Emre Yumlu 
In the first quarter of 2025, Bitcoin-based smart contract platform Rootstock saw a historic surge in mining engagement, even as total value locked (TVL) and user activity across its DeFi ecosystem declined.
Mining Participation Reaches All-Time High
Rootstock’s merged mining rate climbed to 81%, a notable jump from 56.4% in Q4 2024. This rise was largely driven by the integration of major mining pools, including Foundry and SpiderPool.
As a result, the network’s hash power surpassed 740 exahashes per second, even exceeding the total Bitcoin network hash rate recorded in October 2024. This growth phase is seen as a sign that Rootstock has entered a “mature stage” in terms of merged mining.
The heightened network security also led to a 60% drop in transaction fees, significantly improving user experience and positioning Rootstock more competitively within the Bitcoin Layer-2 landscape.
TVL Decline and Reduced User Activity
Despite the strengthened miner support, Rootstock’s DeFi sector faced a drop in TVL. Bitcoin-denominated TVL fell by 7.2%, while USD-denominated TVL dropped by 20%, reaching $179.9 million by the end of Q1. This came after a brief peak of $244.6 million in January, fueled by a Bitcoin price rally, but momentum slowed from March onward.
Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem also experienced similar pressure, with a 27% decline in TVL during the same period, largely impacted by macroeconomic uncertainty and the $1.4 billion Bybit exploit.
In the stablecoin market on Rootstock, USDt remained the leading token with $3.8 million in volume, though its dominance dropped from 41.3% to 27.5%. By the end of the quarter, no stablecoin held more than 30% market share on the network.
User engagement also waned, with active addresses down 26.5% and new addresses plunging by 54.7%. However, daily transaction volume inched up by 4.3%, averaging 11,524 transactions per day.
Ongoing Development and Ecosystem Growth
On the technical front, Rootstock rolled out its Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade, enhancing EVM compatibility and boosting smart contract performance.
The network also expanded with integrations of LayerZero and Meson Finance, and introduced new initiatives for developers, including hackathons, incentive programs, and governance improvements via the RootstockCollective platform.
Commenting on Bitcoin’s DeFi future, Alexei Zamyatin, co-founder of the Layer-2 project Build on Bitcoin, noted on May 1 that the first company to deliver a user-friendly suite of DeFi products on Bitcoin could potentially capture the attention of the blockchain’s 300 million users.
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