At Rare EVO 2025, Charles Hoskinson presented a technical architecture that promises to bring DeFi to Bitcoin… without violating the principles of maximalism. The trick: Cardano adapts to Bitcoin to be its invisible layer.
When Charles Hoskinson spoke about Bitcoin DeFi at Rare EVO 2025, he not only presented a technical roadmap. He laid out a brilliant and silent strategy: to turn Cardano into the infrastructure that empowers Bitcoin without maximalists being able to reject it.
There are three rules that maximalists will not negotiate,” he warned. “Everything is paid in BTC, the fees are in BTC, and the yield must also be received in BTC.” Instead of confronting them, Cardano decided to meet them all.
The key lies in Taproot, the Bitcoin upgrade that introduced minimal programmability. Hoskinson explained how, with an external layer that respects the network's sovereignty, a complete DeFi experience can be built… without touching the base code of BTC Cardano does not seek to modify Bitcoin. What it proposes is even bolder: to fully adapt to its rules to operate around it, as a “loyal” execution layer that does not impose, but serves.
