Locked up Bitcoin to earn yield, and the amount locked is down 53% in a year 🦖
🔎 进群看完整分析
The Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon currently has 40,573 Bitcoin locked up, worth about $3.34 billion according to DefiLlama data. A year ago, on October 7, 2025, $7.14 billion was locked up here—a record high for the protocol. Over the past year, that figure has shrunk by 53% 📉
What stings even more is that what you get for locking up your Bitcoin isn’t Bitcoin, but BABY, the protocol’s own token. BABY is currently priced at $0.0125. Its all-time high of $0.1661 came on April 12, 2025, meaning it’s down about 92% from its peak. BABY’s total market cap is now just $61.2 million, ranking 402nd across the crypto market.
First, let’s clarify what it actually does. Bitcoin itself has no staking mechanism; new coins can only be created through mining. So-called Bitcoin staking means locking coins in a time lock on the Bitcoin blockchain to serve as collateral for a proof-of-stake chain called Babylon Genesis. That chain then pays out BABY as a reward. The process involves no wrapping or bridging, and you always retain control of your private keys.
But the risks avoided through self-custody come with a different cost. There are 4.89 billion BABY tokens in circulation, against a total supply of 11.01 billion—more than double the circulating amount is still waiting to be released. And staking rewards are paid through this very token issuance ⚠️ Earning yield in a token whose supply is growing while its price is falling is a completely different proposition from earning interest directly in Bitcoin.
The lock-up period is no small matter either: unstaking requires waiting for 1,008 Bitcoin blocks, or about seven days. If Bitcoin falls 10% during those seven days, you can’t move your coins or get out. That’s the real hidden cost of staking. The slashing cap is only 0.1%, so the risk may look small, but if an operator makes an error by signing twice, your collateral can still be slashed.
There’s another layer, too: people who want to bypass the seven-day wait can use liquid staking token LBTC. Its value locked on DefiLlama is $643.9 million. The trade-off is another layer of smart-contract risk on top of the protocol risk. If there’s a rush to exit, LBTC could easily sell for less than the price of one Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is currently hovering around $81,394, down about 2% on the day, and the broader environment is already unfriendly. My take is straightforward: a protocol where the capital securing it has been cut in half in a year hasn’t convinced users. It fell from $7.14 billion to $3.34 billion, and at one point in July it was down to just $2.63 billion. Joining now means entering a smaller network, not a bigger one.
Do you know anyone who stakes their Bitcoin? Let’s chat in the comments 🦖
Every day, I bring you the latest on Bitcoin staking—not just what’s happening in the news, but also the logic and opportunities behind it 👀🚀
🔎 进群看完整分析
The Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon currently has 40,573 Bitcoin locked up, worth about $3.34 billion according to DefiLlama data. A year ago, on October 7, 2025, $7.14 billion was locked up here—a record high for the protocol. Over the past year, that figure has shrunk by 53% 📉
What stings even more is that what you get for locking up your Bitcoin isn’t Bitcoin, but BABY, the protocol’s own token. BABY is currently priced at $0.0125. Its all-time high of $0.1661 came on April 12, 2025, meaning it’s down about 92% from its peak. BABY’s total market cap is now just $61.2 million, ranking 402nd across the crypto market.
First, let’s clarify what it actually does. Bitcoin itself has no staking mechanism; new coins can only be created through mining. So-called Bitcoin staking means locking coins in a time lock on the Bitcoin blockchain to serve as collateral for a proof-of-stake chain called Babylon Genesis. That chain then pays out BABY as a reward. The process involves no wrapping or bridging, and you always retain control of your private keys.
But the risks avoided through self-custody come with a different cost. There are 4.89 billion BABY tokens in circulation, against a total supply of 11.01 billion—more than double the circulating amount is still waiting to be released. And staking rewards are paid through this very token issuance ⚠️ Earning yield in a token whose supply is growing while its price is falling is a completely different proposition from earning interest directly in Bitcoin.
The lock-up period is no small matter either: unstaking requires waiting for 1,008 Bitcoin blocks, or about seven days. If Bitcoin falls 10% during those seven days, you can’t move your coins or get out. That’s the real hidden cost of staking. The slashing cap is only 0.1%, so the risk may look small, but if an operator makes an error by signing twice, your collateral can still be slashed.
There’s another layer, too: people who want to bypass the seven-day wait can use liquid staking token LBTC. Its value locked on DefiLlama is $643.9 million. The trade-off is another layer of smart-contract risk on top of the protocol risk. If there’s a rush to exit, LBTC could easily sell for less than the price of one Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is currently hovering around $81,394, down about 2% on the day, and the broader environment is already unfriendly. My take is straightforward: a protocol where the capital securing it has been cut in half in a year hasn’t convinced users. It fell from $7.14 billion to $3.34 billion, and at one point in July it was down to just $2.63 billion. Joining now means entering a smaller network, not a bigger one.
Do you know anyone who stakes their Bitcoin? Let’s chat in the comments 🦖
Every day, I bring you the latest on Bitcoin staking—not just what’s happening in the news, but also the logic and opportunities behind it 👀🚀