Botanix shuts down as Bitcoin DeFi demand fades

Botanix is winding down after four years of operation, with the Bitcoin scaling network saying weak demand for Bitcoin-native decentralised finance made the project economically unsustainable.

The team told users to withdraw all Bitcoin and other assets by July 9, warning that any remaining funds after that date will be swept and become unrecoverable.

The closure comes despite Botanix securing integrations with major crypto infrastructure providers and launching a consumer-focused Bitcoin neobank application.

In its shutdown notice, Botanix said the technology functioned as intended but failed to achieve sustainable product-market fit as most Bitcoin users continued to treat BTC primarily as a store of value and yield-generating asset.

“Most users still treat Bitcoin primarily as a reserve asset and yield vehicle rather than something they want to use frequently in onchain applications,”

Said Botanix in its shutdown notice.

Botanix used its Spiderchain architecture to combine an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain with a proof-of-stake-style consensus model, allowing developers to build Ethereum-like applications using Bitcoin-backed assets.

The shutdown highlights the challenges facing Bitcoin DeFi networks as competitors including Stacks, Rootstock and Citrea continue pursuing alternative approaches to expanding Bitcoin’s programmability and onchain utility.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $62,196.92.