Helios Brings Aave-Like Money Markets to Bitcoin

PLUS: Coinbase CEO outlines a path to $1M BTC, Google backs a $3B HPC mining deal, Strive to acquire Semler and add 5,816 BTC to its treasury, and wealthy crypto holders use Bitcoin for residency and citizenship.

Happy Friday, Maestros!

Welcome to a new edition of the Bitcoin Renaissance!

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sees a path to $1M Bitcoin, citing regulatory clarity, institutional inflows, and Coinbase’s growing role in finance. Google backs a $3B HPC deal between Cipher and Fluidstack to expand Bitcoin mining infrastructure. Strive, backed by Vivek Ramaswamy, is acquiring Semler and plans to buy 5,816 BTC (~$675M) for its treasury. Meanwhile, wealthy crypto holders are increasingly using Bitcoin to secure residency and citizenship, with nations adapting programs to accept digital assets.

We launched our new platform- check it out here!

🚀 Featured Stories

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong outlined a pathway to $1 million BTC, citing clearer regulatory frameworks, institutional capital inflows, and evolving financial roles for Coinbase itself. He sees Bitcoin increasingly integrated into mainstream finance.

Google backs $3B HPC deal that accelerates Bitcoin mining & infrastructure. Cipher Mining struck a 10-year, $3 billion high-performance computing (HPC) colocation agreement with Fluidstack, backed by Google which will underwrite $1.4B of lease obligations in return for equity warrants.

Strive (backed by Vivek Ramaswamy) is acquiring Semler in an all-stock deal, and plans to buy 5,816 BTC (~$675M) as part of its treasury strategy. The move underscores how companies are embedding Bitcoin into their core strategy, not just as a passive asset.

As global wealth shifts, wealthy crypto holders are paying for residency or citizenship programs using Bitcoin and other cryptos. Some nations are beginning to adapt their passport / visa programs to accept digital assets.

💡Spotlight: Helios Finance

Helios Finance is a Bitcoin-native lending protocol bringing Aave-like money markets directly to Bitcoin mainnet through the MIDL execution layer. It enables trustless lending and borrowing of BTC while maintaining self-custody, with every transaction settled in raw BTC within a single block.

Helios anchors its smart contract logic in an EVM-compatible execution environment that sits directly on top of Bitcoin mainnet. This design allows users to access DeFi functionality without ever stepping outside Bitcoin’s security envelope.

🛠️ Key Features

  • Bitcoin-Native Money Markets- Users can deposit BTC or BTC-native assets to earn yield, or post collateral to borrow additional BTC, stablecoins, or other assets. All loans, interest accruals, and risk metrics are denominated in satoshis, keeping incentives aligned with Bitcoin accumulation strategies.

  • Flash Loan Infrastructure- Helios provides instant borrowing of any reserve asset with zero upfront collateral, as long as the loan plus premium is repaid in the same transaction. Flash loans power arbitrage, self-liquidation, and one-click refinancing, with premiums flowing back to depositors as additional yield.

  • Adaptive Risk Management- The protocol uses a dynamic optimization framework that continuously adjusts Loan-to-Value ratios and liquidation parameters in response to mempool congestion, fee spikes, and market volatility. Risk controls are fine-tuned block by block, eliminating governance lag and keeping the system resilient under stress.

  • Institutional-Grade Compliance- Helios is built with audit-ready transparency. Proof-of-reserves and real-time Merkle attestations keep all activity verifiable on-chain, while native compliance hooks export KYC/KYB metadata and transaction analytics. This streamlines integration with custodians, funds, and administrators while supporting regulatory reporting requirements.

  • Advanced Capital Strategies- The platform supports sophisticated use cases including delta-neutral trades, BTC basis arbitrage, and tax-optimized liquidity for miners. For example, mining treasuries can pledge freshly minted BTC to obtain stablecoins, retaining Bitcoin exposure without triggering taxable disposal events.

The Future

Bitcoin is the world’s most secure settlement layer, yet its liquidity remains underutilized. Helios addresses this by transforming BTC into a productive DeFi asset without compromising decentralization or security.

By merging Bitcoin’s robust finality with smart contract expressiveness, Helios delivers new tools for capital efficiency that can scale from individual users to institutions. This is the infrastructure enabling Bitcoin’s evolution, from digital gold into the backbone of a full-fledged financial system.

📣 Trending on X

BTC just saw two of its three largest liquidation events of 2025 within the past four days, wiping out $2.75B in long leverage.

BlackRock has added 726 more Bitcoin to its holdings, continuing to steadily accumulate even as the market dips.

Coinbase is now offering BTC-backed loans powered by Morpho, letting users borrow up to $1M against their Bitcoin at competitive rates.

Update: The Ohio State Board of Deposit has greenlit a vendor to handle Bitcoin and crypto transactions for paying state fees.