Runes Asia 2025 PreHeat: 10x BTCFi Growth

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Omnity Network
@OmnityNetworkAug 14, 2025

The Spaces gathered builders and analysts across the Bitcoin DeFi stack for a Runes Asia 2025 preheat discussion focused on how to 10x BTCFi growth. Kyle Langham (DFINITY) argued BTCFi is still early but poised for outsized upside given Bitcoin’s dominance, highlighting AI-written smart contracts to rapidly add utility to tokens. Stan (Sats Terminal) and Jay/JD (Liquidium) see “Runes Season 2” momentum, with runes leading developer mindshare and listings, while Liquidium expands lending/borrowing on Bitcoin L1. Clueless (Kairos) emphasized bi-directional liquidity flow between Bitcoin and other chains and bringing social, BTC-denominated prediction markets that add utility to runes communities. Core challenges cited were liquidity fragmentation across meta-protocols, inefficient minting/MEV-like waste, and onboarding UX. Louis (Omnity) advocated converging on open standards (e.g., runes, ordinals) with Bitcoin L1 as the settlement layer and using ICP Chain Fusion to abstract cross-chain complexity. Outlook was broadly bullish for H2 2025 and beyond, with views ranging from sustained Bitcoin dominance to 10–100x BTCFi over time if UX, standards, and liquidity routing mature. Closing advice: start building now, embrace open standards and ICP Chain Fusion infra, focus on UX and culture, and maintain conviction.

Runes Asia 2025 Preheat: 10x BTCFi Growth — Full Session Notes

Session context and participants

  • Host: Kim (Omnity; organizer of Runes Asia 2025 preheat session in Hong Kong).
  • Kyle Langham (Director of Data & Analytics, DFINITY Foundation; Internet Computer Protocol/ICP; Bitcoin Season 2 advocate).
  • Jay (aka jacofan; CMO, Liquidium; leading lending/borrowing for Ordinals, Runes, BRC-20s on Bitcoin L1; building "Equilibrium Loans" and an open-source liquid staking framework).
  • Stan (Co-founder & CEO, Sats Terminal; runes trading aggregator offering best-execution across venues).
  • Clueless (Kairos; formerly BetBTC; Bitcoin‑denominated prediction markets with social features; building on ICP Chain Fusion).
  • Louis (Founder & CEO, Omnity; decentralized Bitcoin interoperability/programmability infra on ICP Chain Fusion; Omnity Hub, index canisters, developer tooling).
  • Notable mentions: Bob/Odin (cross-chain onboarding plans), Reswap/Muslim (DEX, did not speak), Kraken listing of a Runes token (e.g., PUPS), Alkanes meta protocol, BRC‑20, Ordinals.

The state of BTCFi and 12‑month potential

  • Kyle Langham
    • BTCFi is still very early (second year), yet the addressable upside is massive because Bitcoin is ~60% of crypto’s market cap. If BTCFi approaches Ethereum’s on-chain activity-to-market-cap ratios, the impact is “massive.”
    • Sees traction in uniquely “Bitcoin ethos” applications.
    • Near-term inflection: pairing Bitcoin with AI-written smart contracts. Within 6–12 months, AI could enable non-technical users to create utility apps for Runes or alt tokens, accelerating BTCFi utility and adoption.
  • Stan (Sats Terminal)
    • Signals a potential “Season 2” for Runes: increasing new project flow, positive market sentiment, and rotation of liquidity into higher-risk plays as alt cycles heat up.
    • Notes major CEX listings (e.g., Kraken list of PUPS) boosting visibility; believes low-cap runes have asymmetric upside.
  • Jay (Liquidium)
    • Bitcoin is the most pristine asset; BTC value should be unlocked via lending/borrowing, prediction markets, trading, and leverage—importantly on Bitcoin L1.
    • Liquidium supports Runes and BRC‑20s on Bitcoin L1 (leveraging Chain Fusion components) and sees sustained daily borrowing/leverage demand—evidence of emergent utility on Bitcoin.
  • Clueless (Kairos)
    • Early excitement from Runes and L2s created real on-chain activity; next phase is mutual liquidity flow between Bitcoin and other chains.
    • With Chain Fusion, Kairos is building fun, social prediction markets where Bitcoin becomes a participatory asset—create markets, challenge peers, build communities, and denominate markets in Runes to add token utility.

Why Runes is reshaping the BTCFi landscape

  • Kyle Langham
    • Go where developers are: Runes currently concentrates developer mindshare and network effects compared to other meta-protocols (BRC‑20, Alkanes, etc.).
    • Infrastructure readiness matters: Omnity’s hub, index canisters, and broader tooling reduce onboarding friction for builders. Kyle estimates a large majority of Season 2 Bitcoin apps are building on/for Runes.
  • Stan (Sats Terminal)
    • Runes feels more “battle-tested” with broader builder participation and rising exchange exposure.
    • Open to protocol improvements by core devs; sees Alkanes and others as positive innovation signals, but Runes currently leads in visible traction.
  • Jay (Liquidium)
    • Runes enjoys the most excitement and infra breadth today and is tightly linked to Ordinals—a practical advantage for adoption.
    • Acknowledges liquidity challenges persist irrespective of standard; Liquidium remains open to supporting new standards as they mature.
  • Clueless (Kairos)
    • Strong Runes communities plus high developer activity = perfect fit for Kairos to add utility by enabling rune‑denominated markets (win in the markets, earn more of the token you love), deepening engagement and stickiness.

