Core Foundation, Bitcoin Layer 1 With Over $500M Staked BTC, Adds BitGo and KODA as Validators
Core Foundation, a project enhancing Bitcoin’s functionality, has significantly advanced its institutional adoption by onboarding BitGo and KODA as validator sets for its Core network. This development marks a key step in bringing institutional-grade custody and security to Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi).
BitGo, a US-qualified custodian with a strong reputation for regulatory compliance and security, joins the network’s 29 validators. Its inclusion brings considerable expertise and reinforces Core’s commitment to robust security practices. The addition of KODA, a South Korean institutional custodian powered by Nodeinfra, expands Core’s reach into the Asian market. Considering South Korea’s high crypto adoption rate (over 20% of the population owns crypto), KODA’s participation is expected to stimulate staking and institutional yield within the region.
Brendon Sedo, Core’s initial contributor, highlighted the significance of this expansion, emphasizing the validators’ role in scaling Bitcoin’s utility and driving broader institutional acceptance of yield-bearing Bitcoin products. John Youngseok Yang, CEO of Nodeinfra, further emphasized the strategic partnership’s potential to establish institutional Bitcoin staking in Korea.
The Core blockchain utilizes Satoshi Plus consensus, a hybrid mechanism combining Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS). This approach aims to maintain Bitcoin’s security and decentralization while enhancing scalability and programmability. Currently, over $500 million in Bitcoin is staked on the Core network, reportedly secured by approximately 75% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, making it a leading Bitcoin-aligned Layer 1 solution.
Core supports institutional-grade products like lstBTC, a liquid and yield-generating BTC representation usable as collateral on major exchanges, and Valour’s Yield-Bearing BTC ETP, offering regulated access to Bitcoin yield. By addressing Bitcoin’s limitations in programmability and native yield, Core is at the forefront of accelerating the growth of Bitcoin-based DeFi. The integration of BitGo and KODA signifies a substantial leap forward in this endeavor, attracting significant institutional participation in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
