London next week 🇬🇧 On September 22, @BtcCorpDay brings senior decision-makers together under the Chatham House Rule to talk about how institutions are actually using bitcoin:native. Not whether Bitcoin belongs in a business, but how it’s actually being used: on balance sheets, in payments and settlement, as collateral, and across energy markets. That’s a conversation very close to what we’re building at RootstockLabs: infrastructure for Bitcoin-secured finance and onchain capital markets. Richard Green, Tony Dicarlo and @th3amcofficial will be there for the 2026 Autumn edition at The Honourable Artillery Company in London. If you’ll be in the room, find them.

Bitcoin crossed $86,000 this week. That’s the obvious headline. The more interesting story is what’s being built around it. Standard Chartered earlier this month brought institutional solana:E4Ap4icMLwKot8rkkTbq5JkS5kZxt5XCE3yfxbzYBjHx spot trading onto the same familiar electronic trading rails used by its institutional clients in the UAE. Deutsche Bank is preparing regulated Bitcoin custody for institutional and corporate clients in Europe. And Coinbase has just added fixed-rate Bitcoin-backed borrowing, alongside a variable-rate loan product that already has more than $1.4 billion outstanding. Against that backdrop, a few points @dieguito made at the @xapobankapp Summit feel increasingly relevant. 1. Bitcoin is not only an asset. It is infrastructure. Diego described Bitcoin as both an asset and a form of decentralized security and trust infrastructure. The bigger opportunity is not simply holding BTC, but extending that security into a broader financial system. 2. Bitcoin’s security can become economically useful beyond Bitcoin transactions. Rootstock is merge-mined, which means activity on Rootstock generates fees for Bitcoin miners. Diego’s longer-term vision goes further: settlement networks and financial infrastructure using Bitcoin’s security, with economic value flowing back to the miners securing it. 3. Credit could be one of the biggest unlocks. As liquidity and capital deepen, Bitcoin-backed credit can become more efficient, more programmable and easier for institutions to access. The market is already beginning to move in that direction. 4. Mass adoption may not look like “crypto adoption.” Diego’s five-year view was what he called “fintech 2.0”: institutions and companies packaging this infrastructure into products that are simple enough for people to use without needing to understand what sits underneath them. That may be the bigger shift to watch. Not simply how many institutions own Bitcoin. But how many start building financial products, credit markets and settlement infrastructure around it. That’s where Bitcoin starts moving from an asset institutions hold to infrastructure they actually use. Full discussion: piped.video/watch?v=yTlK4F_y…

83.96% of Bitcoin’s hashrate was securing Rootstock in Q2. That translated to an average 809.63 EH/s of hashing power securing the network through merged mining. Bitcoin miners can secure Rootstock alongside bitcoin:native, using the same underlying mining work. Latest Merged Mining Insights Report: rootstock.io/blog/rootstock-…

9 years ago today. Before mainnet. Long before BTCFi became part of the conversation, Rootstock was already bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s recovery isn’t happening in a vacuum. RootstockLabs’ Tony DiCarlo spoke to @cryptodotnews about the mix of regulatory progress, macro conditions and spot ETF demand shaping the market. As Tony puts it: “I’m not calling winter over outright” but the backdrop for Bitcoin is changing. Read more, crypto.news/bitcoin-price-te…

We are live 🟢 nitter.net/i/spaces/1OxwbnAXZarJB

Will Bitcoin's Future Mirror the Internet? Understanding the different perspectives on how the Bitcoin network is evolving. Catch the full panel session on our YouTube channel piped.video/yTlK4F_yJBs

Want to learn more about @RootstockLabs' proposal for a Builder Hub at @labitconf 2026? 🇦🇷 A cohosted space for @rootstock_io builders, live staking and onchain results. Join the Space and bring your questions 👇 nitter.net/i/spaces/1OxwbnAXZarJB… Proposal: gov.rootstockcollective.xyz/…

They can’t. Rootstock’s bridge uses tamper-resistant PowHSMs, where the keys are generated and kept inside the hardware. PowPeg members cannot extract those keys or use them freely. Even if five signatures are required, the bitcoin:native can only move when the PowHSMs receive a valid peg-out from the Rootstock chain with the required proof of work behind it. So 5-of-9 does not mean five parties can simply decide to move the BTC. Learn more: rootstock.io/blog/rootstock-…

Hay una propuesta en el forum de Rootstock Collective para que Buenos Aires tenga su propio Rootstock Builder Hub durante LaBitConf 2026: un espacio cohosteado por @RootstockLabs en el evento cripto más grande de LATAM. Pronto pasa on-chain para votación, así que este es el momento de dejar tus preguntas. Si te importa el BTCfi en la región, sumá tu voz👇

“You can code the money.” That’s the simplest way @aeidelman puts it. With smart contracts, Bitcoin can do more than move value. It can power lending, smart treasuries, prediction markets, programmable insurance and more. That’s what Rootstock is built for.

Bitcoin is back above $85,000, and after the year miners have had, that’s welcome news. In earlier editions, we looked at shrinking margins, Bitcoin-backed financing and the move into AI. So how much does this rally actually change that picture? 🟢 More revenue from the machines already running As of yesterday, hashprice had risen 4.1% over the week to $40.93 per PH/s/day. Hashprice measures the revenue earned from a given amount of computing power, before costs. For miners, that improvement means more dollars coming in to cover electricity, staff and equipment bills without having to expand their fleets. 🟡 Some companies have already made other plans A stronger bitcoin:native doesn’t automatically bring every operator back to mining. @CoinSharesCo's latest report gives a striking example: @Core_Scientific paid $41.9 million in Q2 to cancel an order for 15 EH/s of mining hardware as it converted sites for AI workloads. That’s a substantial commitment to a different business, not simply switching machines off until mining becomes more attractive. 🔴 Difficulty has risen too Mining difficulty increased 4.16% on September 19, meaning the same computing power now earns fewer BTC on average. Transaction fees also contributed just 0.59% of the week’s block rewards, providing little additional income. The rally helps, but how much reaches a miner’s bottom line still depends heavily on its power bill and the efficiency of its machines. The Signal: This rally (even if it's just a few weeks) gives miners more room to make decisions. For those still focused on mining, sustained higher revenues could support equipment upgrades and make some previously uneconomic capacity worth running again. With Bitcoin’s recent rally, it’s a good time to revisit the advice from Tony Dicarlo and Richard Green’s conversation from a few months ago: control costs, improve hardware efficiency and actively manage the treasury so the business can fund its operations without being forced to sell BTC.