In its pursuit of self-custody BTC DeFi on all chains, after launching the Kintsugi Bitcoin bridge – the first trustless Bitcoin bridge on Kusama, the interoperability network Interlay released a technical paper of a new protocol named XCLAIM Commit (XCC). The protocol increases the security of users’ funds and improves the capital efficiency of vaults. XCC extends XCLAIM (published in 2018) – the technology underpinning Interlay’s flagship interBTC and kBTC products.

XCC vaults will need less collateral than XCLAIM to achieve the same economic security guarantees, resulting in:

• lower network fees for users
• higher returns for vault operators
• more liquidity available on the bridge – due to the vastly increased capital efficiency of collateral

To capitalize on XCC’s benefits, users can bridge BTC to “HODL & Earn”. When BTC is staked directly into DeFi protocols, the funds are locked and generally don’t need to be used for a long time. With XCC any Bitcoin that is staked long-term and is not intended to be moved can essentially ‘release’ its collateral. The released collateral can then be reused to secure other, “liquid” BTC being bridged. This allows vaults to serve more users with the same collateral. Synchronization of locking mechanisms between Bitcoin and the DeFi chain is achieved by utilizing a checkpoint technique often seen in Ethereum L2s – applied to Bitcoin.

The resulting “on-demand collateralization” is an innovative new concept in cross-chain communication and has the potential to be a game-changer in building truly decentralized bridges. It allows for more flexibility and drcrnto networks of bridge operators can tailor their collateral deposits to the usage patterns of BTC and their users’ investing styles.

“interBTC, aiming to become the equivalent of DAI for BTC, already decentralized Bitcoin custody. However, the goal always was to achieve non-custodial BTC DeFi – a very hard problem to solve. XCC sets a milestone in this regard, finally enabling theft resilient and easy to use Bitcoin DeFi.” – Alexei Zamyatin, Interlay Co-founder & CEO.

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Once live, XCC will allow users to stake their BTC in a few, selected DeFi applications, benefiting from high security and capital efficiency. The new product will exist in synergy with interBTC (iBTC): XCC BTC will be used for long-term staking in selected applications (“hold & earn”), while interBTC caters to DeFi use cases requiring dynamic liquidity and composability across protocols.