Babylon Launches Bitcoin Staking in Mainnet, Sparking Airdrop Speculations
2024-08-23

Babylon has unveiled a Bitcoin staking program, establishing a new precedent in the crypto sector. This strategy allows users to stake Bitcoin while retaining custody, offering a transformative way to utilize a $1.2 trillion asset without surrendering control.
That being said, some speculate that Babylon is akin to EigenLayer for Bitcoin.
Babylon Bitcoin Staking Max Limit Hit
The initial phase of the staking process involves submitting transactions to the Bitcoin blockchain. These transactions activate a self-custodial staking script that locks the designated BTC securely.
Importantly, stakers delegate their Proof of Stake (PoS) voting power rather than the BTC to a chosen finality provider. Consequently, this arrangement enables users to participate in PoS consensus mechanisms on other chains, like Ethereum and Avalanche, potentially securing $120 billion if 10% of Bitcoin’s supply is staked.
The project has set staking limits that range from 0.005 BTC to 0.05 BTC. Through the limit, Babylon aims to prevent large holders from dominating the process.
“This intentionally small maximum is meant to encourage broad participation. It ensures that the entire cap will need at least a few Bitcoin blocks worth of staking transactions to fill. This prevents a single entity from buying out one Bitcoin block and taking the entire cap, squeezing everyone else out in the process,” Babylon explained.
The staking protocol incorporates a time lock of about 15 months, equivalent to 64,000 Bitcoin blocks. Stakers can unbind their stakes before expiration through a 1008-block unbinding period, which adds flexibility and liquidity to the process.
During this phase, there are no direct staking rewards since the PoS (Proof of Stake) chain is not active yet. Instead, Babylon has implemented a point system to track and reward user activity. However, due to regulatory constraints, users from the US, UK, and EU may be ineligible to earn points.
“This is going to be the next major airdrop farming event after EigenLayer,” on-chain analyst Hitesh Malviya said.
Speculation about potential airdrops is growing, especially since Babylon’s approach resembles platforms like EigenLayer. However, users need to be aware of certain legal descriptions from Babylon.
“Points are not, and may never convert to, accrue to, be used as basis to calculate, or become any tokens or other digital assets. Points are virtual items with no monetary value,” Babylon warned.
Nonetheless, shortly after the announcement of the launch, Babylon staking reached its maximum capacity of 1,000 BTC. Although this cap is temporary, it highlights the enthusiastic market response and sets the stage for possible expansions in future phases.
In June 2024, Babylon secured $70 million in funding, led by Paradigm and with contributions from Polychain Capital and HashKey Capital. Notably, its co-founder, David Tse, is a Stanford University professor.