Growth challenges and solution paths

  • Liquidity fragmentation
    • Jay: The biggest challenge. Multiple standards (Runes, BRC‑20, Alkanes, Ordinals) fragment liquidity and communities; need better aggregation and funneling of liquidity.
    • Stan: Aggregators like Sats Terminal help unify execution, but fragmentation remains broader than any single venue.
    • Kyle: Fragmentation is endemic to crypto’s multi-chain reality. Solution is application‑level abstraction so users don’t care what chain they’re on; Chain Fusion enables ICP canisters to natively sign/read on multiple chains, powering:
      • Cross-chain onboarding (e.g., Odin accepting SOL deposits and seamlessly routing into Bitcoin markets).
      • Cross-chain lending/borrowing (Liquidium’s approach) to let liquidity flow where needed.
  • Onboarding and UX
    • Kim & Kyle: Success hinges on making wallets and flows dead-simple. Users should see one app and one action, with swaps/bridging abstracted away under the hood.
    • Clueless: Kairos aims to accept any asset in, abstract away bridges/swaps, and deliver a BTC‑denominated PM experience that “just works.”
  • Inefficient mints and miner fees (waste)
    • Jay: Early mint/launchpad mechanics spammed the mempool; many transactions failed, burning significant BTC to miners and leaking value from the ecosystem. Calls for better mint designs where funds aren’t wasted and value stays in‑ecosystem.
  • Standards convergence and settlement guarantees
    • Louis: Too many fungible meta‑protocols dilute focus. Runes is “good enough” to converge around. The bottleneck ahead is programmability that remains anchored to Bitcoin L1 settlement.
      • Cautions against “indexer‑extension VMs” (execution inside centralized indexers); sees them as anti-patterns because indexers can’t match Bitcoin’s security.
      • Strategy: Build programmability/interoperability infra around native Bitcoin assets (Runes, Ordinals) and settle outcomes on Bitcoin L1. Omnity invests in this path via Chain Fusion, index canisters, and secure cross-chain orchestration.

H2 2025 and beyond: growth outlook and metrics

  • Kyle Langham
    • Hot take: The classic sequence “BTC pumps → ETH pumps → alts pump” may break. Bitcoin dominance may not fall as expected this cycle.
    • Implication: As the cycle ends with sustained BTC dominance, more teams/users recognize that long-term DeFi gravity shifts to Bitcoin; building BTCFi early is advantageous.
  • Jay (Liquidium)
    • Over a 10‑year horizon, sees a plausible 100x for BTCFi if teams execute, users are retained, and institutions discover sustainable BTC yield. Work remains, but the direction is clear.
  • Louis (Omnity)
    • Explosive upside is tangible. As an example, Omnity Hub recently reached roughly $360M in TVL—on par with the leading bridges in crypto at that moment—an outcome that would have seemed implausible months earlier.
    • Therefore, with the right tech, product design, and UX, similar step-changes can recur. There’s no structural reason BTCFi should be smaller than Ethereum or Solana DeFi long term.
  • Clueless (Kairos)
    • Advocates thinking in 100x terms. Liquidity will flow into Bitcoin as cross‑ecosystem tech matures; prediction markets can be a viral, ethical monetization channel for creators and communities, driving user growth if UX is mainstream‑ready.

Concrete product roadmaps and features mentioned

  • Sats Terminal: Best‑execution runes aggregator; expects expanded listings and liquidity as Season 2 develops.
  • Liquidium: Cross‑chain lending/borrowing on Bitcoin L1 (via Chain Fusion components); supports Runes/BRC‑20; building improved launch/mint mechanisms; developing “Equilibrium Loans” and an open-source liquid staking framework.
  • Kairos: Rolling out a social PM stack with user‑created markets, challenges, “cables” (social features), quests; implementing a PM AMM with “meta‑LP” routing and LVR (loss‑value rebalancing) protection; rune‑denominated markets; goal to let users tap deeper liquidity (e.g., Polymarket, Kalshi) via Chain Fusion with Bitcoin.
  • Omnity: Chain Fusion-based infra (hub, index canisters, secure signing across chains) to make Bitcoin the ultimate settlement layer while enabling programmability/interop; pushing standard convergence around native Bitcoin assets.

Advice for newcomers (builders/investors)

  • Kyle Langham: Just start. It’s never been easier to build on Bitcoin. Omnity and ICP lowered the infra hurdle; ship, collect feedback, iterate.
  • Louis: Favor open standards and proven stacks. Many of BTCFi’s leading teams (e.g., Liquidium, Orange, Taichi, Kairos, others cited) leverage ICP Chain Fusion. Trustlessness, middleware, and indexers are battle‑tested—focus your energy on product creativity.
  • Clueless: Don’t give up; build a culture of loyalty and conviction. Choose your stack deliberately (Kairos kept conviction in ICP Chain Fusion), integrate the best tech in the ecosystem, and let the product speak for itself.

Event notes and call to action

  • Runes Asia 2025 (preheat session) precedes Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong.
    • Date: August 27, Hong Kong (suggested arrival August 26). Full day of panels and keynotes.
    • The session showcased BTCFi builders and the Runes ecosystem’s momentum; a follow‑up preheat session is planned next week.
    • Link was attached in the Space; attendees and builders are encouraged to register and share.

Key takeaways and action items

  • Runes currently leads on developer mindshare and infra; it is “good enough” to converge upon while remaining open to innovation.
  • Solve fragmentation with application‑level cross‑chain abstraction; make UX chain‑agnostic with wallets/flows that hide swaps/bridges.
  • Improve mint/launch mechanisms to retain value in‑ecosystem and avoid mempool spam waste.
  • Double down on Bitcoin‑native settlement while enabling programmability through Chain Fusion and battle‑tested infra (Omnity hub, index canisters).
  • Prioritize fun and utility: rune‑denominated prediction markets, social layers, lending/borrowing on L1—all drive sticky community engagement.
  • Expect a strong H2 2025: BTC dominance may persist; BTCFi could 10x–100x over time with institutional yield discovery and mainstream‑ready UX.