Stacks To Integrate Portal DeFi For Bitcoin To Layer 2 Atomic Swaps

Portal DeFi, a protocol facilitating cross-chain atomic swaps on Layer 2, announced it is teaming up with Stacks, a leading Bitcoin L2, to facilitate non-custodial transfers between Stacks and Bitcoin’s base layer.

Announced on April 9, the integration will allow atomic swaps between BTC on the Bitcoin network and Stacks’ forthcoming BTC-backed sBTC token. The Portal DEX Network will onboard support for sBTC, enabling atomic swaps through Portal’s Swap Software Development Kit (SDK).

Atomic swaps allow assets to be traded between blockchains directly, bypassing the need for bridges, custodians, or token wrapping — alongside their associated counterparty risks — when transacting between different networks.

“Unlike the issuer behind Wrapped Bitcoin, which today holds $10 billion of Bitcoin in a central custodial vault, Stacks’ decentralized sBTC will use an open and distributed signing architecture,” Portal said. “With Portal DEX, users will have access to permissionless, decentralized swaps between two chains without costly bridging or risk of custody.”

Stacks will launch sBTC and integrate support for the Portal DEX Network within a few months of its Nakamoto upgrade rolling out later this year. Nakamoto will unlock faster blocks and Layer 1 transaction finality, plus expanded web3 and DeFi utility leveraging sBTC’s programmability.

Infrastructure developed by the Stacks Foundation will offer native cross-chain swaps via the Portal Swap SDK, with the foundation supporting liquidity pools for cross-chain sBTC trading pairs. The Portal DEX will also allow users to swap sBTC for other assets on other supported networks, including ETH and USDT on Ethereum.

“Our integration with Portal will provide exciting cross-chain interoperability for builders,” said the Stacks Foundation’s Andre Serrano. “With sBTC set to join the Portal DEX Network, users will experience seamless, trust-minimized swaps between Bitcoin layers and beyond.”

Bitcoin’s emerging DeFi ecosystem

The news comes as development within the Bitcoin ecosystem is increasingly pivoting towards Layer 2 networks and other solutions designed to bolster throughput and introduce new functionality pioneered on smart contract networks, building on the success of Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens in 2023.

In February, the total value locked (TVL) in Merlin Chain, a Bitcoin Layer 2, surged 600% amid the success of its Merlin's Seal incentives campaign. Merlin continues to rank among the largest Bitcoin L2s, currently boasting a TVL of nearly $2.5 billion, according to DeFi Llama.

Lightning Network, a payments-focused sidechain, is Bitcoin’s second-largest scaling solution with $320 million locked. While its TVL is up around 50% since the start of the year, DeFi Llama data shows that overall asset flows have declined since the start of the year.

Stacks comes in third with nearly $301 million in TVL. Its TVL is up 364% since the year began, owing to the success of the Alex decentralized exchange and StackingDAO, a staking protocol for Stacks’ STX token. STX last changed hands for $3.29, marking a 120% gain since the start of the year.

DeFi Llama also notes sizable TVLs in the Bitcoin-based farming protocols Ainn Layer2 and B2 Buzzm, which host $567.2 million and $319.8 million respectively.