Rootstock Hits Milestones in Mining, But DeFi Faces a Downturn

Rootstock, a platform bridging smart contracts with Bitcoin, saw a significant increase in mining activity and network security during early 2025, despite a slowdown in overall usage.

The platform experienced a dramatic rise in merged mining participation, reaching 81%, up from 56% in late 2024. This boost came after major mining pools like Foundry and SpiderPool joined the network, pushing Rootstock’s hash power past 740 exahashes per second, exceeding the Bitcoin network’s total hashrate from October 2024.

The surge in mining activity was complemented by a 60% drop in transaction fees, improving Rootstock’s competitiveness in the Bitcoin layer-2 ecosystem.

However, Rootstock’s DeFi performance saw a decline. The total value locked (TVL) in its DeFi sector dropped both in Bitcoin and US dollar terms, reflecting broader market cooling. TVL had briefly peaked at $244 million in January but fell to $179.9 million by March, a 20% decrease.

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Rootstock also faced shifting trends in its stablecoin market. USDt remained dominant but lost significant market share, falling from 41.3% to 27.5%. Active and new addresses saw steep declines, with a drop of 26.5% and 54.7%, respectively, while daily transactions saw a slight increase.

On the development side, Rootstock continued its progress by launching the Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade, improving its Ethereum compatibility. Additionally, it formed new partnerships with LayerZero and Meson Finance and launched initiatives aimed at fostering developer growth and governance improvements.

While the platform faced some setbacks in its DeFi ecosystem, its security and infrastructure upgrades position it well for continued growth, especially as demand for DeFi on Bitcoin increases.

Alexander Stefanov