Rootstock, the Bitcoin DeFi platform, experienced a dramatic rise in mining participation in Q1 2025, hitting an all-time high of 81% while enjoying a significant boost in network security. However, despite these mining gains, its total value locked (TVL) plummeted by 7.2% in Bitcoin terms and 20% in USD terms, reflecting challenges in the broader market context. On the development side, Rootstock activated its Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade and expanded its ecosystem through several initiatives.
In the ever-evolving world of Bitcoin’s decentralized finance (DeFi), the Rootstock platform has made headlines lately. Despite a general downturn in activity, particularly in total value locked (TVL), Rootstock experienced a surge in mining participation during the first quarter of 2025. According to Messari’s latest report, merged mining jumped to an all-time high of 81%, a notable rise from the previous 56.4% in Q4 of 2024. This increase is largely credited to major mining pools like Foundry and SpiderPool getting involved—resulting in a remarkable boost in network security.
The rise in miner engagement ramped up Rootstock’s hash power to over 740 exahashes per second. This is significant, as it eclipses the total Bitcoin network hashrate noted back in October 2024. Analysts now describe Rootstock’s network as being in a “mature phase” of merged mining development. This added security was welcomed by users with a reduction in transaction fees by 60%, enhancing the overall user experience and making Rootstock a more competitive player in the Bitcoin layer-2 landscape.
However, it’s not all positive news. Amid this increase in mining activities, Rootstock’s DeFi ecosystem saw a decline in its total value locked. In Q1 2025, Bitcoin-denominated TVL slid down by 7.2% while its US dollar counterpart dropped by a more severe 20%, bringing the figure down to $179.9 million. This downturn is echoed across the wider market, with earlier peaks of $244.6 million in January now feeling distant as the market generally cools off.
Context is key; Ethereum’s DeFi sector wasn’t spared either, experiencing a notable 27% TVL decline in the same timeframe. This slump was likely influenced by macroeconomic uncertainties and events like the $1.4 billion exploit of Bybit, as reported by DappRadar. The stablecoin scenario on Rootstock is also worth mentioning. USDt continues to lead the pack with $3.8 million and a 27.5% share of the market, but this is down from a robust 41.3% in the previous quarter. By the end of March, none of the stablecoins present on Rootstock held more than 30% market share.
While active addresses fell by 26.5% and new addresses plummeted by 54.7%, it’s noteworthy that daily transactions saw a minor uptick of 4.3%, averaging 11,524 per day. In a push for growth, Rootstock reported advancements in its development, activating the Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade. This update notably enhances compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and boosts smart contract performance.
Furthermore, Rootstock is working to broaden its ecosystem. New integrations with LayerZero and Meson Finance have been initiated, alongside developer initiatives like a new hackathon and improvements to its governance platform, RootstockCollective. Coinciding with these efforts, Bitcoin layer 2 co-founder Alexei Zamyatin believes the first DeFi entity to successfully roll out user-centric products on Bitcoin could essentially dominate the broader blockchain market, which caters to about 300 million users.
