Portal to Bitcoin Unveils the First Custody-free Bitcoin-Secured Cross-Chain Stack built on Babylon Genesis
San Francisco, USA, May 21st, 2025
Portal to Bitcoin, a decentralized finance (DeFi) technology company, today announced a strategic integration with Babylon Genesis, the pioneer of trustless Bitcoin staking. Now available is the industry’s first modular, fully custody-less cross-chain infrastructure stack. This solution is purpose-built to scale DeFi on the bedrock of Bitcoin security.
Through Babylon Genesis’s staking and timestamping protocols and Portal’s BitScaler-powered Channel Factory, Bitcoin holders can now secure proof-of-stake (PoS) validators with native BTC, execute instant bridgeless atomic swaps between BTC and assets such as ETH and SOL, and record validator signatures and decentralized exchange (DEX) trades immutably on the Bitcoin network.
Chandra Duggirala, Co-founder and CEO of Portal to Bitcoin, added: “Portal is changing the Bitcoin blockspace into the settlement engine for millions of markets — from real-world assets (RWAs) to Web2 equities. Babylon Genesis’s timestamping extends out the notary chain with the full weight of Bitcoin’s security guarantees.”
Historically, Bitcoin’s role in DeFi has been limited by custodial bridges and wrapped tokens like Wrapped BTC (WBTC). The Portal-to-Bitcoin integration with Babylon Genesis eliminates those barriers. Native BTC can now be staked directly on PoS networks, traded across chains without synthetic representations, and used to finalize transactions with Bitcoin’s unchallenged immutability.
“Portal’s integration with Babylon Genesis shows that Bitcoin can serve as both the capital and the consensus layer for a new generation of cross-chain applications,” said Clayton Menzel, Head of Business Development at Babylon Labs. “By anchoring activity to Bitcoin, builders are no longer limited to choosing either composability or self-custody.”
Portal and Babylon Genesis share a design philosophy prioritizing user sovereignty over everything else. Portal employs a Layer 3 (L3) notary chain anchored to Bitcoin, while Babylon Genesis uses covenant emulation and EOTS-based slashing to guarantee staked BTC cannot be misappropriated.
By leveraging cryptographic enforcement, Portal to Bitcoin and Babylon Genesis extend Bitcoin’s security measures to every connected chain, eliminating intermediaries.
About Portal to Bitcoin
Portal to Bitcoin is a custodyless L3 protocol that enables native atomic swaps between Bitcoin and other blockchains. Built on the BitScaler architecture, Portal facilitates secure and fast self-custodial trading without bridges, wrapped assets, or third-party custody.
About Babylon Labs
Babylon Labs develops Bitcoin security-sharing protocols to build a decentralized world secured by Bitcoin. Its key product is the first trustless Bitcoin staking protocol, allowing BTC holders to earn staking rewards on PoS chains without relinquishing custody, using bridges, or minting wrapped tokens.
