?
At the heart of his keynote was Saturn, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Arch Network, enabling trustless swaps directly on Bitcoin’s base layer—no bridges, no custodians, no Layer 2. “I don’t want to make a Layer 2 and convince you to bring your money into this separate liquidity environment,” Saturn explained. “What makes Arch so interesting is that we can use Arch to continue with L1 trading. This is smart contract execution on the base layer of Bitcoin. That is a massive, massive breakthrough.” The opportunity, he argued, is staring us in the face. Ethereum and Solana boast enormous DeFi market caps. “You look at Bitcoin—a $1.6 trillion asset—its fungible market cap doesn’t even exceed $600 million. If that doesn’t scream asymmetric opportunity at you, I just don’t know.”
A live demo brought the vision to life. On screen, an unconfirmed transaction was used to initiate a series of swaps, without waiting for it to confirm. “We’ve effectively made UTXOs that are unconfirmed instantly productive,” Saturn said. “This is about as close to a Hyperliquid or Solana-like user experience on Bitcoin.” The swaps fired off in rapid succession—daisy-chained transactions flowing before the first even landed on the mempool.
As the applause echoed, one thing was clear: Saturn isn’t trying to turn Bitcoin into something it’s not—it’s revealing what it could’ve always been. In a landscape crowded with workarounds and compromises, Arch and Saturn offer something rare: a path forward that accelerates Bitcoin without abandoning its foundation. The future, it seems, might not be off-chain after all—it might be right here, on Layer 1.
Stablecoins and the Future of Programmable Money
The conference’s final major theme explored how Bitcoin’s evolution extends beyond trading and yield generation into the fundamental infrastructure of digital finance. Panelists gathered to discuss Bitcoin’s transformation from a store of value into the foundation of programmable money. “Bitcoin has been the most widely adopted and accepted digital asset,” Mudano began, “but it’s lacked programmability… which really transforms it not just for money but into scalable infrastructure for a digital economy.”
This new frontier, they said, hinges on stablecoins truly backed by Bitcoin itself — a tether not to the unpredictable fiat system, but to the very asset they trust. Jacob Schillinger, Founder and CEO of Hermetica explained, “We only hold Bitcoin as a reserve asset… and there’s a very significant real yield that we pass on to DeFi users.” Sid Sridhar, Founder of BIMA Labs emphasized the importance of liquidity and yield, describing their Bitcoin-backed CDP as a way to “borrow stables against your Bitcoin” while keeping long-term value intact.
Domo, the creator of BRC20 tokens, added enthusiasm for Bitcoin’s evolving ecosystem: “We’ve been working on this for two years… improving UX through single-step transfers,” signaling progress toward more seamless adoption. Elizabeth Olson, Head of Marketing at Magic Eden on Bitcoin painted a picture of new possibilities, revealing their “foray into Bitcoin DeFi with our Spark partnership,” heralding an era where Bitcoin’s security meets decentralized finance’s flexibility.
Yet, the panelists also acknowledged the challenges ahead. Unlike Ethereum’s stablecoins, which benefit from vast fiat liquidity and integration, Bitcoin-backed stablecoins must thrive within a nascent ecosystem demanding such assets. Schillinger noted, “We Bitcoiners know the fiat system has a shock clock on it,” underscoring the need for Bitcoin-native alternatives resilient to fiat instability.
Moreover, the nature of Bitcoin holders — focused on long-term stockpiling rather than spending — requires innovative custody solutions to safely unlock liquidity without risking the core asset. As the panel concluded, a shared conviction emerged: Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold — it is poised to become the foundation for a programmable, liquid, and resilient financial future.
The Road Ahead
As the dust settles in Las Vegas, one thing is clear: Bitcoin’s next chapter isn’t just being written—it’s being built. With $2 trillion in dormant liquidity waiting to be activated and innovations that preserve Bitcoin’s core principles while unlocking new capabilities, the foundation has been laid for what could be the most significant transformation in Bitcoin’s history.
The question is no longer whether Bitcoin can evolve beyond digital gold, but how quickly the ecosystem can scale to meet the enormous opportunity that lies ahead. And from what we’ve seen, Arch Network is unlocking it.
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